I had such a fun weekend as a guest speaker at the Denver Home Show! Thank you all for your kind comments and words of encouragement this weekend via social media! Lots of you asked how it went, so I thought I'd post a quick wrap up and a few photos from the weekend.
A couple of months ago I got a call from a woman who works for the company that coordinates many of the home shows around the country. She shared with me that organization has become one of the most requested topics at the home shows. She asked me if I would be interested in being a guest speaker at the Denver show and adapting my 10 Steps to Get Organized and Stay Organized post into a 30-45 minute presentation.
Despite not loving public speaking, it knew that it was a fantastic opportunity and I immediately agreed.
In the week leading up to the Denver Home Show, it was exciting to see my name in the newspaper along side the other two guest speakers, Matt Muenster of HGTV's Bath Crashers, and Leanne Lee, winner of the Home & Garden Trendsetter of the Year contest and blogger at Diva of DIY!
On Thursday, the day before the Home Show started, I stopped by the complex during set up to meet the coordinators in person and to pick up some free passes that I was able to leave at will call for my friends and social media followers.
Then Friday was the big day! On my way into the venue I saw that each attendee was being handed a list of show highlights with my face on it - crazy!
I arrived early so that I could hear Leanne speak in the time slot before mine, and she was so welcoming and encouraging! We snapped a quick photo with her selfie stick - my first every selfie stick experience!
And then it was my turn to take the stage. Right as I began my presentation, the tech controlling my power point determined that his computer needed to be updated and restarted :/. The screens went blank and the nerves hit! I went ahead with my introduction and even talked through the first of my "10 steps" while the tech quickly worked to get my presentation back up on the screen.
I was starting to panic a bit about how to move forward with nothing on the screens because my presentation relied heavily on my photo examples. How was I going to keep people interested in hearing me talk about organization for 45 minutes with no photos to show them?! But right then, the computer restarted and my presentation reappeared on the screens. PHEW!
After my presentation on Friday, a lot of people stuck around to chat and ask questions. As a blogger, it's wonderful to be able to share information with an infinite number of people via the Internet, but it's so rewarding to be able to meet people face to face and being able to answer their questions in person where you can see that you are helping them!
After seeing the photos from my Friday presentation, I realized that my black shirt made me almost disappear into the curtain behind me... so I went a bit brighter on Saturday!
Saturday's crowd was even bigger than Fridays - all the seats were full and there were people gathered around. Standing room only - that's a good feeling!
And check out this photo... there were a lot of men in that crowd! That surprised me. And a lot of these men were the ones to approach me with questions after my presentation. I've always known that organization posts are among the most popular on my blog - but this experience reconfirmed for me that organization is something we all struggle with and that it's something that everyone wants help with!
After my Saturday presentation, I stuck around to listen to HGTV's Matt Muenster - and talk about drawing a crowd!! I am just glad I didn't have to speak after Matt, because that would have been intimidating!! Matt packs them in, and they all stood in line waiting to meet him and get their picture taken with him. So, of course, I had to do the same! ;)
After the crowds dispersed, Leanne introduced Matt (who was so nice) and we got a picture of all three of us.
What an honor to have been a part of this group! It was a wonderful experience and a very fun weekend! Don't be surprised if you see Leanne making a few appearances here on the blog...we've been chatting about some fun ways to work together!
Let's get social!
Labels: Denver Home Show, Featured
