I was watching the Super Bowl recently and was excited to see my old friend Ben Franklin in the pre-game show…

No, I'm not talking about the real Ben Franklin but rather my dear friend and speaking colleague, Ralph Archbold, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame.

Ralph looks more like Ben Franklin than the real Ben Franklin. In fact, he has become the "face" of Ben Franklin across America today, whether it's a Super Bowl appearance or an article in the USA Today.

To begin with, Ralph is one of the sweetest, kindest people you'll ever meet. And like many people who do personifications of famous people, Ralph has multiple personalities. The good news is that he actually makes Ben look more like Ben should look.

Ralph Archbold is one of the hardest working speakers I've ever met. In some years, he does literally hundreds of presentations and actually walks to most of them from his home in downtown Philadelphia. Some days he makes as many as five or six appearances, speaking at all of them.

Ralph, designated the official "Ben Franklin" for America's Constitutional Bicentennial, was appointed to the 15 member Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission established by the President and Congress to oversee Ben's 300th birthday celebration back in 2006.

His thousands of clients sing his praises about his various programs that range from "Accepting the Challenge of Change" to "The Way to Wealth" to "The Spirit of Cooperation" to "Where Liberty Dwells."

Ralph and I are part of a several groups. We're both members of the National Speakers Association and we both have Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designations, which mean we're old goats who have been running our mouths for many years for a fee. The CSP is an earned designation, meaning you have to document a certain number of engagements at a certain fee level.

We both also have an honorary designation called the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame. This honor can not be earned. You have to be nominated by one or more of your peers who have the CPAE.

There are about 150 CPAE's in the world today. Some of the more prominent among them are the late President Ronald Reagan and former Secretary of State Colin Powell along with speaking giants Paul Harvey, Zig Ziglar and others.

Late members include Earl Nightingale, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and a list of people you would consider to be members of the "Who's Who" of the speaking world.

And then there are the "nobody's" like yours truly. For years, Ralph would come to me at NSA meetings and his opening greeting was simply, "Is this the year?" I had been nominated for 18 consecutive years but never won it until 2000 in Washington, DC. In my acceptance remarks, I admitted to being the Susan Lucci of the National Speakers Association. Interestingly, when I wanted the honor the most, I deserved it the least.

Ralph and I belong to another group along with the likes of Jerry Bellune, George Morrisey, Al Walker, Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, John Jay Daly and a bunch of other long standing speakers called the Veteran Speaker Retreat. We limit our meeting size to about 50 folks and meet for one week each summer in Hagerstown, Maryland. Ralph has received an honor from them as well called "The Legends of the Platform."

One of my friends, George Morrisey called me recently to ask how old I was. Naturally, I asked why and he stated that he wanted to put my name in the pot for the honor. Actually, I'm 58 years old (one of the younger yappers in this group) so I'm not yet eligible as you have to be 60 years young to be considered.

Last year's recipients included Al Walker, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, Dr. Gayle Carson, CSP, Lou Heckler, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, Somers White, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame and the late Larry Moles, CSP and the late Earl Nightingale, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame.

As Ben Franklin once said, "Applause waits on success."