I will be the first to say that I believe everyone should be open to learn something new every day, but I was reluctant to spend an entire day in a workshop with as little notice as 4 PM the previous day…

Learning something new everyday still spurs a sense of discovery and excitement in me. Just yesterday I learned you can mix ham & cheese with your pancake batter (see LearnNugget #7), however that’s just a chunk of something of interest to me. Boy, they were yummy!

I was greeted back to work after a long restful holiday vacation with a with an email inbox that looked I’d been spammed constantly for days and a voicemail inbox full to capacity. It took 3 days just to catch up! That was last week.

This week is much better but now it was focusing on picking up where I had left off on several projects. During the time I was off, one of my co-workers who was managing a third-party workshop had left the company. This new responsibility fell on another co-worker’s desk and bless her heart, she’s doing the best she can.

One of the ongoing projects that was left hanging was a 1-day seminar workshop (is a seminar and a workshop the same thing?) on communication. Savvy Communication to be exact.

We were in a pinch because we had a contract with the company who provides this training seminar so we had to fill the room. By 4:00 PM on Tuesday, we had only 5 people signed up. My boss suggested I attend and to consider it personal development and that I would earn CEU’s. More appropriately she said, “Are you busy tomorrow?” (with a tilt of the head and a Scooby Doo look on her face). When your boss asks you a loaded question like that, there is only one answer!

National Seminars Training (a division of Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center, Inc.) hosts and delivers several great workshops, one of which is titled “Savvy Communication.” This particular seminar was facilitated by Dr. Casey McNeal who is an international motivational speaker and is dubbed “The People Expert.”

As the title suggests, I was reluctant to respond to my boss’ request, and I was even more reluctant when I walked into the room the next morning. I’ve attended several of these type ‘seminars’ on communication, people skills, personality differences, etc. I’ve even read “How to win friends and influence people” by Dr. Andrew Carnegie! So I wasn’t at all expecting to be impressed with a new “spin” on the same subject. I will admit that communication as a whole is a perishable skill. A skill that needs practice everyday whether it be speaking, writing, or influencing techniques.

I’m here to say that not only was I thoroughly impressed, but also that Dr. McNeil’s enthusiasm and expertise kept me engaged and entertained the entire day! He is a superb speaker that uses real world personal and professional examples, not just academic theory.

If you’ve attended one of these, then you know exactly what I’m trying to convey. If not, I encourage you to get in touch with National Seminars Training and find out for yourself!