Rotary Presentation

Well, here I am again. I have a shiny new blog and the novelty hasn't yet worn off. I expect it will at some point, and I'll make the most of it in the meantime.

As part of my business librarian duties, I'm sometimes asked to speak to different organizations on various library-related topics. This morning I got myself up for a 6:30 a.m. speaking engagement for our local Rotary chapter. 

6:30. In the morning. Where's the coffee? And I don't even like coffee all that much. I drink what my boyfriend calls "coffee-flavored sugar." More commonly known as mocha lattes (or caramel macchiatos) from Starbuck's. The cats were thoroughly disgusted when the nice, warm human threw off the blankets and got out of bed. The boyfriend slept through it, and the mouse didn't seem to care one way or the other. Stuffed a sunflower seed in his mouth and darted back into his hidey hole.

Unlike the cats, I don't mind an occasional change in my wake-up hours (something my teenage self would be completely appalled by). A few weeks ago I got up at 3:00 a.m. to accompany a friend to pick someone up at O'Hare. Totally worth it. 

So there I was, up and out the door at six o'clock on the dot with the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon. I live one town over from where I work, and my route takes me through a lot of farmland.  I can't remember the last time I had such a beautiful commute. The early morning mist hadn't yet evaporated from the fields, and everything had that soft and brand new feeling.

Very calming for a vaguely nervous public-speaker-to-be.

My speaking engagement was at Country Inn & Suites. Of course I ended up at Comfort Inn. Who thought two hotels located back-to-back was a good idea? Thank goodness for phones with email capabilities. A quick double-check and I got back in the car and drove a couple thousand more feet down the road. 

Directional challenges aside, I made it right on time. It turned out I recognized some of the Rotary members from other places.  I always appreciate familiar faces in the audience. The presentation was a slam dunk (if you don't count a couple minor technical difficulties, including when I misplaced my flash drive...on the podium) and I ended up not even needing my carefully prepared note cards. 

I suppose I'll always be a bit nervous about public speaking. When I first started hosting programs at my library, I used to be devoutly thankful that I wasn't the presenter. I just had to stumble through their intro and then get out of the way. Look at me now.