Encore, encore
Yesterday was my big "from college to career" speech. I have a feeling that most people come in and just speak extemporaneously, but god knows I can't do that. So I practiced it about 10 times, made myself a set of notecards, and spent so much time on it Tuesday morning (my late day, so the talk was the very first thing I did upon arrival) that I almost was late for my own lecture.
I think I've mentioned that a consequence of our odd block scheduling is that the entire student body, as well as the faculty, have the same 45-minute period for lunch. That makes scheduling this type of thing difficult enough. This semester, there's an added wrinkle in that the new gen ed schedule cuts into the beginning of that period by another 15 minutes, so some people have 11-11:45 open and others only have 11:15-11:45.
I was scheduled to start at 11. At 11:00 it was just me. At 11:05 two students showed up. At 11:10, one faculty member. The coordinator said to just go ahead and start, so I did. I felt really damn stupid giving a prepared speech, notecards and all, to such a small audience, but I don't think I could have said anything coherent otherwise, so I went ahead. By the time I was midway through, the audience had swelled to about 12.
I didn't expect a talk by the librarian to draw a huge crowd, but it was a little depressing. However, the people who did attend said nice things and my theme of "you never know where you're going to end up, so you might as well keep your options open" seemed to go over well. Nevertheless, it was with a profound sense of relief that I returned to the library and threw my notecards in the recycling bin.
Later that day the coordinator came in, praised my talk, and asked if I'd be willing to do it again in the spring. I honestly thought he was kidding. He said that he thought it was important for the students to hear and that he'd try to do a better job of marketing it to ensure a larger turnout.
So I fished the notecards out of the trash and filed them away. We'll see what happens next time around.
At least I know I'll be able to update one thing. I started off my talk by telling them how I was completely confident at 18 that I was going to be a famous novelist. Then I described how my career plans had changed course. But I ended up by telling them that I had signed up for the food and travel writing class, so maybe my writing days weren't over.
The class is this Saturday. I'm a little scared, but I can't wait, either.
I think I've mentioned that a consequence of our odd block scheduling is that the entire student body, as well as the faculty, have the same 45-minute period for lunch. That makes scheduling this type of thing difficult enough. This semester, there's an added wrinkle in that the new gen ed schedule cuts into the beginning of that period by another 15 minutes, so some people have 11-11:45 open and others only have 11:15-11:45.
I was scheduled to start at 11. At 11:00 it was just me. At 11:05 two students showed up. At 11:10, one faculty member. The coordinator said to just go ahead and start, so I did. I felt really damn stupid giving a prepared speech, notecards and all, to such a small audience, but I don't think I could have said anything coherent otherwise, so I went ahead. By the time I was midway through, the audience had swelled to about 12.
I didn't expect a talk by the librarian to draw a huge crowd, but it was a little depressing. However, the people who did attend said nice things and my theme of "you never know where you're going to end up, so you might as well keep your options open" seemed to go over well. Nevertheless, it was with a profound sense of relief that I returned to the library and threw my notecards in the recycling bin.
Later that day the coordinator came in, praised my talk, and asked if I'd be willing to do it again in the spring. I honestly thought he was kidding. He said that he thought it was important for the students to hear and that he'd try to do a better job of marketing it to ensure a larger turnout.
So I fished the notecards out of the trash and filed them away. We'll see what happens next time around.
At least I know I'll be able to update one thing. I started off my talk by telling them how I was completely confident at 18 that I was going to be a famous novelist. Then I described how my career plans had changed course. But I ended up by telling them that I had signed up for the food and travel writing class, so maybe my writing days weren't over.
The class is this Saturday. I'm a little scared, but I can't wait, either.
posted by Madame Defarge at 4:34 PM
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