February 9, 2011

Yesterday, I gave my first official presentation.  While I've presented in the class setting and even unofficially in front of state appointed evaluators, I was never named in a conference booklet as a presenter.  That's why it was such an honor to be selected to present at the 2011 MECA conference in Jackson, MS on February 8, 2011.  My presentation was a section of a series of professional developments available from the Library of Congress.  The title of the session was Primary Sources from the Library of Congress.  The goals of the session, with supporting activities are listed below.
Goals

• Exploring www.loc.gov
• Understanding legal and ethical use of digital resources

Supporting Activities

• Overview of www.loc.gov
• Exploring American Treasures
• Understanding Copyright

This was what I was supposed to cover.  However, things didn't quite go as planned.  I guess I might as well document all the related events.  The night before the presentation, I worked nine hours.  It was my intention to prepare for the presentation while I was at work.  Of course, that didn't really pan out.  I did get to go through some of the steps, but I never went through the entire presentation.  I kept getting interrupted by, of all things, work!  Imagine that.  LOL  Well, once I got home I figured I would get ready for bed and continue preparing.  Again, things didn't go as planned.  I came home and the ink and paper that was supposed to be here wasn't here.  That started, no I started a big argument about that.  Lewis was supposed to get the ink, but he didn't.  That meant I had to go back out to Walmart.  Once I got to Walmart, I wasn't quite as focused as I should have been because I was angry for having to be there in the first place.  To make this long part of the story really short, I ended up getting too much of one color and not enough of another color.  That mistake made me unable to print decent color copies.  So I ended up printing  in black and white.  I still ran out of ink!  Yesterday morning, I ended up going to Kinkos.  I made my copies in record time and still made it to the convention center by 7:30.   My presentation was at 8.  The presentation went pretty good considering the fact that I was talking about a website and the internet kept going out.  I also came off as unprepared because I actually was.  I already admitted that I didn't start preparing until the last minute.  I hadn't actually used some of the features and I  did have to do some searching.  It was ridiculous.  The participants were nice about it.  Only 3 walked out.  I did see some people texting.  Most people seemed involved.  However, when I asked most questions, no one answered.  I didn't really try to prod them.  I just kept moving.  When asked how I thought the presentation went, this was my comment 'Well, I didn't get under the table and cry.'

Procrastination is one of my biggest flaws, along with the inability to filter my mouth in certain situations.  Anyway, this whole event is riddled with instances of procrastination.  It's time for me to ask myself some hard questions.  

1. Why didn't I start looking for something to wear before Saturday?
2. Why didn't I go through my presentation before Monday?
3. Why didn't I figure out which handouts I wanted to use and print them before Monday night?
4. Why do I always wait until the last minute to get things done?

1.  In the back of my mind, I knew I needed an outfit.  I just didn't have time or money to get one.  I could have bought a suit a lot earlier with proper saving and planning.

2.  This was just another case of me procrastinating.

3.  Procrastination

4.  This is one I just can't seem to figure out.  I know part of it is poor planning.  Another part of it is a lack of discipline or desire.  

These are all things I need to pray about immediately.