Jimmy Lea is Now a Certified Speaking Professional. How Does One Become a CSP?
Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
What's up, Jimmy Lea?
Jimmy Lea [00:00:07]:
Staying live, brother. Staying alive. How are you, Braxton?
Braxton Critcher [00:00:10]:
I'm good. So, you know one thing I've noticed.
Jimmy Lea [00:00:13]:
What's that?
Braxton Critcher [00:00:15]:
So the previous Jimmy Lee that I knew wore sparkly suit coats with glitter on them. And the Jimmy Lee that now is a certified spark speaker wears nice suit coats. Just pointing that out.
Jimmy Lea [00:00:33]:
Just pointing that out. Well, yeah, I guess we're not on a stage today. This. The. The sparkly jackets are definitely for the stage and the conference and the trade shows. And when you're lounging around at home, you want to have a nice, good jacket.
Braxton Critcher [00:00:45]:
Yeah. And you did just say, too, when I am presenting, I'm standing. And you were like, are we going to stand or sit? Because that's a different conversation. It made more relaxed. So I guess this is your sitting.
Jimmy Lea [00:00:59]:
This is my sitting jacket, yeah.
Braxton Critcher [00:01:01]:
And your standing jacket is the glittery one that you loaned to Jeff Compton.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:06]:
Yes. Jeff Compton stole my jacket. It is in Canada right now.
Braxton Critcher [00:01:11]:
Yeah. Wasn't he supposed to mail that to you?
Jimmy Lea [00:01:13]:
Yeah, he was supposed to bring it to Sema Apex. He totally forgot. Hopefully he remembers to bring it to Africa. Pasta in North Carolina.
Braxton Critcher [00:01:24]:
Are you going to Tools?
Jimmy Lea [00:01:26]:
I am going. Is he going to Tools?
Braxton Critcher [00:01:27]:
He's going to be at Tools.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:29]:
Well, we need to make sure he.
Braxton Critcher [00:01:31]:
Brings it and tell him, hey, Jimmy needs his standing, presenting, glittery jacket. Can you give it to him?
Jimmy Lea [00:01:39]:
Yeah. Bring it. Bring it to Tools. Bring it to Pennsylvania. Yeah. Because I'm going to get him a jacket just like it that's not going to look like a fat man in a tiny coat. He needs a 2x or a 3x. He's a big boy.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:55]:
I mean, he's not very tall, but he's. He's stout.
Braxton Critcher [00:01:58]:
He's strong dude.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:59]:
Yeah.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:00]:
He's built to work on cars. You and I are built to talk to a camera.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:05]:
Right, Right.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:06]:
There's a difference.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:07]:
Yeah. We've got the beauty.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:09]:
Back in the day before, the lifts were really good, you know, you just had brute force to get a car onto a lift. And that was Jeff, so.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:17]:
Oh, I'm sure he carries a transmission under one arm. He's not trying to heft it with two hands like you and I. Yeah, no.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:24]:
Well, what I would do is I would just call Jeff and have him come help me, because I would not even try myself. But Jeff can handle it. Jeff is Jeff Compton. He can handle the transmission on his own.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:33]:
Oh, right. And he'd hold it up with his left hand while he was wrenching with his right hand.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:37]:
Sure. Just to show off.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:40]:
Yeah, yeah.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:40]:
Well. Or do a podcast while doing that.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:42]:
Yeah, There you go.
Braxton Critcher [00:02:46]:
Well, my guest is obviously Jimmy Lee from the Institute, and I think this is your first time on Automotive Repair News today. Am I wrong on that?
Jimmy Lea [00:02:55]:
That is correct. This is our first interview with the. The Automotive Repair News. I'm a longtime listener. First time caller. Yeah.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:06]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's. You finally did something newsworthy, Jimmy.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:10]:
Finally. You know, that's what it takes. If that's what it takes. Yeah, I. I thoroughly enjoy the. The platform, and I was a little bit. I don't know how much I like the new. The new platform of the discussion, the conversation.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:25]:
I like the news being read.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:28]:
Oh, so you like the old way?
Jimmy Lea [00:03:30]:
I do like the old way.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:31]:
You're the first person that said that.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:33]:
I know, but I'm also an NPR fan. I've been an NPR fan for 25 years.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:39]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:40]:
So it was very comfortable. It was a comfy spot for me.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:44]:
Maybe, maybe once a month I'll do a NPR style just for Jimmy.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:49]:
Jimmy, this is your version today.
