I spent the week texting Denise to find out more about this presentation. She basically said to come up with a title that pops to get everyone interested. She added most of the people I would be presenting to were an older crowd. I told her that Chris had a pre made presentation he would like me to use and she said that was okay. I was going to add some of my own flair to it.
I talked to her on the phone for about an hour the weekend before just to hear how the monthly meeting would go. She outlined the itinerary and told me when everything was. They typically ate first, then got into the business part of it, I would be presenting around 12:20 for about 15 minutes, then questions and then they wrap up. She added that Dave, one of the oldest members dresses up every year like a leprechaun every March and to try to add something that has to do with leprechauns, pots of gold or treasure. I told her I could see what I could do. She finalized our conversation asking me for a mini biography that she could put in the March newsletter. I told her I would have it to her in a couple days. She thanked me.
I worked on my biography and my presentation over the next few days. No matter how many times I went over it I will still be nervous come game day. I gathered a bunch of swag, containers, coins and other memorabilia to show off to my audience just in case they needed a visual. I packed all of this up and made sure I had the brochures that Chris gave me.
That morning I remembered to wear green and hoped that Liz wore green and remembered her camera so she could take pictures of the presentation. She made sure to text me that morning stating that she remembered the camera and that she would see me at work.
I got to work and most of the morning we worked on getting ready for April enrollment. Around 11:30 Liz and I headed to the back and got into the Escape. I was really nervous at this point and kept reviewing what I was going to say in my head over and over.
We rolled into the Pellegrino's event center over by the Costco in Tumwater and Liz helped me bring in my visuals.
We weren't sure which room we were suppose to be in so we explored. The first room was a gathering of people that were either learning how to cook or watching someone get ready to cook we weren't sure. We continued down the hall and found the room we were suppose to be in. We were greeted enthusiastically by Denise who explained everything. Since we got there before noon she wanted us to eat first. We grabbed our plates and they served us corned beef and cabbage, rolls, potatoes, salad and a dessert. It was delicious. Liz loves food and she enjoyed it too.
After we were done eating they began their meeting promptly at noon and then it was my turn. Denise introduced me and Liz and I got up to the podium and began my presentation. Liz was my slideshow clicker. I began with asking how many people have heard or have actually geocached and to my surprise over half the room knew what it was. I went into what it was, how to do it and added some of the most memorable caches and locations I've been to. Of course I was pretty nervous and kept messing up but I was hoping they didn't notice because Liz sure did. Haha.
I concluded with questions or comments and actually people asked me questions and one lady actually geocaches with her daughter who is in the Girl Scouts has a live cache over by a camp near Black Lake. I still have yet to find that one. We took a couple pictures with Dave.
Denise visited with me for a little while and I found out she grew up in Tekoa in eastern Washington and she had a costume shop she does out of her home on Rich Road. I thanked her for the rotary hospitality and she thanked me back for coming and teaching the group about geocaching. We grabbed our stuff and went back to the Escape. I asked Liz, do you wanna go find some victory ice cream?" I barely finished the sentence as she was exclaiming yes. The closest ice cream place was Lime Berry fro yo.
We went in and we found the flavor of ice cream and toppings we wanted and I guess they have this thing where if you guess how much your ice cream weighs and if you are within a certain couple ounces you get it for free. We were both close but not correct. We ate it on the way back to L&I and it was delicious.
We found a place to park and headed in. Tim was there to ask us how it went and briefly talk about it. I knew he let me do it because it was a growth and development opportunity even though it didn't directly involve my work at the state.
Overall I am glad I did it even though speaking in front of people gives me anxiety no matter if I am an expert or not on the subject. For some reason my brain shuts off when I get up there and forget everything I went over in my head. One more thing to add to the ol' resume.
Next Adventure: St. Patrick's Day - A Caching Event for R-L Painter
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