Playing an Expert
Category: Local...
Posted Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 02:10 PM [GMT-6]

I spent ninety minutes this morning in a room with seven women, doing most of the talking, and it wore me out.

I had been asked to make a presentation about websites for nonprofit organizations as part of a monthly series of breakfast sessions sponsored by Midland College. These sessions are geared toward the training and development needs of local organizations, "local" being a relative term in that we had attendees from Big Spring and Odessa in addition to the Midland-based participants. Presenters are volunteers; attendees pay a nominal fee to Midland College to cover overhead. I chose as my topic "Extreme Website Makeovers: Nonprofit Edition," figuring that one more in the seemingly endless proliferation of makeover programs couldn't hurt.

Given that our group consisted of representatives from organizations which (a) had mature websites, (b) had new websites, (c) had no website but had a grant to build one, (d) had no website and no apparent means to get one, it was a little difficult to settle on one approach to the presumed topic of making over an existing site. So I stuck with the tried-and-true approach of giving tips for creating an effective website, existing or planned.

We used the facilities of MC's Advanced Technology Center, which is a wonderful resource for our area. The computer and video projector were ready to go, along with an internet connection so we could browse some actual websites and critique them in a hands-on manner. The women were interested in the subject matter, asked a number of perceptive questions (including one about "deep linking," although she didn't know that's what it was called) and overall made the experience an interesting and pleasant one.

I always feel a bit intimidated when called upon to act as an "expert" in a subject, particularly in front of an audience who has paid (a nominal amount, to be sure, but still...) to hear what I have to offer. I don't have a great fear of public speaking, but I do have a fear of wasting people's time. Fortunately, this morning's session seemed to be well received, and there were a number of times when I sensed that special moment when the mental light bulb goes on, as if the person's thinking, "oh...so that's how that works!" or "I always wondered about that..."

But, I gotta tell you, the attempt at being engaging and eloquent and presenting at least a glossy sheen of intelligence at 7:30 a.m. wears you down. Don't look for much more out of me for the rest of the day. Unless, of course, my current fascination with nanotubes yields some unexpected inspiration, in which case the sky's the limit.