2019 has already ushered in a reason to celebrate, as it will be the 10th anniversary edition of our Voices of Vision event series. As you might recall, when we started this, we had several criteria that guided the program.

Each year, Voices of Vision is an annual event that brings nationally recognized, world-thought visionaries to the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo area. Hosting these types of well-known speakers not only offers the community the opportunity to hear and see a variety of public figures, but also gives visibility to our region and showcases our metro. Voices of Vision is about bringing together people from all walks of life, political persuasions, opinion leaders, political leaders and business leaders.

I am so proud to say that over the first nine years of hosting this event, it’s clear that we have found a successful series that is needed in our market, and that our expectations were exceeded. To some that felt this couldn’t be done—well, we did it!

The challenge with a series like this is fourfold: Identifying a well-known and interesting speaker to resonate with our audience; matching a speaker’s schedule against our event calendar; ensuring a diverse lineup of individuals that cover a range of topics, industries and experiences; and securing a local venue that is available.

As with many of our events, we try to strike a healthy balance in who takes the stage, keeping in mind age, gender and racial diversity. What we’ve found is that men tend to be easier to book and more affordable, coupled with the fact that a much lower percentage of high-profile women are in the speaking circuit.

If you’ve been at this event before, you know that we always ask who you want to see next. This has been a successful practice. Interestingly, we have noticed definite trends in the suggestions that come our way. Athletes and politicians tend to top the list year after year. We also make sure that everyone who is selected is an accomplished businessperson.

This year, we pulled out all the stops to secure former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as she has been consistently the most highly requested. We found that she requires nearly a year advance booking, so we decided to pursue our second-most requested speaker over the years—a man who is known as not only an outstanding NFL quarterback, but a truly principled and well-liked family and business man. We have already begun the quest to secure Condi for next year’s event.

We are confident that Peyton Manning will be incredible on the Voices of Vision stage. Don’t forget to CATCH your tickets to see him in November. I hope to see you there!