Another Day, Another Seminar

Chris sits through the initial stage of yet another boring seminar.

"The deliverable of effective sales development is creating actionable synergies between..."

 

The session leader droned on.  Chris had been listening to this drivel for 20 minutes now and had reached a breaking point.  With the words 'actionable synergies,' he officially checked out.

 

Yet another useless sales training course.

 

He let his eyes wander around the room.  About 30 people sat around him at round tables watching the PowerPoint. 

 

A few seemed genuinely interested. "Keeners," he thought. Some people will get enthralled by anything.  He could tell from their bright, vacuous eyes and nodding heads that these few really 'got it.'  

 

He watched as one man, about 30, with dark hair parted at the side and a little too much mousse leaned forward, scribbling in his notebook.  The line about synergy seemed to have really caught his attention.

 

A few others took notes, but the rest of the room seemed in a similar state to Chris.  Playing with their phones, staring off into the distance, or, like Chris, letting their eyes wander around the room.

 

For a second, his eyes connected with another man across the room.  Probably in his late 40s, with a stylish suit and a blue slashed tie, he looked like he didn't need to be here.  For a moment, they shared a look of mutual resignation before looking away.

 

He looked down at his phone: 9:25.  Just another hour and 35 minutes to break.

 

He took another sip of his coffee and refocused on the speaker....

Author's Note

First in a series

About the Author

Graeme works for an online sales training company. He writes a variety of fiction and non-fiction on many subjects.