Wacky Idea

I don't know if I've told you all, but I used to do a lot of public speaking as part of my job. I'd present at seminars and conventions, usually as part of a team from my department. Since I've been work-from-home and part-time I've done very little. A few audio-conferences here and there but that's about it.

Digressing for just a minute from my original thought, missing the speaking and being afraid I was losing the ability to do so was a big part of the reason I got involved in the extra volunteer activities in Girl Scouts. I wanted to get back up in front of the room of people and talk. So I volunteered to be a delegate and present the updates from the board of directors to the service unit.

Now, mind you, I was the shyest kid you'd ever meet. I hated public speaking. Hated it in high school. Hated it in college. I'd get so nervous and would be so quiet I could barely do it. Then in grad school we had to present in our classes a lot. I got a bit better at it. Still didn't care for it. At my job we were required to do speaking engagements. Didn't matter if you wanted to or not, we had to. I actually got to enjoy it. I still felt like I was going to throw up before I went on, but once I got going it was pretty fun. Except when there'd be a heckler in the house, but that's for another day.

Back to my story. Proposals are due at the end of the month for presentations at a big state convention in September. I loved going to this convention and haven't been in years. I got the bug to speak at it again. I volunteered (for pay this time) to coordinate all the proposals from my firm. I came up with several ideas and am co-speaker for 4 of them. Of course none of them are submitted yet, and the association has to choose them, but I should get at least one. We have some good topics and my firm is well known in this association as putting on a good seminar. (In fact my boss could read her grocery list at this convention and people would go because as I overheard one lady say, "I don't know the topic but if Susie S. is speaking about it I need to know it.")

Well, I just sent my boss another topic for her approval. I want to do a session tentatively called, "Having it all without losing your mind" about balancing work and family life. They actually have a request on their topic list for just such a session. Who better to do it than a homeschool mom with a professional job? The time slots are all 90 minutes, so I am a bit concerned about whether or not I can fill that long. But I'll worry about that after the session gets picked. I sent it in before I chickened out again. You see, I had decided last night I wanted to do it. But by this morning I had changed my mind. Then today I mentioned it causally to Mr. Incredible. I thought he'd think it was silly. But he liked the idea and encouraged me to go for it. So I did.

Cross your fingers they pick my session. Well, first that the firm will let me submit it. I'm excited about the idea. I hope it pans out. I hope I don't fry in the pan if I actually try to do this session next September!