Matthew Sederberg was already intrigued enough by the lineup for the upcoming "Get Motivated" seminar — Rudolph Giuliani, Zig Ziglar, Steve Forbes and others — that he figured he'd buy some tickets.
But another name got the Provo man really jazzed.
John Stockton.
The former Utah Jazz basketball great — whose reputation for speaking to the public and press is virtually non-existent — will discuss "How to Lead Your Team to Victory" at the Tuesday seminar at the Delta Center.
"I'm an entrepreneur. I run a small software company. So my first interest was in the business aspect, hearing these business leaders and looking forward to the insights and what they have to share about motivation and achieving goals in a business sense," Sederberg said.
"But when I heard John Stockton was going to be there, it really sold me. Really, I cannot imagine what he's going to say for more than five minutes."
Having a local hero on the roster is not unusual for the highly popular seminars, operated by Get Motivated Seminars Inc. of Tampa, Fla., a company led by Peter Lowe. When Lowe had his "Success 1998" seminar at the Delta Center that year, a crowd of about 11,800 showed up to hear Ziglar, former President George Bush, Larry King and a few others, including Karl Malone.
"Get Motivated" seminars have also featured national sports celebrities George Foreman and Joe Montana. But Seattle Seahawk Matt Hasselbeck spoke in 2004 in that city, Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan participated in June there and Oklahoma City's event included University of Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops.
"We try to do one of those in each of the bigger seminars," company marketing director Nancy Cline said of local sports personalities.
But Sederberg was a bit disappointed that Montana is scheduled to speak at a September "Get Motivated" seminar in California on the topic "How to Lead Your Team To Victory" — the same title as Stockton's talk next week.
"I hope it's not scripted then, if it's the same topic Montana is talking about," Sederberg said. "But I like Stockton because he was so competitive and went about it in a good way. I always admired his determination and work ethic. ... Stockton would never miss a game. He was out there trying as hard as he could. That's what I hope he talks about — about his philosophies about where he learned that and if he can share some tips with the rest of us."
Cline said the company has 30 to 35 seminars annually. The "Get Motivated" series often has many of the same speakers, such as Ziglar, Forbes, Suze Orman, Giuliani, Colin Powell, Robert Schuller and Tom Hopkins. One Web site reported that Giuliani had spoken at "Get Motivated" seminars in 13 states between March and November of last year alone.
Sederberg picked up 10 tickets for a total of $49 and later was presented with 10 more free from the company.
But how much money did it take to land Stockton? Stockton could not be reached for comment this week, and Cline declined to provide figures for any of the speakers.
"I'm sure it depends on who they are and how often they do it with us," she said.
For some gauge, the All American Talent & Celebrity Network's Web site said Ziglar's appearance fee is $50,001 and above. A couple of Internet sites report that former NFL and Brigham Young University great Steve Young commands an appearance fee of $55,000 plus first-class travel from San Francisco.
Still, thousands of people get motivated to attend the seminars, turning them into spectacles complete with massive traffic tie-ups. One Web site noted that last year's event in Dallas drew 65,000 people, while Nashville had 23,000, Kansas City had 24,000 and Philadelphia had 22,000. About 30,000 attended a seminar in June in Oklahoma City.
Count Sederberg among those excited about Tuesday's affair.
"That's one thing cool about being in Utah," he said. "There are a lot of really good meetings, like with the Utah Technology Council and the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum. They have good speakers at their events. I've benefited from listening to good speakers and learning from them, and I'm excited to hear from Giuliani, Steve Forbes and Zig Ziglar."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com