
Ben Glenn has been speaking professionally since 1995. With two decades of experience, his charisma and energy have allowed him to gain the confidence and understanding that is essential to connecting with an audience. He specializes in motivational speaking for faith-based, educational, and corporate events.
Video of Ben Glenn
Enjoy a little sneak peek from Ben Glenn:
1. What does your company do and what makes is different than others like it?
My company is all about inspiring people to be the best version of themselves. To be okay with being different. To turn challenging times into victories. I know I'm not the only speaker out there who gets on stage with the hope of having the audience leave inspired at the end of my presentation, but what what sets me apart is something which very, very few people do - I would guess fewer than 10 in the whole world - and that is: creating a beautiful landscape drawing - a Speedscape - on a huge 6x8 foot canvas, live in front of the audience in about 10 minutes. If you've never seen something like this, it is definitely an experience that sticks with you. There's just something really powerful and surprising about seeing the process unfold. The "creation" coupled with the music, then seeing the finished product appear so rapidly really helps people remember my message for years after the event, and believe it or not, it all ties in perfectly with my message!
2. What lead you to your current career and how long have you been in the field?
I met my mentor, Bill Leach, when I was just a kid in high school, and he got me started on the path of creating these beautiful drawings live in front of the audience - his generation called it chalk art, I call it Speedscaping. He was already in his 70s when I met him; didn't have any family, but before he passed away, he gave me his chalk art equipment and supplies, plus contact info to some of his camp clients. I guess I picked up where he left off. This was almost 20 years ago and I dropped out of college to pursue the speaking circuit full time. Started with summer camps, and churches, then went on to do lots of school assemblies, then teachers and parents, and now that I've gotten so much older and wiser, I work with a lot of corporate clients. ;)
3. What is your most memorable event/project? Why?
Hard to narrow it down to just one - there have been a handful! Traveling to Thailand to speak at a MDRT event, and having to stop after every couple of sentences so that the translator who was up on stage with me, could translate what I was saying was memorable for how awkward it was. All my jokes came with a 2 minute delay in response. Very unsatisfying! Another one that sticks out was facing 70,000 pairs of eyeballs at the Silverdome in Detroit. It was surreal seeing so many people all in one place watching me. Thank God for the jumbotrons - I must have looked like a tiny speck to the people in the nosebleed section! There was another one I remember because it was such a tiny group - maybe 15-20 people, and it was all adults in their 40s and 50s, and I had to have been 26 or 27 - completely intimidated to be in such close to proximity with people who I thought for sure were sitting there thinking, "What's this kid going to tell me, I don't already know!?"
4. What is one thing people do not know about you?
That I can run gas, electric and plumbing. My wife and I bought a fixer up when we moved to Indianapolis in 1999. We didn't have the money, so I ended up pretty much doing everything with my own two hands, and learning how to do it as I went, by reading how-to books. It's amazing that I lived to tell! There were some close calls!
5. If you were not in your current career, what would be your dream job?
I actually really love almost everything (except for the travel part) about my job. It's a perfect match with my ADHD traits. I love the variety, and never having one event be like any other. I enjoy performing and it's always gratifying when I get great feedback, or get speaking requests from adults who saw me back when they were in junior high, and now want to bring in me in to speak to their employees or students. Those particular speaking requests also make me feel really old, but it's definitely flattering to get them, and makes the job not only fun, but personally satisfying on many different levels.
6. Anything else you would like us readers to know about you?
Probably the most random thing is that in the last couple of years I have really gotten into designing and coding educational and fun game apps. I never thought I'd have the patience to sit and stare at the computer for hours at a time, but strangely I've learned that I really enjoy the process. I was largely inspired to do the apps because of my daughters - especially the educational ones. My 3rd grader was struggling with spelling, as I did when I was in school. Back then, the technology did not exist, but I can imagine how much I could have been helped if my spelling drills were gamefied, so I decided to try my hand at it, and it totally worked. After my daughter had been using the app to help with memorizing her list of weekly words, for a few weeks, the teacher emailed and asked, "What exactly is this app?? Annie has gone from getting more than half of the words wrong on the quizzes, to almost 100% accuracy!" I knew then, that making apps to help my kids was going to be something I'd be sticking with for a while.
See Ben Glenn in action at the January Monthly Luncheon - January 20, 2016 from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM at Indiana Landmarks Center!
Happy Holidays!
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