I’m not sure if I’ve completely embarrassed myself. Gave a talk yesterday to a group of colleagues from West Australian academic libraries – the talk was “New Technologies in Libraries” (the subtitle in my head being Web 2.0? Library 2.0? Where to?) .
It was to have been a pretty ordinary talk, I thought, complete with requisite PowerPoint slides. My colleague SGS and I had thirty minutes to set the scene and introduce a few of the tools and concepts. You know, blogs, RSS, wikis, and a mention of the whole Web 2.0 thing. Easy-peasy, I thought, given that we’ve given versions of this talk about four times already.
Well, for some reason I got completely carried away and just went on and on talking about the possibilities and all sorts of flights of fancy. Let’s connect, let’s talk, let’s look at stuff! Hallelujah! And I mean no disrespect to Christians – but thinking about it, it was like I was a preacher, extolling the virtues of seeing the light (of blogging – HAH) … much fervent gesticulating and so much to say…
I went over the allotted time by fifteen minutes and was mortified when I realised – but no one stopped me and they even seemed to enjoy the talk. Or at least I thought so. Were the smiles from the audience really just the polite grimaces of people watching a horror spectacle (the sort you can’t tear your eyes from even though it is awful)??
I feel exhausted and hungover today. Coming down from the adrenaline overdose, I think.
If anyone has come here from following the trail I left at the event’s wiki, please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you thought. Or email me if you’d like to commiserate.
It was GREAT to finally meet, though, K! Looking forward to more talking, working and playing with you! 🙂
11 Comments
Hi CW,
I hope they all admired your enthusiasm and thrilled to the new concepts! If you didn’t notice any paper shuffling, coughing or mumbling – that’d be a good sign, right?
Great to see you again at blogger meetup!
Dee
Well, “Reverend,” it sounds like they enjoyed the talk more than grimaced from your description. You keep on carrying the “good word.” Best, and keep on blogging.
Amusing!, i can visualise perfectly your enthusiastic delivery! 😀
I was there. We did not yawn. We did not rustle. We sat entranced by your enthusiasm and knowledge.
I thought SGS actually had a bemused look on her face, rather than showing any discomfort at all.
I think the bit where you deviated was to go off about LibraryThing….and good for you and good for them that you did.
It inspired me to create my “real blog” last night, even though I was holding off because I’m going on 5 weeks’ holiday in a month’s time.
Great to meet you and rave in the coffee shop afterward. Here’s to many more! K.
Thanks Dee. Was good to catch up with you also! I forgot to ask, how was the Whitlams’ stay at Megan’s? As for the talk, I hate doing post-event dissection in one’s head and coming to the worst possible conclusions… I have never been one of those people who analyses exams after they’re done – I just finish and leave exams with relief – I tell myself it’s done and no point worrying. With talks I give and classes I teach, on the other hand… 🙂 It’s silly I know!
Hey! Hello Angel 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. I’m sure I gave the audience plenty to think about, if nothing else.. 🙂
Hehe jl. I was exhausted afterwards! 🙂
Thanks K. Was great to finally meet you also, and I’m really looking forward to more discussions and work on that project! The way I figure, even if the entire WA academic library community know thinks I’m a raving fruit loop 😉 I did get to meet you, so something good did come of it 🙂
Poor SGS has heard me gone on and on about how wonderful everything is so many times… I kind of wish the talk had’ve been recorded because I don’t remember everything I said 🙂
Heh heh… I hear you on blog evangelising as I’m guilty of that too. It probably wasn’t as bad as you think – most people are happy to listen to somebody who a) knows what they are on about and b) actually enjoys what they are talking about.
Ya never know who you might inspire 😉
It’s when you see the dribble coming out of snoozing punter’s mouths that you need to get concerned.
Thanks Penny – you’re right of course! Happily, I don’t think anyone was snoozing or dribbling 🙂
I was enthralled by your talk and your enthusiasm. Started my own blog a few weeks ago (Maeve’s Blog, how original) and have added metion of the forum to it.
Wow thanks for that Maeve, I’m glad to hear that 🙂 I think I’ve gotten over it now, ie I can think about my talk without cringing. And I’m sure it’s a sign of being a blog evangelist that I am already thinking about my next talk and what I would do better…
Hi CW,
The Tim Freedman visit went well, and Megan has a signed copy of the new CD. 🙂
Glad everyone’s reassured you about the talk. I think it makes sense to wonder how a talk goes over, given that you’ll be presenting again and wanting to leave an impression. I wish some of my lecturers at uni had thought more about this. Yi yi yi. 🙂
That’s very cool Dee, I’d love to meet Tim Freedman! 🙂
I like this topic, and am so enthused by it that I want to share that… so I would be annoyed with myself if I bored people…