The Denver Forum

One of the best ways to evaluate a speaking forum is to talk with people who have been there before, so I talked with three recent speakers or the CorpComm people who handled the event for them to get their honest feedback about The Denver Forum.

I first talked with Marty Meehan, former Congressman from Massachusetts, now Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The date of his speech was October 9, 2009.

From your perspective, Marty, how did it go at The Denver Forum?

"Couldn't have been better from my point of view. I was exceptionally pleased."

How many did you have in your audience?

"I had about 70 at the Luncheon. George (Mitrovich, founder and president) had invited some students as well. The Q&A was quite lively and insightful. One of the finest events I've participated in in a long time."

Did any media attend?

"No media, but a lot can be said about not having the media attend events like this. I find that if you really want to know what's on peoples' minds and if you really want to discuss the issue at hand, sometimes it's best not to have the media present. Without the media there, people seem to open up more and ask harder questions and that's what I wanted."

If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?

"Not much, really. If I get a chance to go back, I might reach out to the Denver media, but that would depend on the purpose of the talk. Again, a lot can be said about having an open conversation without having a third party in the room. I can't think of anything I would do differently, really. It was a wonderful opportunity for networking, the event was well managed, and the Oxford Hotel where my event was held was exceptional, so from my personal perspective, I can't think of anything that I would have changed."

Snell & Wilmer attorney, Ron Rossi, directs a question at a recent luncheon

I also talked with John Christiansen, Manager, External Communications for Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum. John handled arrangements for his CEO's speech in Denver on November 4, 2009.


John, Jim Hackett, your CEO, spoke at The Denver Forum back in November. How did it go?

"I think it went really well, actually. We had a good crowd, about 70 people, and the Q&A was really good. I didn't actually attend, but that was the feedback I got.

Why The Denver Forum?

"We have a good message about natural gas and the role it will play in this country's energy future and Denver and Colorado are very energy and environmentally conscience and The Denver Forum made a nice fit. And, of course, Denver is the State Capitol and we had a chance to show off our new natural gas car."

Did you post Jim's speech on your website?

We did as an audio. We didn't video the speech.

Why didn't you get some video?

We didn't need to, really.

Could you have had you wanted to?

I'm sure we could have. Andre Carter actually attended the speech, I didn't. Give him a call if you want to know about how the room is set up. (I did, and Andre said the room is good for video if you use a small camera. Nothing the size of a TV camera with a tripod would work because it would be too intrusive, but a small camera would do just fine.)

If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?

I would probably attend myself.

To get a third perspective, I talked with Ashton Clarke, Development Associate at the PBS affiliate in Denver. Doug Price, President & CEO of Rocky Mountain PBS, delivered a speech at The Denver Forum on December 10, 2009.

Ashton, you attended Doug's speech. How did it go?

I think it went just fine. We were at the Oxford Hotel and we had a pretty good crowd.

How many people were there?

We had about 45. Small, but really high quality. The Q&A was exceptional. They are a very intelligent group of people, from the depth of the questions Doug was asked.

Can you give me an idea of the average age and gender of the audience?

It looked to be an even mix of men and women. I'd guess the average age was about 50. Mostly business and civic leaders. I remember the District Attorney was there.

If Doug gets a chance to go back, would you do anything differently?

Well, things ran a little long. We ran about an hour and 45 minutes and people were ready to get back to work and we had to cut the Q&A short as a result. So if I would do anything differently, it would be to work on the time management aspects.

To wrap it up, I talked with George Mitrovich, Founder and President of The Denver Forum.

George, tell me about The Denver Forum.

The Denver Forum was established on March 1, 1985. Our first speaker was Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming. We do an average of 20 events a year. All Luncheons. All at the Oxford Hotel. You can go to our website and see who our former speakers were.

How do you select your speakers?

Anybody who has something interesting to say and who can say it in an interesting way is welcome at The Denver Forum. We don't do boredom intentionally, so it's important to pay attention to those two fundamentals.

What kind of materials would you like to see from prospective speakers? Some video, past speeches?

Those are helpful, but not required. Just send a short paragraph of what you want to say, a short bio, and that's about it. But again, the topic must be interesting. And I was able to see Jim Hackett on YouTube for instance, so sending video isn't really necessary.

How can people get in touch with you?

303-832-9030 or go to our website. All my contact information is on there. http://www.thedenverforum.com/



Credits: All photographs courtesy of Joshua Langlais. You can find out more about Joshua at http://www.iheartstrangers.com/