His hands trembling, John Dorneman slowly opened the white envelope labeled "Fear Factor" and removed the sheet of paper inside.
Clad in a suit and tie, Mr. Dorneman braced for the instructions as he stood in front of more than 500 fellow business professionals at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center on Tuesday.
"I'm holding the letter and looking at the container he was holding, and I am thinking, 'Oh gosh, there is going to be some crazy thing in there about eating something,'â" said Mr. Dorneman, a vice president at First National Community Bank.
Instead, he won a colorful Abraham Lincoln painting done by Erik Wahl just minutes earlier.
About 20 minutes into his keynote speech at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce's 145th annual dinner on Tuesday, Mr. Wahl's message was clear.
"Sometimes it pays to take a risk," said Mr. Wahl, a graffiti artist whose onstage paintings help portray his message.
Between painting portraits of the Statue of Liberty and Steve Jobs, Mr. Wahl encouraged those in attendance to "unlock" their potential by thinking creatively, rather than just by the books.
He challenged those in attendance to ignore their initial fears as they develop new, innovative ideas - arguing that those ideas could keep them ahead of competitors.
Citing the rapid rise in social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, Mr. Wahl said it's important to stay up to date with the evolution of the Internet.
"Those who are able to participate in those conversations are better equipped to succeed," Mr. Wahl said.
Before Mr. Wahl's speech, Paula Rochon Mackarey, former chairwoman of the chamber board, reflected on the past year in Scranton.
She mentioned the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Co.'s opening of the TekRidge Center, a 45,000-square-foot technology incubator that can house 11 startup businesses and up to eight anchor tenants.
She cited the growth of Leadership Lackawanna's Tomorrow's Leaders Today program and referenced the Scranton Plan's initiative to expand the region's bioscience industry sector.
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfinoTT on Twitter