IN THE ROUGH was plan the company’s year-end sales
People need to live life in the pres- recognition event. She was pretty good
ent, according to Parrado. “This is the at her job, too, regularly cranking out
only experience in life you get. Yes, well-attended and well-received events
bad things can happen, and sometimes that seemed to get better each year. But
people will ask, ‘Why me?’ Well, I say, then one day her boss issued a challenge.
‘Why not?’ Sometimes you win the lot- “He comes up to me and asks, ‘So
tery. Sometimes you win the bad lottery. who are we going to have speaking next
Life is like a jigsaw puzzle. Some of the year?’” Davis recalls. “And I said, ‘Well,
pieces are beautiful. Some are not so I haven’t really thought about it.’ So
beautiful.”
This may seem to
be the kind of message most any motivational speaker
could deliver. Then
again, few have a
story nearly as compelling as Parrado’s.
And it’s that story that
sells the message—
keeping his audiences
on the edge of their
seats as he talks of suffering, loss, perseverance,
survival and hope.
His appearances have
literally changed and have
even saved lives. He’s got
the letters and emails to
prove it. Some people see
Parrado speak and, from
that point forward, claim
to live happier, fuller lives.
“I think the story
has transcended time,”
Parrado says. “It’s like the
Titanic story, with the only
clockwise from top left:
Parrado as a young athlete;
difference being that I am
Parrado with Gail davis and
alive—we are alive. I mean,
NSA members christine
cashen, MAEd, cSP, and
how many people would love
Randy Shaw; Parrado tak-
to speak with a Titanic sur- ing a spin before the crash;
Parrado and davis.
vivor? I would love to hear
their story.”
Amazingly, Parrado’s story might
not be reaching these audiences were
it not for the dogged determination of
one woman who was desperately seeking a keynote speaker for an event that,
under orders of her boss, had to be
spectacular.
In 1994, Gail Davis was working as
the events director for EDS, and the
TO SPEAKER
Davis and a friend rented a movie one
night, titled “Alive.”
“Early in the movie, my friend said,
‘That’s the guy you should get for the
event,’” Davis recalls. “It was just one
of those great moments. For me, the
movie was such an emotional story
about the power of the human spirit,
and I was very drawn to that side of it.
But it’s also an incredible story about
leadership and creativity. And you take
all of that together, and it’s got a very
broad appeal.”
Davis knew
Parrado would make
a great speaker. Her
biggest challenge, it
turned out, was con-
vincing him of that.
As far as Parrado
was concerned, once
he was rescued from
the Andes—that part
of his life was over. He
didn’t feel like talk-
ing about it to anybody.
This was, after all, a
disaster—an event that
stole away his mother,
sister and many of his
closest friends.
By the time Davis approached
Parrado about headlining the EDS
event, he had only spoken publicly
about his ordeal once—at a con-
vention of the prestigious Young
Presidents Organization three years
earlier. Though the speech went
remarkably well—“I spoke for
two hours, and nobody moved,”
Parrado says. He still wasn’t com-
fortable; however, with the idea of
making a living talking about the
worst two months of his life.
But Davis was determined, pursuing him relentlessly even when he said
he wasn’t interested. Her chase continued for six months, and even as the
date of the EDS event approached,
Parrado could not promise Davis that
he would make it. Davis went ahead
and had promotional materials printed
then he says, ‘Well, I have a couple of
thoughts. I’d like you find somebody
that everyone would like to hear but
haven’t heard yet. I’m tired of the same
old, same old. I want someone unique.’
That was his mission.”
By extension, it became Davis’ mission, too. How would she fulfill it?
Then fate intervened.
