Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, of Notre Dame football and the movie “Rudy” fame, delivered the keynote address at Affiliate Summit in January 2013 in Las Vegas.
Rudy was wonderful to deal with throughout the entire process, and it was such a pleasure to chat with him on the day of his keynote.
After he spoke, there was a large crowd hoping to meet him and get pictures, and he graciously spent time with every person who waited in line.
But that wasn’t a surprise to me. A couple of months before he came to speak at Affiliate Summit, I reached out to his rep to ask if I could purchase a personalized photo for my uncle, who was a big Notre Dame fan, and was undergoing chemotherapy for esophageal cancer.
Rudy insisted on not charging and sent along the signed photo to my uncle. It meant a lot to him.
About a month after the conference my uncle passed away. I emailed Rudy about it…
I just wanted to thank you for sending a signed picture to my uncle, Bob White, at the end of last year. Not sure if you remember, but I was in touch with your employee Carol about it in the lead up to Affiliate Summit.
My Uncle Bob (also my Godfather) was suffering from cancer in his esophagus and he lost his battle last Friday. We buried him today and had a really nice mass at St. William The Abbot Catholic Church in Seaford, NY.
He was a huge Notre Dame fame and loved your movie. He cherished the photo you sent.
Thank you – I was thinking of you and smiling as I thought of my Uncle and where he is now.
And Rudy responded a few hours later…
May god rest his soul.. Sorry to hear about your uncle and my prayers will be with your family.
That’s a story you usually wouldn’t hear about a kind person doing things behind the scenes, so I wanted to share it.
Attending keynote speeches can be valuable because you can gain and implement some knowledge right away or act on inspiration from the talk, as well as have the unique opportunity to get face time with the speaker.