The "Communication Risks" talk for the ACS went down well, although with a smallish audience of 20-30 and only two blokes. Everyone misses our regular venue and easy parking in West Perth. Many thanks to rabbit1080 for coming along for (im)moral support. I'm sorry, but I just can't swear effectively in cold blood. Ah well, I gave it a try.
I'm struggling more than a little to prepare for my talk next week. Not having actually spoken aloud for a couple of days seems to compound the problem. I'm all for muttering to myself, but I know from experience that I need to practice at normal or indeed elevated sound levels or it doesn't count.
A funny (for corporate and educational purposes) thing happened a couple of weeks ago, and it occurred to me that it might usefully chew up a minute or two of "Communication Risks" airtime as a variation on the theme that technical humour is dangerous. I received permission from the relevant colleague to share (he was the one attempting humour), so I'll see if I can thrash it out in text here first before I start to rehearse the tightened verbal version. You have to be able to look your audience in the eye when telling anecdotes, and not read off a script. I'm too tired tonight to tighten it up (am in fact falling alseep now) but hope to capture the essence of the comfail.
As of this morning I am officially on the schedule for the next ACS-W "Networking Event" in August. Oh the horror. I shall complain about the horror. I have, however, discovered a tenuous gender link to support my topic selection of "Communication Risks" (one of which is making me do public speaking). I shall complain about the tenuousness of the link, unless enough people tell me this particular bias actually seems plausible.
A couple of days ago I was asked to speak to the ACS-Women's group at their monthly meeting. I struggled to come up with an appropriate topic, and one which I could pull together in just two weeks. Many thanks for all the people who commented and passed on suggestions.
Got one of those odd e-mails out of the blue today, asking if I would address the ACS Women's group (ACS-W) in August as a fill-in speaker. It appears I am being hoist on my own petard for insisting that such gatherings have a speaker at all, but I'm struggling to come up with a topic that will be entertaining, informative and skewed to the female demographic. I am unaccustomed to making that distinction in a speaking engagement.
Swancon 2010 Sunday was all about surviving until our (relatively) late night Star Trek panel, so it was spent mostly quietly in my room trying to scrape up the will to live.
delicious_irony made me do things--terrible things--but I emerged victorious. I am the Iron Brain champion, with bonus hand actions. It was a bit rough to make us pronounce the typos.
I may never sleep again.
Other stuff happened. I'll just have to trust my memory and write it down later.
Husband is off tonight donating bass and vocals at a jazz club fundraiser for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. It would probably be helpful if I could advertise the venue, time and cover charge. Um.
*sound of crickets*
I think it's at The Charles Hotel. Tonight. For charity.
ED: And I would be wrong. It's at the Yokine Bowls Club.
*shakes fist at Hyde Park Hotel for turfing out the jazz club*
For posterity's sake I should report that I delivered my tech writer presentation to the System Administrators' Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU) WA branch last night. It was a cosy affair of about 20, including 3 or 4 familiar faces from UniSFA/Swancon connections. It's a small town.
I have been to Bunbury and back. Somewhere in the middle I delivered my Tech Writer talk to an intimate group of a dozen or so. At some point I will report at length on the experience, but not now. It went well. I even got to use the old heckle response "Yeah, I remember my first beer."
Tomorrow I deliver my Tech Writer talk to the ACS. Like an exam this has been hovering on the calendar for quite some time, but unlike an exam I'm really looking forward to it. Most of my dumb things to say are scripted in advance, so I hope my energy levels will pick up enough to last me the rest of the night with some dignity. Then Wednesday to Bunbury and back for round II and I can relax a bit. Not that I'm stressed now, but after a while you just want even the nicest events to just be over.