A couple of years ago, before Covid arrived, I was asked to speak at a breakfast meeting of a local civic organization. I brought a few copies of my book along just in case someone wanted to purchase one. The person who had invited me to speak apparently had a last minute appointment or something and couldn't be there, but he let the rest of the group know who I was and why I would be there.
As I walked in a young professional looking man approached me and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Bob. We're looking forward to your talk," he said. "Please feel free to eat something. It's on us." He pointed to a table filled with store bought muffins and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, my favorite. Since I had not eaten breakfast at home (I was told there would be food) I thanked him and treated myself to an assortment of the delicious round treats. In retrospect, I probably had too many, but hey, you only live once, right?
The young man was the president of the group and he opened the meeting by going through some general housekeeping information ("Don't forget to clean up when we leave.") I sat there listening to him as he discussed some other business that had apparently been tabled at the last meeting, as well as "new business" regarding an upcoming fund raiser.
While the rest of the group spent the next 15 minutes discussing items on the agenda, I continued to dine on the doughnuts. Being a bit self-conscious of my appetite, I looked around the room and could see that the others were also stuffing muffins, doughnuts and pecan twirls into their mouths. I wasn't alone.
At this point I had been there for close to an hour. As I tried to get mentally prepared to speak at any moment I noticed my concentration was fading. Then it hit me. The carbs were going to put me, as well as a majority of the attendees, into a sugar overload.
"And now I'd like to introduce you to our speaker," I heard from what sounded like it was a mile away. "He's written a book on sales and is going to share some basic ideas and maybe a story or two." I looked up as he said my name.
As I walked to the front of the room I could sense that everyone was about to pass out. Even though this group was halfway through a second urn of coffee, the carbohydrates were putting up a good fight. I was in the same shape as everyone else in the room. Aware of how groggy I was, I gave myself a short jab to the stomach. Anything to wake me, and the rest of this group, up.
I screamed, "Did anyone else eat too many doughnuts or is it just me?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes the way I do when I wake up too early. They laughed, which helped getting the blood flowing again. I made a couple more jokes about how we could all have used some insulin.
Eventually I got through my talk. Everyone was polite and clapped, thanking me for coming and the meeting broke up. No one asked about my book, which was fine, because as usually is the case in a situation like this, there was a lesson to be learned. That lesson is to be prepared for the overly carbed breakfast meeting and don't eat all of the doughnuts.
Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
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