3 Quick Questions With Steve Donahue
Written by Premiere Senior Vice President, Brian Lord.
For 3 Quick Questions, I email the speaker with a question, they respond, and then I email a new question, either based on the answer to the first question or a completely new question, until we get to three questions. Speakers are encouraged to be informal, so sarcasm and humor are welcome. Here we go, with speaker, author and adventurer, Steve Donahue:
BRIAN: For the unseasoned, what is the formal name of the scarf thing you wear around your head for desert adventures, and how do you pick them out (and how many do you bring)?
STEVE: It's called a cheche. When I first crossed the Sahara at the age of 20 my cheche was 3 meters long. I returned to the desert a few years ago and got a new 4 meter one. On my most recent trip I opted for a massive 5 meter wrap. One is enough, but size matters.
BRIAN: No comment. I started following you on twitter last week (@SteveDonahue1), and Twitter emailed me with suggested accounts that are "similar to Steve Donahue", such as Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, The Economist, Al Jazeera English, and Psychology Today. Who did they leave out, and who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?
STEVE: I idolize comedians and even performed standup before becoming a speaker. I wish twitter had suggested Jerry Seinfeld or George Carlin as "similar" accounts to mine. Okay, maybe not George because he's dead. But you get the point. Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist is a wise and prolific tweeter that I really like (@PauloCoelho).
BRIAN: You should adapt what Jerry Seinfeld does with "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee", but instead of driving another comedian to a fancy coffee shop in Beverly Hills, you take the comedian with you across a vast desert. Comedy ensues. [Editors Note: Brian has clearly never performed stand-up.]
OK, you get one last question, and you get to pick- A) What's the best mainstream movie that features the Sahara, or B) What's the best book that features the Sahara?
STEVE: In 2010 I took a young Korean filmmaker to the Sahara. He got arrested about 30 minutes after we landed because he tried filming the airport which also happened to be an Algerian air force base. The funny part is that leading up to the trip he worried that nothing interesting would happen to him in the desert. As the police marched him away for interrogation I thought to myself; "Well, that didn't take long!" Same answer for both questions; The English Patient. (Sorry Lawrence of Arabia fans but that story takes place in the Arabian Desert.)
To learn things of actual importance about Steve and to consider him for your event, please check out his page at: https://premierespeakers.com/steve_donahue