Braxton Critcher [00:03:52]:
Yeah. Because everybody else is. I like it. It's easier for me and it sounds more natural and just flows better with me. But everybody else has said they like the relaxed conversational style, too. But I guess there's. There's always one oddball out.
Jimmy Lea [00:04:06]:
There's always one. And if I'm that oddball, I just hope I'm your favorite oddball.
Braxton Critcher [00:04:11]:
You are, because you're. You're the only. But you are my favorite. So, hey, if you email Jimmy Lee beside his. I saw this when I checked your email this morning. You've already changed it. But if you did, Jimmy Lee, it's comma CSP now because he is a certified speaking professional.
Jimmy Lea [00:04:33]:
Yes.
Braxton Critcher [00:04:35]:
And you told me about this maybe six months ago, and I. I have never looked into being a CSP myself. Don't know if that's a big boost for a podcaster. Maybe it is, but I. How long does it take to get certified? And what kind of classes and training and certification prep do you have to go through? Because this I am, you know, pretty ignorant when it comes to CSPs. I've always just saw the comma CSP and was like, oh, that guy's legit, but didn't know what kind work it took to get there.
Jimmy Lea [00:05:07]:
Yeah, well, and that's like, when people see that you're an Eagle Scout or they see that you're a Marine, they don't know exactly what goes into it. But they know that that means you've done some stuff to get some recognition in those areas.
Braxton Critcher [00:05:20]:
The one thing I do know is when it's, pa or you know, doctor or something, I'm like, that was a lot of work. And the folks who I know who have gone through those programs, you earned it. I'm not willing to do that for what they've done to their, their bodies and their financial situation. But anyway, anyway, csp, what, what in the world do you have to do to get that?
Jimmy Lea [00:05:46]:
So let's start it by telling you that last year I failed. I did not pass my CSP last year. Yeah. So I, I applied a year ago and did not pass. So six months ago when I told you that I had reapplied again for my csp, this was a reapplication. This was me going for it again. So the full effect of this that they take into consideration for those going to apply for their CSP is the last 10 years. So in the last 10 years you would have to have given 250 speeches, 250 presentations.
Jimmy Lea [00:06:28]:
I, my list was 425 for the last 10 years. So pretty legit. Pretty good. Not bad. I have a friend up in Northern Utah, Christophe Merrill, turning in his CSP this year and he failed at the same level that I did last year, which was his video. His list of 250 was 1800 presentations in the last 10 years.
Braxton Critcher [00:07:00]:
Explain that to me again, I'm confused. 1800, you have to have 250 speaking performances.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:08]:
Yes. So I started, I had 425 in the last 10 years. So what? 4050 per year.
Braxton Critcher [00:07:19]:
So you didn't, you didn't fail because you didn't meet the minimum requirement. You failed for some other reason.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:26]:
Right? Because there's, there's three, four different phases that you have to go through to get your CSP.
Braxton Critcher [00:07:31]:
And that's like phase one.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:33]:
Phase one is your 250. So both he and I passed our 250. No problem. Phase two is to have at least 20 people that would verify and bonafy and, and, and support you as a public speaker, that they would say, yes, they, this person is good, we would rehire them. We would absolutely have them back to present to us again. So both he and I passed on that one this year. Phase three is your video. So you either turn in two 20 minute videos or one 40 minute video.
Jimmy Lea [00:08:11]:
And in that 40 minute video you are reviewed by other certified speaking professionals. They're looking at you to see Are you of the caliber? Are you of the quality that says you are putting forward your best foot? Right. So the first year, mine failed because I had a live recording. Is my cell phone set up in the corner of the room? I had audio on me, but the audience did not. So anytime somebody was asking a question, I look like a deer in the headlights. But I wasn't saying anything. And you couldn't hear the audience. You couldn't hear the question.
Jimmy Lea [00:08:50]:
They were too far away.
Braxton Critcher [00:08:52]:
So to an audio concern.
Jimmy Lea [00:08:56]:
Oh, it's more than that. Audio and video. So the lighting wasn't very good. It was in a breakout room. So the lighting, it wasn't a stage, it was a breakout room.
Braxton Critcher [00:09:07]:
Right.
Jimmy Lea [00:09:08]:
Couldn't see me very well. Couldn't see the slides very well. Uh, it looked like the audience that was in the frame. It wasn't very many people there, even though there were more. So you didn't get any audience view. So I talked to a couple other CSPs and they said, hey, you know what you should really do is turn in a virtual event. In a virtual event, I am well lit, I'm well microphoned. I have a narrator, I have engagement.
