In 2016, I started a mission to see as many new cities in the United States as possible and to date, I have been to:
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- San Francisco, California
- Kansas City, Missouri
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Chicago, Illinois
- Atlanta, Georgia
I also have confirmed travel plans to visit Dallas, Texas and Cleveland, Ohio with approximately 10 other major US cities on my bucket list. You can pretty much assume that I am want to visit all of the cities with a professional baseball, football, or basketball team.
I am doing all of this through my public speaking engagements in my industry. I have met my peers from other cities and have both learned from them and taught them in my sessions. Whether you want to visit major cities in your own country or foreign countries, public speaking is very rewarding and it does provide a way to see other areas that you may not normally think of taking your family. I have traveled with my family to Disney World and Las Vegas, but have never thought of bringing them to Jacksonville or Kansas City. However, these cities are excellent for business conferences and business conferences need public speakers. Sometimes you get reimbursed your travel expenses and sometimes you don’t. Just as I would never think of spending my hard earned money on airfare and hotels just to visit these cities as a conference attendee, I have greatly improved my public speaking experience with this personal policy and I always spend an extra day or two just after the conference just seeing the sites. I also like to shoot videos of the cities that I visit.
So, in conclusion, this is the perfect way to see any area you’d like. Google conferences and meetups in that area for your own field of expertise and see if they pay their speakers. This could be a great way to travel the world or your country for very little money.
This is a video from a local St. Louis resident who attended my public speaking session.
