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Happened up on this India Times article from May of last year, which is not only an important reflection on the use of big name keynote speakers at corporate events, it's also a glimpse into the world of keynote speakers in India. While you may recognize leadership development expert Robin Sharma's name, naturally the other usual suspects in the celebrity speaking arena- Olympic stars, high-profile doctors, and beloved journalists- aren't the big names you'd recognize from the US speaking circuit. Instead of Bruce Jenner, consider India's one and only Olympic gold medalist, Abhinav Bindra. Bindra reports, "Personally, I found the experience of addressing such a large audience very interesting" and had to be initially persuaded to do the event. In this country, Olympic medalists are in high demand for corporate speaking; the big names from decades ago still speak frequently, and the anticipation for who will be the next hot name begins even before they've won their events. Check out the perspective from India by reading the article here. How do you think their take on big name speakers compares to the US? And do you think that will change as India develops an economy considered by Alan Beaulieu, among others, to be one of the next big things? Will their celebrity speakers and use of motivational keynotes evolve as they did in the US through the 20th century?

-Christine Johnson