Brett Banter

As anyone driving to work in downtown Greenville could tell you Wednesday, traffic was insane. You would think there was a major concert at the Bi-Lo center, except it was 9 a.m. on a Wednesday. So what was the draw? The Get Motivated seminar, a day-long business extravaganza filled with the inspiration of Laura Bush, Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, Rudy Giuliani, Lou Holtz, and the list goes on. So yes, people were flocking downtown to see celebrities. Only one problem – the celebrities were seen on a big screen. That’s right; these people aren’t actually present at the conference. They are “live”, as the seminar advertises, but “live” in the sense that their segment was recorded live 3 months ago. While the packed Bi-Lo center audience sits there eagerly awaiting their chance to meet a former First Lady, they are actually treated to a 20-minute clip from a self-help DVD, and are then enticed to buy the whole package for a small fee of several hundred dollars. I guess that’s what you get for only paying $2 a person, or $10 for a whole office, to go.

What’s the lesson? First, be suspicious of anything advertised as this grandiose for that price. Seriously, a $2 entrance fee per person might pay for one, maybe two, of these people’s speaking fees. If all of these people really were in Greenville, the event would have to be seriously subsidized, and sponsors would have eaten this thing up. I haven’t seen any sponsors. This makes it kind of like a day-long, live infomercial. And just like infomercials, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

But on the flip side, the seminar is called Get Motivated, and different things motivate different people. Who knows, just because the speakers aren’t in-person doesn’t mean that something said during the video clips won’t be life-changing. And for only $2, it’s worth a shot.