Speakers Gone Crazy!

There may not be as much skin as in the "Girls Gone Wild" series, but there is drama nonetheless in today's dramatic and riveting episode of "Speakers Gone Crazy."

I tell my public speaking students that they must be ready to adjust their talks at a moment's (if even that much) notice and yesterday gave me the opportunity to practice what I preach. My friend Pam Cable and I were invited several months ago to speak at a celebration for Women's Equality Day, hosted by the Commission on the Status of Women in Greensboro. We were asked to prepare an hour and fifteen minute presentation.

When we got to the event and looked at the program we saw we were scheduled for an hour. No big deal. Then breakfast started late, which meant the keynote speaker started (and ended) late. The day was then supposed to be divided into morning speakers, 15 minute break, afternoon speakers.  The people who spoke before our session went WAY over time limit. They blew through the break period and went right on talking up to the start time of our presentation, with no indication they had any intention of stopping.

I was livid. More so at the event organizer than the speakers. How hard is it to step in and say, "I'm so sorry to cut you short when you have such wonderful information to share, but we need to take a quick break and start our next sessions. Let's have a big round of applause for...." ?  Didn't happen.

We were scheduled to start at 11 and at ten after I left the room and found the event chair who was in the foyer.

"Are we cancelling the afternoon sessions?" I asked.

"Oh. No. We just got a little late start but they'll start soon."

"Really?" I asked. "Because the speaker in our room just launched a 10 minute video presentation." 

Eight minutes into the video the chair came in and signalled them to cut it off.  And so finally, with 35 minutes left in the day, Pam and I started our speech.

And it was fine. Both of us thankfully are able to go with the flow and we got the main points across and had a fun time. But I find it inexcusable on the part of the chair to have let matters go the way they did, and the only reason she stopped the session when she did is that I went out and got her.  Pam and I volunteered to do this and each of us probably put in 4 hours of prep time, getting the handouts and information ready.  There was no apology for wasted time, no acknowledgement that things could have been handled better.

I went home and was telling Blair what happened and he grinned and said, "This is why men still rule the world." He was kidding, but I'm frankly inclined to find some truth in the matter.  This is how a group of women wanting to celebrate women run the event? It's too bad, because there were great speakers with great information there. And chances are strong I'm much more bothered as a presenter than I might of been as an attendee (although  maybe not--I'm pretty anal about start/stop times all the way around). =)  But in the end everything turned out okay, we delivered the talk and went on with our lives.

And it was a good lesson that even when you're handed a prescribed length of time to talk, always be prepared to extend or shorten on the spot. 

What You Say May Come Back to Bite You...

I am half amused/half mortified at the responses I've received from my "Sick of Volunteering" post two days ago. A few friends e-mailed me and wrote, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't gotten ________ to you or never followed up on ______." They were extremely sweet and concerned they had caused me stress. The funny part is that I wasn't even remotely thinking of these people when I made that post. The mortifying part is they didn't know know that and may not believe me when I tell them that really, it isn't them...

No more boo-hooing. I have it too good in life to moan and groan. Proof of this being that today for the first time in almost two weeks our house hit the 75 degree mark. Whopee! I'm hoping this means our AC unit is on its way back to life. If we can get one or two days of lower temperatures, I think we'll be back in business without having to spend money on a duct-work overhaul.

I now have 4 hours before I need to leave for my writers critique group and I have about 8 hours of work piled on my desk beside me, so I best get started.

Hugs to all my wonderful friends for the sweet notes they sent me.

Dena

Um...sorry.

Well. That was quite the little hissy fit I threw on-line yesterday wasn't it? I thought about deleting it but eh, you had to find out sooner or later I'm not perfect so you might as well start dealing with the pain and astonishment of it all now. (It's okay. I'm here for you.)

Things perked up later in the day. I think I found a replacement speaker for me at JobLink which eases the guilt of cancelling. Also, part of my volunteer work yesterday involved setting up speaking schedules for two authors who are going to speak to the community on behalf of the WGOT (Writers Group of the Triad) and when I spoke to one author she was so cheerful and gracious that it put me in a much better frame of mind.  

I'm in high spirits today. In an effort to combat the tired feeling I mentioned in an earlier blog I've been going to bed early. VERY early. Like at 9 PM. But I've been getting in a full 8 hours and I feel fantastic.  No more nodding head syndrome, no more forcing myself on to the next task. Instead, I feel rested and energized. It makes a huge difference throughout the day. 

Still running. Was out this morning and Sunday morning for 52 minutes which is probably around 5 miles. I hesitate to track my mileage because once I know how far something is, I psych myself out. "It's 3 miles as soon as I hit that stop sign. That's good enough. Maybe I'll stop." Where if  I don't know how far I've run, I'll keep running.

This month my goal is simply to run 4x/week. Come September, I'll need to take it up to 5 days and increase my time.

I better get a lot of sleep before then. ;)

Monster House & Writing Advice

I mentioned in my blog about my niece's visit that we saw--and despised--Monster House. The motion-capture technology they use is cool but the majority of the plot (such that it is) is a huge snore.

 This is too bad, as I think the idea of a house that eats children holds huge entertainment potential. Where did Monster House go wrong?

 They went wrong in that they had an idea but didn't follow through with it.  What's below is copied from my friend Ed's blog  at Side-Show Freaks and is a quote from Gene Wolf:

“When you write a story of your own, you start with a good idea. You work hard because you notice the harder you work, the better the story gets. Then you discovered the story doesn’t have the effect on others that you know it should and you don’t know why. I’m going to tell you – watch my lips.

You didn’t do much with your idea. You unconsciously assumed that because it was such a fine strong, sleek and even potentially dangerous idea, it could run the story by itself.

If I could give you one piece of advice…, it would be this: Think of yourself as a wild beast trainer, and your idea as a big cat in a show; walking out onto stage and saying, “Hey, look at my lion,” isn’t going to cut it. Is your idea going to jump through a hoop of flame? Is it going to climb onto the shoulders of two other ideas and roar?

You’ve got an idea…, and that’s good; now let’s see you put your head in the idea’s mouth.”

In a nutshell, that's what's wrong with Monster House. They had a good idea and thought the story would run itself. It didn't.  

In my writer's group (or any writer's group, for that matter) there's a lot of attention paid to dialogue. Too many writers, me included, get caught up in the details of life. It's like having a phone ring in your novel and your character goes to answer it and the following dialogue ensues:

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Sally?"

"Yes, this is Sally. Who's speaking?"

"Hi Sally, this is Jim. I met you at the party on Friday night..."

"Oh yes. Jim. I remember. Hi, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Listen, I was wondering..."

Okay, now how boring is that to read? Much better to simply say, "Sally was thrilled when Jim called to ask her out." Now we're moving along. But the above is what Monster House did. They TOLD every bit of boring dialogue that yes, does occur in everyday life but which even novice writers know has no place in an actual book or movie. I can't imagine how this film got past the writers/editors/directors/etc. Isn't Spielberg involved in this??

To be fair, while I didn't like the movie as a whole, I did like the characters in it--Chowder's a hoot. And my friend Trisha's son Max who is almost 9 loved it.  I think the movie can appeal to younger kids but it missed the mark at crossing the line and appealing to both kids and adults.