i would say that i am fairly comfortable presenting in front of a group. we do a lot of teaching at my branch, so i have had a lot of practice explaining somewhat complicated things to folks.

i also read up on presenting (slide:ology and presentation zen are two recent faves) and while i don’t consider myself as proficient with powerpoint as Larry Lessig, i certainly don’t force my audience to suffer “death by powerpoint”. or as Dorothea puts it, “i don’t think i’ve ever wasted the audience’s time”.

so though i’m okay speaking to people, and know that my presentations are, for the most part, not-so-bad, being asked to speak at this workshop was still scary.

scary because…

• both Stephen and Michael know how to engage an audience.
• i wasn’t presenting at some far-off conference to peeps that i will only ever see again at another conference. i was presenting to local librarians and library school students – my colleagues and friends!
• i didn’t get to rehearse nearly as much as i had hoped (note to self: your procrastinatory skills are epic. you must fix this).

but scary is good. scary makes you try harder. scary makes you prepare better (plz to disregard my 3rd point above). scary makes you try things. scary pushes you to do something!

and then the next time you do it, it’s less scary. and then the next time, even less scary. and so on, and so on…

so how have you scared yourself lately? (alright alright, use “challenged” if that sounds better in your head.) i am well aware that it is easier to say you are going to do something new than to actually do it.

what if a double-dawg dare you?

after the precon i met up with my roommate krista and steven cohen for drinks at the crown and anchor. this quickly turned into all kinds o’crazy as people started filtering in. it was awesome to finally “meat” (as in meet in the flesh) the folks that i chat with in social networks like: merry, jez, colleen, robin, bobbi, laura, steve, and undoubtedly some peeps i’ve forgotten. it was great to also see a bunch of folks that i met very briefly at computers in libraries.

i must admit i feel a bit less like a groupie at this conference than i did at CiL. maybe it’s because i’m a librarian now – for realz – but really i think it’s because this group of folks is so welcoming and supportive, they make me feel like one of the cool kids. i am one lucky chiquita.

This site is the home of my professional activities. Here you can find my curriculum vitae and a list of presentations which I have given/will be giving.

I plan on blogging about professional events which I am attending and discussing the life of a new information professional. (I blog about various other LIS things at informingthoughts.com.)