The Seminar

I went to a training seminar this week. It was one of those ones where you learn to role play, and that your work pays for, and your boss makes you go to as a part of your goal, or whatever.  The ones with multiple water pitchers in the back of the room, building condensation, where people gather during breaks to exchange business cards.

You're coaxed to buy something - some materials that will "further educate you after you leave the class." And you're inspired in the moment, so you give in. They look so intriguing and pretty on the sell sheets. You just know that this one is the one you will actually decide to read. For real.

The one and only book I ever bought from a training class is sitting on my bedroom table, unread and accumulating dust.

Anyway....

You usually get a workbook of some sort and follow along with a PowerPoint, and don't really remember anything when you leave - you're just watching the clock for the next coffee break. And after it's over, and the small amount of inspiration you might have had in the moment passes, you trash the workbook and head back to your hotel room with a sigh of relief. Or if you were me yesterday, back to your car into the abysmal Fairfax traffic.

In past workshops - Vegas, Chicago - I remember being on my laptop or phone, not really paying attention, texting people and checking email. Who cared? It wasn't my dime.

All I remember from the class I took in Vegas was a girl sitting at my table with big boobs who was the manager of a Burger King. She left at lunch and never came back.

I do remember that the speaker from that class named his business "The Gyst Group." Not sure if that was a fancy way to say the word gist, or not? In fact, I think I threw his business card away just a few years ago.

Nobody really goes to those classes anyway to learn, do they? If it's in Vegas, you're going for VEGAS.

***

Tuesday, my experience of all of that nonsense changed.

I met a woman named Sharon Baker. She was the speaker of my "High Impact Communication Skills for Women Class." She was quirky, hilarious, and down to earth. She meant something to me, and I will remember her. (Plus, she told me I looked like Julianne Moore, which made my day. How gorgeous is she? Isaac says I do not look like her. BOO. And he's right. I really don't so much. But I felt special.).

Sharon talked about a few pertinent things that I will always remember: self-esteem, fear, assertiveness vs. agression vs. passivity. Poker chips, checking your B-R-A, and teaching people how to treat you. In the context of the class, they all made sense!

I could probably talk all day about a few of those things and how they each made me feel, but the funniest thing about the whole deal was that I had told Becky, my Shaklee coach, an hour before I went into the conference, that I needed to be more assertive.

And while "communication" is a broad issue, the entire class's focus was on being assertive.

God is good.

Sharon told a lot of stories from her own life which helped her grow, become more fearless, and to teach people how to treat her.

I never thought about that before - teaching others how to treat you - but I suppose it's the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated. 

In treating them a certain way, you're really teaching them how to treat you by your own actions.

There is power the way we communicate and power in the way we choose to respond. 55% of our communication is self-esteem, 38% is our tone/emotions, and 7% of it is words,

There is some serious power in having self-esteem, she told us.

I don't think I'll ever forget Sharon, or that class. It was just what I wanted and needed.

My view on the idea of public seminars has changed, at least for a minute.



"The esteemed woman has an invisible shield around herself that nobody can pierce."
-Sharon Baker