Jimmy Lea [00:09:34]:
You can see the entire registration of everybody that's registered. The engagement comes through the chat. Those chats go back and forth. And so you can see that high level of energy, engagement influence that you're having and engaging with the audience. So that's what I did this year is I turned in my presentation as a 40 minute video with my online presentation. Thank you to Covid. The Zoom presentation has finally got its day in the sunlight. And you're allowed to turn in virtual events as well as part of your.
Braxton Critcher [00:10:14]:
What's the fourth level?
Jimmy Lea [00:10:17]:
You have to pass the fourth level. So after you get your video approved, it goes in front of the board.
Braxton Critcher [00:10:23]:
And so you never got to level four the year before.
Jimmy Lea [00:10:26]:
The year before. I did not know. I failed at level three, same as my buddy Chris.
Braxton Critcher [00:10:30]:
I wonder how common that is.
Jimmy Lea [00:10:32]:
18. That is the most common level that people fail at is at.
Braxton Critcher [00:10:37]:
Because I feel like that's unfortunate because it is. Because the video quality and the audio quality may say something about the AV guy in the back, but it doesn't really say anything about you as a certified speaking professional.
Jimmy Lea [00:10:52]:
Yeah, yeah. And I agree with you. And that was my feedback as well. As I said, somebody told me I could set up a camera on a tripod in the back of the room because it was about me as a presenter, not about me as a videographer.
Braxton Critcher [00:11:07]:
Yeah, Right, That's. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:11:08]:
So to hire a videographer, you're anywhere from 2000, 4000, $6000 to get somebody to come in and video your presentation, do all the editing, put in the B roll, put in, synchronize the sound. Well, that's another thing, too. On the sound or on the video, it had to be a full, full streamline of the entire video. So your audio had to be 100 the whole time. If you did switch to a B roll to get the audience reaction to a question or a comment or concern or raising hands or any engagement, that audio had to be consistent throughout. So you couldn't snip things. Except for if you were doing a training session and you say, all right, for the next five minutes, we're all going to journal about doing xyz. In your video presentation, you would just throw up a slide that says breakout.
Jimmy Lea [00:11:59]:
Five minutes personal time. All right, now we're back from five minutes. And you would have to introduce that again. So.
Braxton Critcher [00:12:05]:
Right. So, yeah, that's just kind of crazy to me.
Jimmy Lea [00:12:10]:
But anyway, yeah, it is. And this is a very prestigious award for you to have this recognition in the world. There's. According to ChatGPT and Google, if you Google it, there's between 40 and 50,000 professional speakers globally in the United States. There's about 18,000 professional speakers in the United States that identify themselves as professional speakers. So of those 18,000 in the United States, by the way, the CSP is recognized internationally. So anybody that wants to qualify from France or Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan, wherever, they still have to make or match those same qualifications that I had to match as well. So they're in.
Jimmy Lea [00:12:55]:
And they do that. And so in of those 18,000 in the United States, there's only 570 current active CSP recipients.
Braxton Critcher [00:13:14]:
570.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:15]:
570. This last class only had 33.
Braxton Critcher [00:13:19]:
Yeah, I saw the email you sent me, and, you know, there were. There weren't a lot of names on there, but no, no. 570 active.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:26]:
570 active.
Braxton Critcher [00:13:28]:
Wow.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:28]:
There's somewhere in the range of 800, maybe 900 that have received the award.
Braxton Critcher [00:13:34]:
Who. Who in the industry, for folks that are listening, who may go to events that hear speakers, who are some of the ones that are. That are certified right now.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:45]:
Oh, let's see. If you go see Mary Kelly, she's a csp. Meredith Powell, she's the current president. Dan. Dan Clark is a CSP. Ross Bernstein, a CSP. Jeff Civilico is a CSP. Marilyn Sherman is a CSP.
Jimmy Lea [00:14:11]:
Ed Tate, Darren LaCroix.
Braxton Critcher [00:14:15]:
So a decent amount of the 500 and some are in the automotive space now.
Jimmy Lea [00:14:21]:
In the automotive space. That's interesting. There aren't necessarily. You would almost say that I'm the first. That is specifically in the automotive aftermarket.
Braxton Critcher [00:14:32]:
Yeah, that's what I was asking. How many in the automotive industry were. Or csp. So you. You're the first.
