My actual
presentation went well again, this time, and I burned through the material I
had quickly, allowing for a lot of time for questions, which is intentional. I
would rather answer questions and have a discussion than listen to myself drone
on; I am fully capable of droning on when it comes to these subjects. I don’t
want to over-prepare and become like some of the other workshops that run over
questions because they have to fit the whole presentation in. Questions,
especially with fairy tales and mythology, are important. Dozens or hundreds of
people will be able to answer format, query, and submission questions, but
usually the only expert in my subject area at these events is me.
So I want
to allow plenty of time, but I also need to be prepared for the shock and awe
effect. Because people are so new to the subject matter, they may not be able
to formulate questions. Also, because of the directions I take it from the
expectations, they may be busy trying to process the information so cannot come
up with questions.
My
solution: I’ll prepare some myths and fairy tales that I can dissect for them
in real time, demonstrating what I’m talking about with the actual material.
Since I teach the material so frequently, it won’t be hard, and I can just make
sure to keep a collection of notes for various fairy tales and myths as part of
my conference bag.