Posts: 597
From: Morris County, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 01-23-2008 10:10 AM               

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I may have the opportunity to bring Ken Mattingly in to speak at a function at work. Has anyone heard him speak? Any thoughts? Topic would be on leadership - to an audience of space and non-space followers. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

CDDFSPACE

Posts: 914
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003

Posts: 588
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 01-23-2008 12:06 PM               

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I interviewed him for the JSC Oral History project, which obviously isn't the same as public speaking, but from my experience I'd say he'd do a great job. I don't think he's as dynamics as, say, Jim Lovell, but he is very thoughtful, reflective, and highly organized. He was also honest about not being the quickest person to pick things up, so he made up for it through very hard work. You can check out his interviews here.

Cheers,

Kevin

Posts: 3090
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-23-2008 12:33 PM            

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I've heard him speak twice - once as the solo keynoter, and once as part of a panel. Both times he was excellent. His presentation on the Apollo 13 mission (to young college kids) was great - he took the audience through the whole mission in vivid detail. He sounds a lot less "canned" than many public speakers, a lot more from the heart.

He's a very humble guy as a public speaker, one of those guys who is evidently drawing himself out a little bit from his usual zone to do public speaking. For example, for his Apollo 13 talk, it was only in the Q+A at the end that someone asked him, so, did you ever get to fly in space yourself, and he gave some of those experiences!

Posts: 348
From: Chattanooga, TN
Registered: Dec 2007

posted 01-23-2008 12:33 PM            

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gilbert:
He was addressing a crowd of about 200, who were mostly Auburn University engineers.

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I don't know...I mean, you have to consider the crowd and such.

(Roll Tide!)