cs2 once again participated in Embassy Suites Hotels’ brand conference, which this year was actually a series of four regional conferences. From concepting the theme, to designing the look and feel, to creating presentations and scripts, we helped our clients figure out the best way to deliver their vision for the future of the brand to the general managers, revenue managers and directors of sales in attendance.
I attended the first two conferences in Portland, OR, and Loveland, CO, so that I could be on hand if any of the presenters needed to make last minute adjustments to their speeches. There was, as always, a last minute flurry of fine-tuning before showtime, and it was, as always, fun to see the words and slides we created come to life in front of an audience.
As at most conferences of this variety, there is usually a guest speaker of some type, and this conference was no different. Our client selected a motivational speaker to get the crowd, well, motivated about the content being presented. As soon as I heard the words “motivational speaker,” the cynical side of my personality kicked in, and I envisioned myself rolling my eyes during the presentation rather than listening and taking the message to heart. This time was different, however.
Taking the stage this year was a guy named Keith Harrell. His energy and charisma matched my idea of what a motivational speaker should be to a T, and I prepared myself for the inevitable cheese-fest. But the combination of his engaging delivery, stable full of anecdotes and refreshing refusal to take himself too seriously caught me off guard. and I actually started listening to his message. And that message was so simple, but something that I think everyone should probably try to keep top-of-mind: Attitude is Everything.
In the course of his raucous, entertaining speech, Keith emphasized that all of us are ultimately responsible for our own success and that our attitudes and approaches go a long way toward making that success a reality. It’s easy to look for the negative, to complain and settle rather than strive for something better, he reminded us. It’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day routines of our jobs and lives and forget that we control our own destiny. But as he pointed out, it doesn’t take a whole lot more work to shift our attitude to better position us for greatness.
Keith’s example was a simple one. When someone asks you how your day is going, instead of just mumbling the customary “fine,” Keith recommended throwing out an enthusiastic “super fantastic” instead. There is nothing quite like a totally off-the-wall answer to a mundane question to jolt you and those around you into a slightly different frame of mind.
In a similar vein, our office manager, Amy, and I try to tell each other one positive thing going on in our lives every day. It might seem like a silly, trivial exercise, but it helps us to focus on the good things going on around us, even in the midst of the inherent chaos of the deadline-driven agency environment. It’s a simple reminder that attitude really is everything.
