That motivational speaker is disrespecting you Why are you giving HIM your $$$? Experts at cheaping out

Arizona is popular in late fall for motivational speakers. Last weekend I attended an event where the speaker wanted to transform my mind to millionaire status and this weekend the king of motivational speakers, you saw him in a Jack Black movie, is right near my home. He thinks it's Scottsdale according to his Tweets, but it is Phoenix!

I love motivational speakers, but the one last weekend got to me. He was telling us how he only travels first class and how millionaires demand that. Then I looked at the seats in the hotel ballroom this speaker, plus the one this weekend in Northeast Phoenix, have their attendees sit in. These are chairs designed for a two hour wedding reception, not 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. for three to five days.

That's when it dawned on me how much these motivational speakers REALLY disrespect you and only want their hands on your wallet. These seminars cost about $5,000. The motivational speaker trying to reach my mind was explaining how he negotiated a Huntington Beach hotel for $4,000. I've had conferences at hotels and was able to get the ballroom free for promising X amount of hotel rooms sold - plus free snacks and coffee. Last weekend I had neither for 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Either these motivators are idiots - at which point you should not be listening to them - or they're pissing on you in the respect department. Phoenix has some fine theaters. I saw Jeff Beck at Phoenix Symphony Hall in downtown. Cost on that is $1,300 per day, plus it seats more than 2,000. The millionaire guy had 700 in attendance. Think of how comfortable we would have been over his three day seminar if he hadn't cheaped out.

Down the street is the historic Orpheum Theater, 1,300 plus seats at $1,400 per day. If you want prestigious, try Scottsdale's Virginia G. Piper Theater. It only seats 800 plus, costs $1,500 per day, but it's ACTUALLY in Scottsdale. Saw Ray Davies of the Kinks there. Had the Beat Angels sit right in front of me.

As I was writing this, it dawned on me. All the motivational speakers, from Wayne Dyer to Zig Zigler, are men. Where's the women motivational speakers who do the circuit through Arizona?

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Addendum: Heard from some motivational speakers who contend if you have comfy seats, the audience may fall asleep. Okay. Now let's look at it from a marketing standpoint. Customer is ALWAYS king. One-third of your customers are going to be baby-boomers. You put baby-boomers on a stool-like seat for more than a couple hours, you've got hemorrhoidal issues. You want to cause your customer discomfort? Go for the plushy auditorium seats and use a water gun to keep those wayward audience members awake - use luke warm water!

You may be able to talk 15 hours a day (something I've never understood how), but those hemorrhoids won't wait that long.