All By Myself...
Tonight I spoke at Marshall High School to a group of about 130 people - High School and Junior High School families - and I was almost, but not totally, all by myself. No teachers, 1 alumni student, and a principal subbing for the AV guy.
Despite the overall lack of support, it was a pretty good meeting, I believe. I added a lot of content of my own in place of the testimonials we normally get from teachers and alumni. I talked about my own summer travels to Europe, and how as a dad of six, I had to check the program out for myself before I'd recommend it to them.
I also threw in the story of my missed opportunity to go to Vienna back in 1989, and how I regretted it, not travelling Internationally until this year.
Both stories made it more personal, and made a point. Neither is better than actual testimonials, but it was effective enough.
What was really interesting to me was just handling all the setup, the registration, and the Q & A by myself. It was a lot easier than I expected, but I also streamlined quite a bit. Are you ready for the day your volunteers (or even paid folk, like the erstwhile A/V tech, don't show up?
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Speaking Season 14-19 - took place over the weekend at Normandale Community College Saturday, and Sauk Rapids Middle School on Sunday. Uneventful, really, except for the Australian accent I used on the elementary school group. It went over pretty well, but I won't be voicing Outback commercials anytime soon....
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Just 60 hours til I'm on a plane home. Speaking & Delivering is great, but hugging the kids and snuggling with the wife still trumps.
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