On Thursday I had the privilege of speaking at my first conference!
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| Social Media Tulsa Conference 2011 |
Only once before had I spoken in a public forum about the Napkin Dad story. It was at a Rotary Club meeting. I remember trying, in the early stages of putting the presentation together, to make it inspirational and motivational. But what they ended up hearing was a dry chronological recitation of the story. It fell flat.
When Cheryl Lawson, the SMTulsa Conference organizer, gave me the opportunity to speak, I was determined this time around that the Napkin Dad story would be told in a way that moved people, inspiring them and motivating them. After all, that’s what I work on every day in my drawings and commentary, why shouldn’t it be what I do in public, right?
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| Cheryl Lawson |
The title of my talk was ‘The Napkin Dad Explains: Strategies and Attitudes in Social Media Engagement’. Each chapter of the Napkin Dad story had a strategy, an attitude and a lesson to be learned. I had 9 of each but in the early stages of preparation I had about 24 of each. That wasn’t going to work! I really had to focus on editing at that point.
Here’s a funny thing. One of my chapters was about making what you do real. I mean materially real, as in something you can hold in your hand real. The great thing about making something real is that revelation occurs. When you have to move your communication from one medium to another you have to edit it, you have to transform it. That act leads you to understand yourself and what you do better. I was doing that exact same thing as I prepared my talk.
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| Becky McCray |
The keynote speaker at the conference was a woman named Becky McCray. She is from a small town in Oklahoma and has become a nationally known speaker on the topic of turning small town values into success in business. Her presentation was fantastic, with great stories, images and lessons to be learned about how America and the world can benefit from the best aspects of a small town mentality.
When I got to the room where I was presenting I found the Keynoter, Becky McCray, listening to the speaker before me, a friend of hers named Mandy Vavrinak. Becky didn’t know me from Adam but Mandy was going to stay and hear my talk and encouraged Becky to stay as well.
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| Mandy Vavrinak |
The very beginning of the Napkin Dad story, as many of you know, is when my daughter gave me all the napkins I had drawn that first year back to me on Father’s day. She had kept them all without me ever knowing. (if you don’t know the story you can read it here). While I haven’t spoken often in a formal public arena about the story, I have told that portion of it out loud many times. So, I was NOT expecting to get choked up as I came to that point. But, boy did I. It came out of nowhere! My voice wavered and I got a bit flushed, but I simply stopped, looked at the screen for a moment and continued on.
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Me speaking at SMTulsa 2011 © Cheryl Lawson
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The rest of the talk followed the outline of the story from then to now, with each chapter followed by three napkins, one illustrating a strategy I used, an attitude I had while going through it, and a lesson I learned from it. I felt pretty good about it afterwards. I got applause and I even heard a hoot in the back. I was happy.
You can see my Presentation Slides (as a PDF) here. I will also have a video of the talk up in the next week or so.
I was even happier when Becky McCray came up to me and was very positive about it, giving me ideas and recommendations of where I could go with it all. I was even happier when I read her tweet that she posted right after my talk:
@beckymccray: Prediction: @TheNapkinDad is a rising star. You will hear much, much more about and from him. #SMTulsa
Wow. Not much else to say but thanks!
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SMTulsa 2011 speakers
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After I was done I was able to enjoy the other speakers. I heard Michael Butler talk about Social Good, Carlos Moreno on Traditional vs. Social Media and Blake Ewing give the closing talk on Making Good Things Happen in Tulsa. I was in good company, that’s for sure. I also had great conversations with speakers Ronald Skelton, Heather Cupp and many others.
And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a Napkin! Michelle Butler asked me to draw a napkin at the cocktail party afterwards. Here it is.
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| Guest Napkin – Social Media Tulsa Conference 2011. Thanks to Michelle Butler for unknowingly posing for me! |
So, all in all a VERY positive and exciting experience. My thanks goes out to first and foremost Cheryl Lawson of Social Media Tulsa and Party Aficionado who put on the conference! Thanks to all who attended, especially Becky, who tweeted and FBed their positive feedback. It really made my day!
Marty
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Speakers ‘Meet-Meme’ Trading Cards
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