Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Life has some funny twists and turns and can take you in directions you never imagined. I have to share my latest twist.

I am in Jun*ior Leag*ue. When I am not griping about it, I love it. I like to volunteer and give something back. I like to take charge and do good at the same time. It gives me purpose. This past year, I transferred my League membership from my TX League to the local League in NJ. My assignment in my new League was to serve on a committee that plans, organizes and implements an all-day workshop for pre-teen girls and their mothers. The focus of the day is to discuss issues facing pre-teen girls---cliques, cyber-bullying, low self-esteem, etc. Somehow in the course of all this planning I was asked to make a presentation at this workshop. I was asked to present on the media's definition of beauty and how it can effect self-esteem in young girls and women. I would be the only speaker of the day who was not on the "speaker circuit". Everyone else speaking at the workshop was an expert, a professional.

How did I get chosen? Hmmm, I still trying to figure that one out. It seems my past as a teacher of pre-teens was the main qualification. Oh, the group also cited that I was loud and direct, which I hoped was a compliment. Oh, and I had also done some research into the topic after one of our committee meetings...apparently I was the only one on the committee with a grasp of how to Go*ogle information and presto, I was an expert!

I spent countless hours researching information and putting together a presentation. I became a facilitator for the Dov*e Rea*l Beaut*y Campaign, read through countless papers published in psychology journals, talked with a graphic artist at a magazine, read books, published articles, various blogs and websites on the topic. I gathered so much information, it could probably take me two hours just to spout through all the statistical data I found. It took me three days just to whittle down all my information into what I thought was the most important and most-digestible information to give to 10, 11 and 12 year old girls. I then spent another 4 days putting the PowerPoi*nt presentation together. I spent one of those days learning how to properly compose a Pow*erPoi*nt presentation because I despise Po*werPo*int. I think it is a great program, but I hate it because it is COMPLETELY misused by people. How many of you have been READ to as someone clicks through slide after slide with about 400 bullet points on it, reading each and every one of those bullet points to you?AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It is torture!! I mean, just type it up in an essay and let me read it on my own! Powe*rPo*int is presentation software, made to enhance a presentation....not a program to blast what should be an essay onto a wide screen and lull people to sleep with word after word "flying in" and making whooshing noises. But, I digress.... I wanted to make certain my presentation looked professional.

Fast-forward to this past Saturday--workshop day. I wasn't nervous about my presentation, I was more eager to be done with it and I wasn't just a speaker at the workshop, I was a committee member and I had jobs to do, so I was kept busy. I was speaking at mid-day in the main room in front of all the participants. The main room was used all day, keeping me from having a run-through. When it came time to give my presentation, I had 5 minutes to set up. (Do you see where this is going?)

Earlier in the day I had removed the first of three videos in my presentation in an effort to cut time from my presentation...I was trying to help regain time we lost during registration and had set us back some 20 minutes. I kept the original presentation in its entirety and saved the modified presentation separately. A decision I would soon regret.

Our workshop was held at a college, and we had the tech. supervisor of the college present to help set up the speakers. He was a nice man, but a little too overly-helpful. Because I had embedded video and my presentation was created using Po*werPoi*nt 2007, I had to run my presentation from my laptop. The ever-helpful technology man insisted that he connect my laptop and then insisted that I use his mouse to advance my screens (he insisted using my touch pad on my laptop was TOO difficult). Well, he couldn't get my laptop to recognize the presentation system in the room. He tried over and over again, eating up my 5 minutes of set-up time. I now had a room of 150 people, staring at the podium, where I was standing, frantically trying to get the stupid presentation I had spent 100s of hours preparing for set-up. Then it came to me...the age-old wisdom learned by a teacher shut in a room with 30 screaming kids and a DVD player that won't work....IF IT WON'T WORK, TURN OFF THE POWER THEN TURN IT BACK ON. YES! The magic cure-all. When the tech. guy went to get back up support, I turned off my computer and then turned it back on...voila! We had my desktop photo of Chloe in full-three screen display, just in time for tech. guy to reappear and inform me that it was now working (thanks, Captain Obvious). He then insisted on pulling up the Pow*erP*oint presentation himself. I told him the name of the presentation and two-clicks later I was ready to present. Light down...lets roll. Below is my recount of my presentation....

Hello...blah, blah, blah.(click to next slide)... Seeing isn't believing....blah, blah, blah...(Click to next slide)...what the? What's this video doing in this presentation? It's not supposed to be here!! Oh my goodness, he clicked on the original presentation, not the abbreviated presentation....great, just go with the flow, act like nothings wrong, just do the original, longer presentation...good the video is over, moving on (click to next slide)...WHAT!!! Why did this thing start over??? (click again) WHAT!!! Why is it on this video now!----Enter technology guy to inform me that the mouse he insisted I connect to my computer is not working (thanks again, captain obvious) he removes mouse, I click on correct slide while still presenting I might add!!!....blah, blah, blah (click to next slide which is another video) WHAT!! NOW THERE IS NO SOUND? Great technology dude accidentally unplugged the sound cord connected my laptop! Re-connect cord....blah, blah, blah..who is this dude in this ugly flannel, plaid shirt taking a photo? GO AWAY!!! Blah, Blah, Blah....thanks and remember no BODY is perfect.

That's my recollection anyway. The first few minutes were torture as I tried to keep the presentation going with glitch, after glitch, after glitch and then some man literally underneath my podium taking photos of my nostrils. I wanted to stamp my feet after my presentation because I knew I could do better than that!!!! I felt like I let everyone down, especially myself after all the time I put into that presentation. If I could only have a do over. I told myself that I should just be relieved it is over and that now I can relax. And so I did.

Well, today I come back from the gym and I have a message. It seems even with the technical difficulties, the workshop evaluations from the attendees reveal that my presentation was one of the most popular! Apparently several commented on how they loved my message and my photosh*op before and afters of celebrities. I then get a message from a mom whose daughter attended the workshop to tell me that her daughter had some friends over on Sunday and she overheard her telling them that they should look more closely at advertising and then proceeded to tell them about my presentation. I felt so much better...even with the technical difficulties the message got across.

But, here's the twist. I was just contacted by the workshop chairwoman. She has been contacted by another speaker at the event (one of the professionals who flew in to speak at the event) and she wants to negotiate with the League to use my presentation. They have been also contacted to bring my presentation into some of the area schools.

Needless to say, I am feeling a lot better about my performance on Saturday and can't wait to see what unfolds next.