20 Little Known Facts about MLK & his Speech

Let's take a break from event planning for a moment and commemorate one of the most important and influential events in history: Martin Luther King, Jr's unforgettable speech during the March on Washington. Today is the 50th anniversary of that speech and sites all over the nation will be honoring the date with bells around 3:00 PM EST - the hour which the speech was delivered.

 Photo credit: architecture.about.com

In honor of the day, we provide you with some facts about MLK and his speech that you may not have known.

10 Little Known Facts about MLK Himself

       1. King was born Michael King, Jr., but he later changed it in honor of protestant leader Martin Luther.

       2. He skipped two high school grades and entered college at age 15! He received his bachelors degree at age 19.

       3. After college, he considered being a doctor or lawyer rather than a minister.

       4. He got a C in his public speaking class at seminary.

       5. Over the 12 years preceding his death, King gave 2,500 speeches and traveled over 6 million miles.

       6. King was jailed 29 times for acts of civil disobedience and on trumped-up charges.

       7. There are over 900 streets named after MLK.

       8. At age 35, he is the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

       9. He donated the full amount of the prize (the equivalent of about $400,000 today) to the Civil Rights movement.

     10. The only other person go to have a national holiday in their honor is George Washington.

10 Little Known Facts about the Speech

       1. Nearly 250,000 people assembled for the March on Washington.

       2. Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man at the time, organized the march in less than two months and was very 
          active in other civil rights demonstrations. He will be awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.

       3. Famous actor/singer Harry Belafonte recruited other celebrities to attend the event, including Marlon Brando,
          Charlton Heston, Sidney Poitier, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

       4. 12 hours before the speech, King was not sure what he was going to say.

       5. He used references from sources including the Bible, Shakespeare, the Declaration of Independence, as well 
          as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation.

       6. The most famous lines of MLK's speech - "I have a dream" - were not part of the speech and were ad libbed.

       7. In fact, King had used the same words at a speech in Detroit earlier that year and was discouraged from 
          using the theme again by his adviser.

       8. Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, in the passion of the moment, shouted to King, "Tell 'em about the dream, 
          Martin." The rest is history.

       9. Drafts of King's speech were called "Normalcy Never Again" and "A Cancelled Check." 

     10. In 1999, MLK's speech was voted as the best speech of the 20th century, as voted by a panel of 130 
          scholars. It beat out John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what you can do" speech. 

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Unusual Contract Clauses

So I was browsing Facebook the other day and saw an article called 51 Pieces of Movie Trivia You May Not Know. While there are plenty of interesting items on the list, one that stuck out was this: 

Pierce Brosnan was contractually forbidden from wearing a full tuxedo in any non-James Bond movie from 1995-2002.

Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999, sans bow tie.

Given the branding of the James Bond franchise, it actually kind of makes sense. The studio didn't want another film profiting off the James Bond image. Makes sense.

How about this one? In 2000, the New York Mets waived Bobby Bonilla, whom they owed almost $6 million that season. The team and Bonilla came to a deal to defer payment until 2011...but with interest. To pay off his deal, the team agreed to pay him nearly $1.2 million a year from 2011-2035, meaning that a Major League Baseball team would be paying a player at the "I still have some game, you whippersnappers" age of 73!

What's this have to do with event professionals?

Well, as event professionals we've all had our share of difficult, needy, paranoid, or just weird clients. We've also had to deal with other vendors and their demands.

So what are some of the strangest contract clauses you've seen in a contract? Maybe you even put one in to protect yourself against a shady client. Any unreasonable non-compete clauses? Or facility requirements demanding an exorbitant amount of liability insurance? Anything just straight up weird?

Share your experiences below.

And don't forget, with Inspherio you can enter all the terms and conditions you want - ridiculous or not - into your contract template in Inspherio.

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Getting tech-sy at PlannerTech

For those of you who could not attend or simply may not be aware, happening today in NYC is the the premier Event Tech Conference and Showcase - PlannerTech.

Presented by Liz King Events, PlannerTech's goal is to educate professionals in the event industry on how technology can be strategically implemented to improve the efficiency of events and/or have a lasting impact on event guests. It's a great product and one that continues to grow each year.

In addition to educational speakers, PlannerTech partners with many exhibitors who can showcase their new event tech. While Inspherio is an outstanding tool for the beginning-to-end planning process, there are several other great tools you can utilize that offer other creative services once the event begins. For example, CoatChex is the first and only digital ticketless coat/bag service; they've taken a traditional service and made it more efficient using technology.

Inspherio uses the same concept. We've taken what you already do and made it much more efficient. Instead of scribbling down information on notepads, sticky notes, spreadsheets, and emails, Inspherio allows you to keep all your information organized in one central, web-based location. Instead of having to create, amend, fax, and sign client contracts, Inspherio automatically generates it for you and allows both you and your client to digitally sign. Instead of you forgetting whether or not that invoice has been sent or the payment received, Inspherio will act as your personal assistant and keep track of each lead or event's status. Not to mention, like most of the other event techs, we are completely mobile for your iPhone or Android.

For more information on PlannerTech, its speakers, and exhibitors, check out PlannerTech.com. If you want to follow everything going on, or if you are attending and want to share what you've learned, utilize hashtags #plannertech and #techsytalk.

And as always, check Inspherio and its benefits and sign-up for a 30-day free trial!

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Our New Vice President of Operations

The Inspherio Team is thrilled to announce that Glenn Durand has been promoted from Director of Business Management Products to Vice President of Operations for Span Enterprises.  Glenn joined Span Enterprises in 2010 and has faithfully served as the Product Manager for Inspherio, UnitWise, and UnitHub these past 3 years.  

As we continue to create new products, and expand our team at Span Enterprises, Glenn will be responsible for our day-to-day operations as well as our new product development.  Over the past few years, we have seen our company grow from just a few people to the large team that it is today.  Glenn has played an integral part in training our dedicated team at Span, and we are confident that he will continue to impart his wisdom to all of our future employees.

As Vice President of Operations, Glenn will continue working with Inspherio, as well as our many other products including UnitWise, UnitHub, Express Extension, ExpressTruckTax, ExpressTaxFilings, ExpressIFTA, and the upcoming UnitWise International, Span Command, and Truck Logics.

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