Today I bought Martin Seligman a 6-pack of his go-to drink. Which one that is? I won’t tell you, but Santa Clause might give you a hint! That aside, it was exciting to volunteer at the 5th Positive Psychology Tour with Martin Seligman. And what a stellar lineup we had! Roy Baumeister, Kim Cameron, Betty Sue Flowers (what a lovely person, we had a great conversation afterwards) – too many great people to name. My absolute favourite, however, was Gunther Schmidt. If Gunter Schmidt was an animal, he would be my spirit animal. I absolutely cherish this guy! One day I will write a sole blog post about the reason, but until that one is written, you just have to believe me.
On the day I arrived at the conference with one of my closest friends – it was an absolute bliss to work together with him again – we were confronted with the sad fact that Gunther excused himself on this day and would not be able to give his speech. We had to make it count nonetheless, and find our joy in the rest of the pioneering characters on scene – probably the easiest task possible. My friend and I were classic “hol-mir-halt-mal” guys and basically helped with anything one needed help with. We prepared the conference rooms, helped setting up the exhibitor booths, were mic ushers during Q&As (story of my life – I’ve done that at AIESEC, in my Ashram, and in basically every conference I’ve ever volunteered at), and apparently also concierge for Martin Seligman himself. I got a cool photograph out of it (with closed eyes – yay), and got my book signed. Fully embraced the fan-boy opportunity. On top of that, volunteers always get the best of a conference, and entry is free most of the time as well! 10/10, would definitely do again.
My key learnings:
- Martin Seligman’s favourite drink đ
- If there is a mic in the room, it will inevitably land in my hands
- Narrative research is awesome, and Betty Sue Flowers is as well!