It is Thursday and Jill, our lovable yet ridiculous little heroine must get herself to the hotel on time for breakfast before her first day at the conference.
My alarm went off at the usual time of 5:30 am on Thursday morning. Instead of getting up I lay there, contemplating how much time I would actually need to get ready that morning as a) I didn't need to eat breakfast, I could eat at the hotel, b) I wasn't relying on a bus to get downtown, I was driving, however complicating matters was c) Truck needed gas and d) I needed to jump in the shower without disrupting Tracy's schedule, which I would be doing if I did not start my morning at the same usual time. I contemplated for approximately 30 cozy warm minutes. I decided that because breakfast was at 8:00 I should leave the house a little before 7:30. I came to this conclusion based on the theory that you can get to absolutely anywhere in Winnipeg in half an hour. Okay, ready, go.
Not sure how, but time passed a little more quickly than I had anticipated. All of a sudden it was 7:30 and I was spraying weather protector on my new boots, gathering up my materials, trying to decide what jacket to wear and wondering if I would have time to stop for Starbucks. I headed out the door, jumped into my mom's car to move it out from in front of Truck and noticed that there was frost on the windows. No problem for just moving the car out of the driveway, but Truck definitely needed some scraping. I frowned as I came to the realization, "I don't even have a snow brush in here anymore." I reach into my purse and pull out the first card I could find--MTS pay phone card, it would do. Scrape scrape scrape with defrost cranked to aid the process. It was not really a sufficient job. I realized I should have done the back window too. Things were pretty cleared up by the time I reached the gas station. As I stood at the pumps in my black boots, and cute black skirt I checked the time and realized that it was quite possible Truck would be the only one of us getting fed that morning.
After some "where do the conference people park?" confusion I finally got to sit down to eat a blueberry muffin. I scoped the room and saw that Michael Buble was sitting on the exact opposite side. He arrived late--Ahh, a rebel.
The first session of the day was The Yin and Yang of Leadership Development, presented by professional speaker, Dari Latimer. I quite enjoyed the Yin and Yang graphics and wished that Vince could be there to appreciate the session with me.
"The Yin and Yang of Leadership Development presents an ongoing paradox, in that being most effective at developing others requires that you develop a strong focus on yourself!"The speaker was very dynamic and full of positive energy. Her topic and points were interesting and motivating, however I found that I mostly live by what she was saying anyway. Here are some points I took down:
- See every problem as an opportunity
- The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating
- If I really want to learn something, I teach it to someone else
- 93% of communication is non-verbal
- Know the importance of telling stories, they are memorable
- Ask yourself, "who are you, and what do you want?"
- Do you believe in the power of your words?
- The best way to learn is by attracting your opposite. Imagine having a conversation with the most irritating person; they represent your undeveloped self.
- Believe that everyone does the best they can given the information and resources they had at that moment.
- Check here for an interesting study on how exposing water to positive words and then freezing it made "prettier" crystals than doing the same to samples exposed to negative words.
I had mixed feelings about the presentation. Yes I am one of those who believes in positive thinking, choosing my own destiny and all that stuff, but motivational speeches like that seem to turn into 90 minutes of inspirational sound bites. Essentially, not much is said yet everything sounds profound and insightful.
The rest of the day's presentations were mostly sleepers--finances and stuff. At break time we got cookies and chocolate milk. I have never seen so many adults get so excited by brown cow milk.
I was scheduled to go to Pilates that night but the hospitality suite was calling my name--wine tasting and manicures. Normally, you'd have to break both my arms to get me to skip Pilates, but apparently free wine will also work. Michael Buble did not show up that evening, but I talked to a guy from Halifax instead and found out we were both going to the Bomber game on Friday. He looked like Mike from San Francisco, it was weird. Way too many flashbacks that week. I got home around 12:30 and went to bed looking forward to a grand finale on Friday.
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