Who Has A Motive?

Today, at the Staples Center, they're holding an all-day Get Motivated!* seminar.  Quite a few big names will be speaking:  Bill Cosby, Joe Montana, Laura Bush, Lou Holtz, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and others.  They will appear in person and, one assumes, get the audience motivated.

Here are some of the motivations they may be giving attendees:

•How to Have the Commitment and Passion of Champions
•The Seven Secrets of Persuasion
•Ways to Stay On Task Until You Reach Your Goal
•The Vital Ingredients to Building Your Winning Team
•Increase Performance in Tough Times with Inexpensive Yet Effective Incentives
•How to Develop Mental Toughness
•How to Turn Setbacks into Comebacks

Sounds like people will be getting their money's worth. At least those who like seeing big names live giving speeches to motivate them.

I don't think I've ever attended a motivational speech (it's possible I went to one and didn't notice), so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.  But it seems to me if there was no such thing as a motivational speaker, nothing would change except we'd save the money that goes into these events.

Who was the first motivational speaker to make a living at it?  Brilliant idea.  But a whole industry built around the concept?  In fact, this side of books teaching you how to write a screenplay, is there any industry less necessary?

PS  The ad I linked to claims tickets are as low as $1.95 but notes tickets at the door are $225.  That's quite a penalty for not ordering in advance.

*Pajama Guy is not an official representative of Get Motivated! nor does it claim to speak for Get Motivated! in any way.