Jimmy Lea [00:14:38]:
Yeah, I'm the first in the automotive aftermarket for sure. If you say automotive now, now when you say automotive, you got to take in, you know, manufacturing.
Braxton Critcher [00:14:47]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the aftermarket.
Jimmy Lea [00:14:48]:
Yeah, yeah, just in the aftermarket. I. I'm. I'm fairly certain that I would be the first.
Braxton Critcher [00:14:53]:
Wow. How does that feel?
Jimmy Lea [00:14:55]:
That's kind of humbling and interesting, and that's kind of cool. Yeah, it's kind of cool.
Braxton Critcher [00:15:04]:
To be the first to do something is always pretty cool, especially in an industry as large as the aftermarket. I mean, that's. And there's a lot of good speakers. Yeah, a lot of good speakers.
Jimmy Lea [00:15:14]:
There's a lot of. And you know, if we were to really sit down and analyze the coaches and the trainers and those that are working in the industry, I'll bet there's a lot that could qualify. Yeah, they just have never joined the National Speakers Association. It's not on their radar. It's not something that they're interested in doing.
Braxton Critcher [00:15:32]:
They.
Jimmy Lea [00:15:33]:
They're running their business, they're doing their coaching, their training. You know, I think of like a Andrew Fisher. You know, he's new in the training industry. I think of Gary Smith and the training that they do traveling all over the country. Seth Thornson, he owns shops and he travels and teaches about ev. So probably these guys could probably qualify, but they haven't taken the steps to do it.
Braxton Critcher [00:16:01]:
What's the incentive to qualify or to try?
Jimmy Lea [00:16:06]:
So there is the recognition, there is the status of it. It does elevate you to say, of all the speakers in the world, here's somebody who has done the work and put in the time, effort and energy to learn more about public speaking, more about being an influencing speaker, inspirational speaker, an educational speaker. So there's. There's all realm of speakers that can qualify, from collegiate, collegiate in colleges and universities, to clerical worship services. Some of these, these vicars, pastors, preachers, they're. They're preaching two, three, four, five times a week. So they, they have that track record, they have those chops that they can stand up in front of an audience and tell the story, tell the story of whatever it is that they're telling, whether it's to inspire or inform or.
Braxton Critcher [00:17:07]:
Do, do, do industry events like Tools Coming up or Asta, Apex, whatever. Do those, you know, board members who select the speakers, do they know? I'm guessing they do. But if they see CSP beside someone's name or yours, how much of a wow factor does do you think that provides to have beside your name for somebody that sees that, I think there's.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:38]:
A lot of wow factor. It says that this is somebody who's professional. They've been doing this for a long time. I have confidence in hiring this person, that they're not going to disappoint me. They're not going to let me down. I will. A director or an event planner will not walk away from our event embarrassed because they hired a less than speaker. The CSP designation says this is top quality.
Braxton Critcher [00:18:05]:
So you're, you're setting the tone here. I mean, you know, other people in the industry are going to recognize, hey, if I want to keep my name at the top of somebody's mind, I got to get that CSP beside my name.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:18]:
So, yeah, yeah. And anybody who wants to do it, I am absolutely happy to help you through the program, through the system.
Braxton Critcher [00:18:27]:
What was the fourth step again?
Jimmy Lea [00:18:29]:
Fourth step is going in front of the board.
Braxton Critcher [00:18:31]:
Okay.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:32]:
And it's not that I go in front of the board. It's that my whole packet goes in front of the board. And the board gives you the gladiator. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Usually you don't fail at phase four. When you've got.
Braxton Critcher [00:18:43]:
If you get to phase four, you're pretty, pretty solid.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:45]:
You're pretty, pretty solid to get through. But, but the whole packet you create, it's like building a ship and pushing it into the water. It has to float. It has to go. So you build all this packet, this information, you submit it September 1st, and you have until January 10th. So there's only one time a year that you can actually apply. It's not a round rod. It's not a rotating door.
Braxton Critcher [00:19:06]:
Okay?
Jimmy Lea [00:19:07]:
September 1st, you can submit your packet up to January 10th. If there are any questions, comments, concerns with your packet, they might come back to you. But if it's after January 10th, it's just an automatic fail. A friend of mine, Michelle McCullough, she submitted, she failed it two or three times. I'm going to say two. The first year she submitted, her spreadsheet was backwards, meaning her oldest presentation was at the top. Oh, they, they specify it to say we want your newest one at the top to your oldest at the bottom. So it was just an automatic sorry, you failed at phase one.
