Talking on the Side

I love my wife! I know it's a random way to start a blog, but the longer I know this woman, the more she amazes me, the more I love her. Watching her reach her goals helps me realize I can reach mine.

Now the real reason for the blog. Last night Danielle and I were asked to speak to a class. This has been happening recently that we've been asked to speak in front of groups, organizations, and classes. The topic is in a nutshell talking about our identities as Black, gay, women. The first speaking engagement was great! We told our story and afterwards the people at the PFLAG meeting came up to us and hugged us and thanked us. It was great! It really got me thinking that I could do this on the side. I like to tell my story and inspire others and I don't mind large groups. Of course I'm nervous at first, but once I've engaged the crowd I feel right at home. Anyway (where was I going with this), so last night was a different experiences. First, since we are still new to this we don't have a protocol of questions to ask about what is expected of us and the group's level of awareness about such issues. Needless to say, we walked into the talk a little unprepared. We did our best to tell our story and answer the group's questions, but afterwards I couldn't help but to reflect on some of the things that could've gone better. I did realize that not all speaking engagements are created equal and sometimes you hit it out the park and sometimes you hit a foul pop-up and the catcher bursts your bubble by catching the ball with his eyes closed and one hand behind his back (ok the experience wasn't that bad, but you get it). It really helped us to put things into perspective and not take for granted that everyone gets these things. We now know that we need different levels of our talk; beginner, intermediate, semi-expert and we need to read our audience and use examples that are relevant to them. A big realization was understanding that sometimes my wife and I are on different pages with how we want to present and a quick check before we get started is needed. I really enjoy getting to do this and hope that when we get to ATL we can continue to go around talking about ourselves, because that's really what it is.