Another step closer to the podium

Michael and I had a big meeting to attend today. Not big as in super important or big as in we had a big role in it, just big in the sense that a lot of people were there and they put out a spread of pastries and coffee.

It's the pastries and the coffee that get me excited about these quarter end meetings. As the meeting approaches I'll usually say to Michael something like, "hey, we've got that food meeting this week, right?" and then he'll say, "you mean the quarter end summary meeting where they talk about the sales figures?" And then I'll say, "yeah yeah, that meeting where we get the free coffee and muffin." For me, a meeting where there is food is still a big novelty in my career. I don't even like the coffee much, I don't even really like the muffins (since the healthy eating industry has ruined them for me by telling me how much fat is in them), but it feels very grown up to go to a meeting where they care enough about you to put out a table of food.

I followed behind Michael in the food line. I poured myself a cup of coffee and added cream and sugar as if it was what I did every morning (I usually just fill my mug with water). Then I eyed up the pastry and muffin options and decided if I was going to go for a full fat snack it was going to be the chocolate drizzled croissant.

The last time I attended one of these meetings I quite honestly nearly fell asleep. It was incredibly boring and nothing they spoke about had any relevance to my job. This time though they had someone speak from the marketing department, the department I support as a communication specialist, and the meeting took a sudden turn toward relevant and interesting. The speaker mentioned some projects that I recognized because I had a hand in getting the communication materials produced for them. That was kind of cool. Then, the speaker closed her presentation with reading a testimonial from a happy client. It was a testimonial that I had prepared from the notes and interview I did with that client.

I could feel myself glowing as the speaker read the piece. No, they weren't entirely my words, not even half, they were mostly the client's, but I had assembled them into the story that was now touching the hearts of every person in that conference center. It wasn't my voice reading the piece and there was no nod to me as the writer of it. The people in the room probably just assumed that the client herself had written the whole polished sounding thing. That didn't matter. That didn't take away from the moment where I, for the first time (in a very very long time? Ever?), felt like I had created something that was significant and had meaning. I could actually see my audience, I could hear the tone that the reader took in her voice and the rhythm she gave the story as she brought it to life. That was an important personal moment for me that will carry me forward in both my business and writing careers.

There is a Sex and the City episode where Carrie does a reading from her book. The movie also has one of these scenes. Part of my still can't quite fathom writing and finishing something as significant as a book, but today I felt a little closer to that dream. Today it became a dream. I want to be the one standing at that podium one day reading my words to my audience, watching and feeling their reactions. I want to create something great.

Wish it. Dream it. Do it.

--The antiqued metal sign in my cube at work