Article: Author John Alston makes audience sit up at chamber event.

Byline: Mary Toothman

Mar. 25--About 650 people filed into a room at The Lakeland Center Thursday to attend the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce's sixth annual CommUnited Celebration -- and when they left they stood a little taller and smiled more.

That's because they had just listened to motivational speaker and author John Alston talk about goodness, diversity and the greatest university of all time: life.

Alston, 59, strode in with a dapper hat on and immediately warmed up his audience.

"I know what you're probably thinking," he said. "What's up with the hat. Right?"

He told the crowd a benefit of wearing a hat is that it ...

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