Braxton Critcher [00:19:51]:
Wow. I mean, they're kind of picky about some of this stuff.
Jimmy Lea [00:19:55]:
It's, it's a prestigious thing. If you can't follow instructions, why would you give you this designation of a certified speaking professional if you can't follow instructions?
Braxton Critcher [00:20:07]:
When was the first time you thought about trying to get this done?
Jimmy Lea [00:20:11]:
So I've been to these conferences and trade shows for the last 15 years and I'm like, you know, I've never climbed Mount Everest. I didn't recover from paralysis. I didn't lose my eyesight. I haven't had these major life events, which it seems like a lot of these speakers are these major life events. I haven't written a book. I, I'm, I'm a guy, I'm a normal Joe. And so it was probably three years ago when I was at a conference and there was some good friends there that are part of the National Speaking association, that they are certified speaking professionals. And I was like, hey, what did, how did you guys do this? What did you do? How did you get into this realm of doing what you're doing? And they're like, well, okay, here's your litmus test.
Jimmy Lea [00:21:01]:
If you can do these things, we'll tell you more. One was joined the nsa, one was look at a chapter in Vegas or the chapter in Utah. So I joined the chapter in Vegas, I joined the chapter in Utah, and I joined the National Speaking association, which is, is like in the automotive industry we have associations, so it's only worth what you put into it or what you do with it. Well, every month they have a chapter meeting. So I'm either driving two hours to Vegas for a meeting on a Saturday morning, two hours back, or I'm traveling four hours north to Utah into Salt Lake for a four hour meeting and then traveling four hours back home. So yeah, that let Miss Test passed. Let's take it to the next level now. What? And so within the association, just like within the automotive industry, you've got peer to peer, that's talking about, this is what I did when I was starting.
Jimmy Lea [00:21:58]:
This is the marketing. You need to do your website, your one sheets, your speaker reels, your sizzle reels. This is the information you need to have as a base to get you out into that next level or that next industry that you want to look at speaking with. So the association has been very good for those who are already speakers, for those that are Trying to look at and discover how can I improve my communication? How can I improve my presentation? How can I improve what I'm doing? That's something that you want to go to Toastmasters with. Toastmasters gives you ample opportunity to get up in front of an audience and speak.
Braxton Critcher [00:22:41]:
Yeah. Somebody told me about Toastmasters couple of months ago, and I. I thought it didn't exist anymore.
Jimmy Lea [00:22:48]:
Oh, no, it's still strong.
Braxton Critcher [00:22:50]:
But. But no, yeah, they were. They were like, yeah, Toastmasters is awesome. And it's still. They still do great stuff. And I was like, oh, man, I forgot about Toastmasters.
Jimmy Lea [00:22:58]:
Yeah. Yep. In fact, I. I found my grandfather had joined a Toastmasters in Northern California, and he got an award with Toastmasters.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:09]:
Wow.
Jimmy Lea [00:23:10]:
I. And I'm a member of the toastmasters here in St. George, as well as the. The automotive one.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:14]:
Right. Wins. Are you speaking at Tools?
Jimmy Lea [00:23:19]:
I am speaking of Tools, yes. I've got two breakout sessions, two workshops, and then I'm going to co. Present with my wife on Sunday. We're doing a communications, a bird personality.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:32]:
Okay.
Jimmy Lea [00:23:32]:
Personality, so that you can understand who you are, why you think the way you think, and then also identify others and their forms of thinking and speaking and. And whatnot. So.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:44]:
So you. You have not presented since being certified?
Jimmy Lea [00:23:50]:
I. I have.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:51]:
You have. You have? When?
Jimmy Lea [00:23:56]:
When? A couple weeks ago.
Braxton Critcher [00:23:59]:
Okay. I thought this certification was. Was like, recent, in the last week, but March. No, it was. It was. When?
Jimmy Lea [00:24:07]:
March 14th was the day I got the call. Hey, that's.
Braxton Critcher [00:24:13]:
Well, I was gonna tell people, yo, if you're going to Tools, you got to make sure you get to Jimmy's class because it's like his first as a csp, But. Oh, well. Lost its luster now.
Jimmy Lea [00:24:21]:
Oh, no, it hasn't lost its luster. So.
Braxton Critcher [00:24:24]:
But it's not the first. I mean, they can still go, of course, to be. To see the first CSP in the aftermarket, but it's not the first time you've presented. That's a shame, man. March 15th. Wow. That was a while ago.
