Nope. I was at Boca when Clinton gave his first paid post-presidency speech, for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. It was closed to the press. There were a lot of reporters in the area, and I think any of them would happily have blown me for my ticket, but they weren’t even allowed on the grounds of the resort. The Morgan guys were not happy at all about the press (in fact, the CEO later apologized and the guy in charge of the conference retired).
It’s all about the customers (me!). They pay him ~$130,000 because First Boston paid $100,000 and got Colin Powell, who did it because Bank of America Bank paid X and got someone, and so on. And everyone wants to have the best conference – the best speakers, the best golf courses, the best presenters, the best entertainment, etc.
Hell, the next night they paid John Mellencamp ~$300,000, and he didn’t even stick around and schmooze.
Hi Guys. My curiosity centers around what stoid said–I am interested in the content of these speeches. Are they morale boosters? Success coaching a la Tony Robbins? Learned expositions on policy and world affairs? Humorous personal anecdotes? All of the above? A few months ago Clinton spoke for free at a certain NY High School graduation. I didn’t hear it, but I can imagine a wonderful motivational speech. I’m curious at the content of a $150,000 speech.
So, Margaret Thatcher spoke at my college graduation (1997). I don’t know hw much they paid her, she held an honorary position atmy college at the time, so she might have done it at a greatly reduced rate. Who knows?
Anyhoo, she gave a very funny speech relating to how life never turns out the way you expect (her first job post-college was in a chemistry lab while a fellow graduate who claimed “he was going to be prime minister” was never heard from again.). Right around this time there was something big politically happening back in England, but she never went into politics.
I’m sure they tailor the content to their audience. (ie one type of speech for graduations, another for corporations, another for education settings other than graduations, etc.)
Clinton is a great public speaker, so whatever he said at least it wouldn’t be a snooze.
I understand Reagan would like to give another speech soon. He wants to make public the fact he has Alzheimers.
Couldn’t in some cases the fees speakers like Clinton receive be considered “payback?” In other words, it’s not like the funder and audience are expecting to hear something new and enlightening as much as they’re just saying thank you for his service in the past?
King Rat, by attending I promised not to talk about the specifics of his speech. But generally, he gave an hour-long talk on the successes and failures of his administration (including some admissions that were clearly painful for him to make; his autobiography should be a doozy), his views of the challenges facing the new administration and the world economy and his view of what we, the audience, ought to be doing. He told a couple jokes, shared some inside anecdotes and generally did a fine job.
Then he took about a half-hour of questions from the audience, including some tough ones about Mark Rich (the Street was not happy to see that guy let off the hook).
Then he signed autographs for over an hour, and schmoozed for another hour after that. He really lived up to his reputation as the hardest working man in politics.
In addition, Morgan arranged for him to have a private dinner with top management and a few particularly big clients/potential clients, and a round of golf with a few really, really, really big clients.
All in all, a much better bargain than John “45 minute set, run through my greatest-hits album, sneer the whole time and catch the first Gulfstream V outta here” Mellencamp.