Thursday University

Okay, so I’m a few days behind. As I write this it’s 12:40 am, and I
have to be up and ready for the flight to Casablanca at 4:15 … not
good! But I need to download some pix, so while I’m waiting I thought
I’d catch you up a little…
University started Wednesday night, and we had a great keynote speech
and the dinner at the Palmerie. Thursday morning I grabbed a quick
breakfast, and made it to the keynote by 9 am. It was a guy named
Nigel, who was very inspirational and quite interesting. At one point,
he held up 400 dirham (about US $40) and said “Who wants this?” A bunch
of people stood up and said “Me!” or waved their hands. Something
overcame me, though, and like the Italian guy at the Academy Awards I
jumped, tripped, and climbed over the 5 rows of theater seats in front
of me, climbed the front of the stage, and jumped up to grab the money
out of his hand… it was very funny. (In fact, I’ve probably had 20
people over the course come up to me and say “Hey, you’re that guy who
go the 400 dirham, aren’t you?”). His point was, obviously, don’t just
say you want something, go make it happen. A good lesson for me to
remember as well…
Following that I went to a great seminar on selling, and was amazed by
Scott Bornstein, the memory expert … I learned a ton at both
sessions, and have a lot of things to bring back home to the
businesses.
Later that night we went to Stylia, and 15th century (I think!) palace
waaay back in the Medina. To get there we crossed this insane road full
of donkeys and cars and crazy taxis … and a billion mopeds,
pedestrians, and no sense of order or lanes. It was like playing
real-life Frogger … on steroids. Then we proceeded down a maze of
small alleyways, but there were Berbers holding lit torches all along
the route to guide us.
Stylia was breathtaking. I posted the pix a day or 2 ago, so you can
see what I mean. The food was good — not amazing — but talking to
people from around the world (like Taki from Japan and the Indian
couple who work in Dubai) was great, and the better-than-disney’s
imagination building with musicians and belly dancers just took it over
the top.
We left there around 11 pm, and instead of going to the after hours
club we went to the main square, Jamaa al Fna (or something). Very
interesting … many locals, music, beggars, and stalls and stalls of
food. Around 1 we headed home and crashed out …