As a corporate speaker and trainer I am often asked by my clients if I have any specific needs or requirements when I am invited to speak at an event. My typical answer is usually something like this…

“I really don’t have any specific requirements, I’m pretty easy-going. The only thing that I must have when I speak are Pellegrino and only green M&M’s.”

I like doing this because it tends to break the ice, it helps my clients see that I do have a personality and hopefully reinforces the idea that we’ll enjoy working together. The line usually gets a laugh from my clients … well, once they realize that I really am not some sort of “divo” (Is that even the word for a guy diva??) and the conversation moves forward.

My Gift

Recently I did a speaking engagement in Atlantic City, New Jersey for an incredible company as part of their annual employee conference. After I finished the presentation the president of the company thanked me for speaking and handed me a gift bag. When I went back to my hotel room, I opened the gift bag and found … 

You guessed it! A bottle of Pellegrino and green M&M’s. 

I immediately started laughing. I couldn’t believe that Mary (the person at the company who invited me to speak and who put the conference together) actually remembered that I said that and then went through the effort of buying the Pellegrino and an entire bag of green M&M’s. I needed to tell the world what just happenned, so I took a picture of the gift and posted it to Facebook and Twitter, where it has received a lot of likes, BTW! 

The Moment

When I saw her later in the evening I asked her about it and we both laughed! She said that she loves doing things like that for people, when she can. I have always heard great things about her (and the company) from people I know … and now I know why! 

Mary created a moment for me that I won’t soon forget. As I write this I’m still laughing and smiling just thinking about it! Which in turn makes me want to work with them again and do whatever I can to help her and the people of that company succeed! 

I realized that life (and work) is made so much better with these types of moments aren’t they? Moments when you do something out of the norm, when you go out of your way to show someone that you really do care, when you stay later at night to fix the problem for your customer, or giving someone a handwritten note just to say “thank you.”

Create Your Moments

Whatever you choose to do, whether large or small, take time every day to discover the opportunities to create those kinds of moments for the people around you. Not only would it do them some good, it’ll do you good as well!