You can be anything you want to be...not!
IT’S been some years since circuit motivational speakers were the best things since sliced bread.
South Africa had our fair share of them: ‘celebrities’ who toured the land peddling their magic messages aimed at unleashing tremendous possibilities in the listeners.
I attended plenty of them, in the line of duty, and quite honestly it was mostly a load of nonsense; the anticipation exceeded the event, by far.
Apart from telling fibs like ‘you can be anything you want to be’ (imagine me believing I could be a professional basketball player), they just circulated every cliché and platitude imaginable.
A few jokes, rags-to-riches stories and tear-jerkers were thrown into the mix, plus some gimmick or illustration to make it more entertaining.
By the end of the night, people really believed they could take on the world, such was the power of the persuasive patter.
Unless, of course, they had been taking down notes, as I had been.
To be honest, there were few things of real note to record, because the content of the talks held little informed substance. You’d be lucky to have three sentences written on the page.
The Americans had a term for it: ‘Sell the sizzle, not the steak’.
After all, it’s aimed at the emotions rather than the intellect, as politicians and televangelists are well aware.
I’m not aware of any meaningful relationship between truth and volume, nor truth and entertainment, but there you go.
There’s very little need for motivational speakers in this day and age, when one can in minutes literally find millions of blogs and other online dialogues, without paying an admission fee.
There are gurus to spare while ‘influencers’, the current favourite tag for the self-important, abound.
I’m sure there is some truth out there, and surely something useful and interesting with lasting value; but one has to delve through mountains of irrelevant, unsolicited rubbish to find it.
Information glut has long since overtaken data scarcity and as social media pours forth the literary equivalent of fast food, I will stick to books and the slow-moving printed word for my source of information and inspiration, thank you.
Oh, and did I mention that those motivational speakers charged a fortune for their shows – which in truth is what they were?
I remember being on the programme at a local convention where the organisers had flown in two overseas speakers and accommodated them for a week at a private game lodge that would have cost many times my annual salary.
I was given a company pen, along with profound thanks for my contribution.
The irony was that at the conclusion of the seminar, attendees were asked who they would like to be invited back to the next seminar…and not one of the big names was on the list.
Maybe those present were also taking notes.