Jimmy Lea [00:24:38]:
March 14th. March 14th. So the reason they choose the 14th is some nerd somewhere, which. We love our nerds. We love our geeks somewhere decided that cavett back in the day. Cabot is the gentleman who established the National Speakers Association. He says there's plenty of pie out there. There's plenty of pie for all of us to participate in the speaking industry.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:07]:
And so he chose PI Day 4. So March 14, that's National Speakers Day.
Braxton Critcher [00:25:17]:
Gotcha. Were you expecting the call then?
Jimmy Lea [00:25:19]:
I guess or no, I wasn't. I was. So they send an email and then there's a phone call that comes. So we were in the Redwood forest in Northern California. Little to no cell phone reception, but I kept checking it hourly, thinking, oh, man, it's. It's gotta be coming soon. It's gotta be coming soon. Because on PI Day, I mean, last year when I got the notice that I had not passed, it was on March 13th.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:46]:
Ah, so here it is, March14. And I'm like, oh, you were feeling.
Braxton Critcher [00:25:50]:
Pretty good at this point, knowing that, you know, the year before you already knew at this point you didn't make it. So you felt probably pretty good about yourself.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:58]:
Yeah, yeah. And I got a lot of input from others and that's really where we help elevate the entire industry as automotive industry, also as speaker industry. Where I was going to others and saying, here's my video. I'm going to turn in for my csp. Will you check it out and just give me some feedback? What are some things I need to tweak? And there were things I got from Kristoff, there were things I got from Spencer. There were things I got from Tony. There were things I got from Meredith. That, that was just those little bit of things to tweak on it that just made it all that much better.
Braxton Critcher [00:26:32]:
Well, I have been to a couple, maybe three events that you have been at, and I don't think I have had the, the, the blessing of being in the room when you spoke. So I think the next industry event I'll be at, where you will be is asta.
Jimmy Lea [00:26:54]:
Nice.
Braxton Critcher [00:26:54]:
So I'm gonna definitely make sure to, to check out the, the Jimmy Lee comma, CSP room. And please do encourage others to do that. Tools. Where else are you going to be over the summer?
Jimmy Lea [00:27:10]:
We'll be in Phoenix, Arizona at swap. The Sunrise Tech Expo. July will be in Phoenix for the National Speakers Association. August. I think we get August off. Hallelujah. There's no trade shows in August. Not very many.
Jimmy Lea [00:27:26]:
Anyways, September. There's always a lot happening in September.
Braxton Critcher [00:27:30]:
Yeah, well, late September is asta.
Jimmy Lea [00:27:32]:
So late September, ASTA into October. Let's see, we'll be at Apex sema. I'm not speaking this year.
Braxton Critcher [00:27:39]:
Last November. That's November.
Jimmy Lea [00:27:41]:
That's November. That's correct. God, I'm trying to think off the top of my head. I, I know there's a bunch of events that are happening.
Braxton Critcher [00:27:51]:
Well, that's good. That's good. Folks can get out there and hear the very first certified speaking professional in the automotive aftermarket, Jimmy Lee. Congratulations, man. That's, that's, I mean, that's really for real. That's, that's really a great accomplishment. I'm proud of you.
Jimmy Lea [00:28:06]:
Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it, brother.
Braxton Critcher [00:28:09]:
All right, dude. Anything else? Like what? Like, anything to touch on. Real quick about the Institute. What's coming up?
Jimmy Lea [00:28:17]:
Let me pull up our calendar here real quick. Or our events. We do have. Let's see.
Braxton Critcher [00:28:26]:
I know, I know. There's a, there's a summit at Lucas's shop.
Jimmy Lea [00:28:31]:
That's in October.
Braxton Critcher [00:28:32]:
Yep. We'll be excited about that. That's in October.
Jimmy Lea [00:28:35]:
Yep. Let's see. We've got a plethora of webinars coming this way, especially the end of May. Tools at the end of May swap in June. June 21 will also be in Chicago with the Shop Monkey shop experts series. June 21. This is where Shopmonkey is bringing experts in the industry together so that shop owners who might not be able to travel to Vegas or Utah or Florida. We're going to bring it to Chicago, so we're bringing it to your home.
Jimmy Lea [00:29:06]:
You can travel. You can be there at this event. We have mergers and acquisitions happening in July, and that is going to be in Utah, in ogden, at headquarters. July 20th. July, we have leadership intensive in Chicago. So the leadership intensive that we're doing with Lucas that he has just raved about for the last year, we're also going to do one in July. So if you can't make it to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, which is by.
