Chocolate, Motivation and PR

I spoke today for the Tar Heel Chapter of PRSA (The Public Relations Society of America). It was their final meeting of the year and what topic more fun for the holidays than Motivation by Chocolate? (If I do say so myself.)


As I knew they would be, they were a fun group - these are PR people after all! But here's the REALLY cool thing! One of the members, Denise Kasper, has a chocolatier as a client. And the chocolatier wanted to donate the chocolate for the chocolate tasting I do! How awesome is that???

She sent three different chocolates, fifty of each one. Here's a picture of them - aren't they gorgeous?



Not the best for a chocolate tasting because the fillings overpower the chocolate, but they are very good. And I would NEVER turn down great chocolates for my attendees! But I'll know next time to bring some tasting squares too. The chocolatier was Bon Bon Chocolates http://www.bonbonchocolate.com/chocolates.php


They have a very cool "build a box" feature on their web site where you can drag and drop chocolates into the box - it's fun just to play with! I also think other chocolatiers should do this - it's a great idea. Too many don't give you choices - this is outstanding.


The chocolates pictured here are a milk chocolate with vanilla caramel (my favorite), the colorful fan is a dark chocolate filled with plum wine (another good one - nice and fruity). And the beautiful red one one is a lava truffle - this is an award winning spicy truffle filled with creamy lime tequila. That one was a little too much for me - remember I'm a non-drinker. The group seemed to like it though.


Here's what I think was wonderful about this event:


In the middle of our current economic troubles, we all had a blast for an hour. We laughed, talked about ways to keep motivated and get more out of life, and shared great chocolate.


Let others know about your passion and wonderful things happen! (Chocolatiers send chocolate! Yay!)


The Internet and technology are great - but nothing will ever replace a group of like-minded people coming together. Just the energy and laughter in the room - you don't get that in a webinar. Especially at the holidays - get out of your office and see some people!


We all are much more alike than we are different. I talked about how lonely it can be to be single at Christmas, how terrible it can be to lose a parent - experiences several of the audience members had had. Then I discussed how to minimize the pain of those things. Sometimes it's important to connect - to realize we all struggle.


Motivation by Chocolate - it works!!!!!