The Prize in the Cereal Box
You don’t have to eat the cereal
I went to a workshop yesterday. I can’t remember the last time I went to a workshop. I’m guessing it’s been around 15 to 20 years.
There was one little question I needed an answer to and I was hoping the workshop would answer it. I had searched for the answer on the internet but only came up with conflicting, undocumented and undesirable results. So I went to this workshop given by an expert hoping the expert would answer my question and provide documentation as to its veracity. And he did!
Thankfully, the workshop was free and thankfully it did not last much longer than an hour. If it had gone on much longer I might have been compelled to jump out a window — which would have been difficult considering that the meeting hall the workshop was held in had no windows.
The presenter was very knowledgeable with over 40 years experience in his field. But he had a very annoying habit. He paced as he spoke. He would take 5 or 6 steps in one direction then turn and take 5 or 6 steps back in the other direction. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. He never stood still once — not even to click the slides in his Powerpoint slide show. I was starting to get seasick.
But I was very thankful for having attended the workshop because my question was answered. The answer came in just two sentences uttered by the presenter in conjunction with a slide showing a graph. I sat there for over an hour in order to hear just two sentences. I had no interest whatsoever in anything else said or presented during the workshop. It was all just jibber-jabber.
But I got my definitive answer — with documentation — and it turned out the answer was especially good news for me. It was better than expected. I left the workshop beaming with excitement. I was seriously happy.
I never eat breakfast cereal and I never consume cow’s milk. I gave up cow milk when I was 14 years old and haven’t drunk any since. But I remember how excited I would get as a child when there was a prize in the bottom of a cereal box. That is kind of how I felt after yesterday’s workshop.
I realized that you don’t have to eat the cereal to get to the prize…
…but you do have to open the box.
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