Find the opportunities to say YES!

There is an EXIT door at the very back of the Grand Ballroom in the world famous Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

And by not walking through it, my life was forever changed.

I was with 4,000 of my colleagues at our Annual Sales Awards Banquet, and seven minutes into our three hour program, the master of ceremonies had gotten into an argument with our VP of HR, and was fired and removed from the stage.

Everything stopped. The lights came on, the band started playing and the room went silent.

Five minutes later a voice over the PA system finally broke the awkward silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are so very sorry for what just happened and we apologize. We will be restarting our program in 15 minutes.”

“Oh, and if anyone knows where Greg Kettner is, please have him report to the stage immediately.”

I froze. Nobody at my table knew me. I was paralyzed with fear. Why were they asking for me? Was I getting fired? Who was I talking to at the craps table last night, and what did I do?

Why were they asking for me? Sure, I had always dreamed of doing stand up comedy up in front of 4,000 people, but not here, not tonight. Not after that guy. And didn’t they know, I only had 5 minutes of fart jokes?

To my left was that EXIT door to the right, all the way at the opposite end of the ballroom was an empty stage.

Trevor changed my mind. He’s a “former” buddy who ran towards me from three tables away yelling, “Dude, they want you to do jokes on that stage. You’re funny. Let’s go! Thanks Trevor!

I looked over to the EXIT sign as Trevor pushed me towards the stage. Lucky for me, and all of you, I walked toward the stage, eyes on the carpet, trying to remember anything remotely funny that I had said on stage before.

Backstage, Annie said, we heard you do comedy, and we need you to restart the show. We heard you do stand up comedy.

Standing on the stairs, with a massive royal blue curtain in front of me, Steve when on stage and addressed the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, again we apologize. Definitely Canadian. But lucky for us we are in Vegas, and as luck would have it, one of our very own is a funny guy. Please help me welcome to our stage...the very very funny Greg Kettner.”

I confidently stumbled through those curtains into the blinding lights and 4,000 colleagues standing and cheering like our team had just won the Stanley Cup.

I walked to the middle of the stage and said, “Hello, I’m Greg and I can’t do any worst.” The room roared with laughter.

Time flew, and before I knew it my time was up. Since I was in sales, I ended with a call to action.

President’s Club, was an all-inclusive 10 day cruise through Turkey, Italy, and Greece. A $10,000 trip, and I was nowhere near earning President’s Club, but it was my birthday, and I had a microphone.

“I’m sorry for not reaching my sales targets, but I am kind of helping out the company tonight.“

“There has to be one more seat on the cruise ship, right?

Silence.

And then a middle aged gentleman walked up to the stage, shook my hand, and said, “Kid, you’re on the boat.”

I found out later, he was our president and CEO.

The room erupted with a second standing ovation and I pumped my fists in the air.

I then scanned the back of the ballroom, searching for that EXIT door it hit me. That night changed my life a valuable lesson.

Never pass on an opportunity to say YES!