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This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Is There A Need For Hispanic Speakers?
Posted By: leonor* on 10/3/2004 1:23 PM (CST) 125 Points
Role models who understand the contribution of Hispanics to US culture and the patriotism should be invaluable, whether for job fairs, recruitment programs and to the armed forces, community programs and diversity forums. For example, Dr. Joachim de Posada, celebrated success expert and author, just spoke on the contribution of Hispanic Americans as the guest speaker for Hispanic Heritage week at the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Washington D.C.
Pegine Echevarria, who has worked with Junior ROTC groups around the country is a powerful youth speaker.
And Dr. Refugio Rochin, the former Director of the Smithsonian Insitute for Latino Initiatives is a voice of understanding and guidance.
Why aren't they more visible in the market?
Is it possible to take Hispanic speakers mainstream?

Posted by: Deremiah *CPE Accepted Answer
10/3/2004 5:10 PM (CST)
leonor,

YES, Hispanic speakers can go mainstream and should. Doing work as a motivational speaker myself I will be the first to tell you that it requires a lot of relationship building far beyond your own cultural, ethnic or racial group. The reason why they are not more visible depends on how they are working to make this possible. Every speaker has to not only work at their craft but they have to work at expanding serious relationship contacts, branding campaigns, PR campaigns, endorsements, product lines, and speaking engagements that take them far beyond their own community of people. I hope this helps. If you have any additional questions please let me know. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)
 
Posted by: mgoodman Accepted Answer
10/3/2004 9:43 PM (CST)
Hispanic speakers are only ready to go mainstream if they have something important to say. Simply speaking Spanish doesn't make them desirable per se.

For example, Juan Antonio Negroni is an accomplished HR professional (formerly with Hilton International) who has a passion for helping companies deal with the effects of job stress. He consults and speaks on the subject, and he can speak in either English or Spanish, depending on the audience.

He's a terrific speaker in either language, not because he is bilingual, but because he has something important and valuable to impart, and he immediately engages his audience. That's the kind of speaker you want -- someone who has important information or perspective to share, and who knows how to communicate effectively.

So to your question about Hispanic speakers, yes, it's important that we have great role models and visible contributors from the Hispanic community, but they need to do more than speak Spanish and come from Hispanic roots -- they need to have an important message for their audiences and be able to inspire appropriate action.
 
Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 4:35 AM (CST)
By using the term "mainstream" in connection with an Hispanic speaker, what exactly does that mean?

If it means booking an Hispanic speaker for Spanish speaking engagements at the highest level, surely as mgoodman points out, that has more to do with whether they have something important to contribute, other than just their particular ethnicity or linguistic capabilities.

By the same token, if Picasso were alive, and spoke only broken English, but gave a great lecture on aspects of modern painting, would he be a good speaker?

Of course, and people would flock to see him! Because of his ability to speak English or Spanish... No! Because he is a great man and would be worth listening to in ANY language, with subtitles, sign-language or any way of receiving whatever he had to say.

When JFK went to Berlin and announced "Ich bin ein Berliner" did he get the gig because he knew a few words of German? I doubt it - he went to speak and attracted a massive audience because he had something important to say, in a foreign language, about Freedom.

I think it's important to stand back and ask what a speaker can contribute, and to which audience or target market, before worrying about vague terms like "mainstream" that has little to do with the medium, and everything to do with the message.

If language is the only barrier to getting that message across, translators are not all that expensive!

Hope this helps...

ChrisB
 
Posted by: SRyan ;] Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 1:13 PM (CST)
JFK didn't know enough German... apparently he announced, "I am a donut."

Thank you, Eddie Izzard!

- Shelley
 
Posted by: thinkmor Accepted Answer
10/8/2004 7:30 AM (CST)
Hi Leonor

Totally agree with Michael & Chris.

More importantly, what can YOU do about it?

Why not take the suggestions above and create a blog or website to promote your cause if you believe in it passionately enough.

Look for similar sites from other ethnic backgrounds and 'mainstream' inspirational and motivational speakers that have a presence online.


Zahid Adil
 
Posted by: et3dotcom* Accepted Answer
10/10/2004 10:35 PM (CST)
Jeb Bush is probably the gov of FL due to the fact that he speaks spanish. He is not Hispanic, but his wife is.

Is that mainstream enough?
 
Posted by: Val (Moderator)* Moderator Response
10/18/2004 4:14 AM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question, since its more than 10 days old. We do this to make sure members' contributions are rewarded in a timely manner and to improve the visibility of newer questions. Thanks, so much, for participating!

Val (Moderator)
 


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