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RALEIGH-- Thousands came to the RBC Center in Raleigh to "get motivated" Wednesday. They all attended the "Get Motivated" business seminar with big-name speakers like Steve Forbes, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. This is the third time the arena has hosted the seminar.

The event created traffic backups around the capital city during rush hour. Before the sun came up the cars filed in the RBC Center. Kendall Quinn of Raleigh and his coworkers got up early to carpool, but say it didn't make much of a difference. "It took us 45 minutes to get here from the Edwards Mill Starbucks,” he said.

Traffic was backed up for miles around the arena along I-40 and I-440. Police blocked exit ramps around Wade Avenue to direct traffic to the arena. "When you have 18,000 cars coming to the same location, you're going to have problems,” said Quinn.

DOT reported two accidents. But, many believe the real delays originated from the timing of the seminar, trying to get all those people into one place on a weekday morning. "It's a business related event. These are business people. They come from their jobs. It just doesn't work on the weekends,” said Dave Olsen, vice president and general manager of the RBC Center.

In 2007 when the Get Motivated seminar came to the capital city it created a traffic nightmare. This time RBC Center officials say they were ready to deal with the people, and the line of cars during rush hour.

"Three years ago they told me we made a 12-mile backup. In 2000 we made a 17-mile back up. So we made progress,” Olsen said.

This year, the RBC Center partnered with Raleigh police, Wake County and the DOT to create a command center to monitor traffic around the arena. "We really came out front this time, “ Olsen said of all the pre-event publicity.

Quinn said he didn't mind the traffic, he just wanted to get motivated by some big-time business leaders. "Rudy Giuliani. Colin Powell. There's some big names,” Quinn said.

The seminar gets out at 4:45 p.m. Raleigh police say you can expect delays on I-40, I-440, as well as Edwards Mill and Trinity roads for the afternoon's commute as well. They ask drivers to watch for closed exit ramps from eastbound Wade Avenue to Blue Ridge Road.