Today’s discussion is about trying something out of the blue. There are many things I’ve tried that have not had the best results. But thought they didn’t work, at least I gave them a shot and I think the only thing that such event6s have taught me is to learn what works and what doesn’t. A case in point.
Throughout my life I have been pretty shy about my abilities. I don’t have the best vision and I have a hard time recognizing people. As a result I often will stand on the sidelines and watch others do the work of something. an example of that is being a fly on the wall when the Leading Edge and Life the Universe and Everything was created.
Well last year I thought I’d try may own project. In recent years I’ve become concerned about national issues and wanted to see how I could contribute to the more education of the youth. I thought I’d try to put together a project where I would have interesting speakers come and talk about their careers and that it would be an entertaining afternoon for kids and teens.
Well to state it bluntly the event, Etcetera One was a flop. I chose people who interested me and who were involved in their occupations. I scheduled a Saturday afternoon at a library and then sent emails to dozens of school principals to invite their students to the event.
This was the schedule I had set up.
Etcetera One is free to the public and should be of particular interest to ages 10 and up.
12:30: The Empire Has No Clothes: Why and How to Study History and Becoming a Citizen-Statesman in the 21st Century. Stephen Pratt, historian and educator with extensive knowledge of United States history and researcher for Cleon Skousen.
2:00 The Essence of Story in Movie Making. Lyman Dayton, Director/Producer. Lyman Dayton has 16 pictures to his credit, including: Where The Red Fern Grows, Seven Alone, A Crooked Sky. He is a winner of Reader’s Digest List of Best Family Films. Ages eleven to teen actors, bring your portfolios.
3:00 Cause and Effect, the Confessions of a Circuit Court Judge. Floyd Gowans , in 1987 was awarded the Circuit Court Judge of the Year for the State of Utah. In 1990 he received the Distinguished Judge of the Year award for the State of Utah.
4:00 Citizenship, Each Our Part. Stella Welsh, previous Orem Mayor, member of city councils, committees, boards and participated in multiple projects including habitats for humanity.
I think the subject matter and the presenters were very good choices. They each gave great presentations. I realized that my bottleneck of advertising was by only sending emails to the Principals of the schools of the county.
In my process of obtaining contact info, one school staff member told me that I should send emails only to the principals of the various school and not to the teachers at all. I think of the dozens of Principals that I contacted only one or two felt inclined to forward the information to their teachers.
The even taught me several things.
1. The room and calendar of events were good choices. The few who came found the event interesting.
2. I can achieve a task through my own efforts.
3. I now have contact info if I need it for future events.
4. I’ve got to make sure I don’t permit bottlenecks in my promotion efforts. Maybe next time I will find an alternative way to forward information to teachers if not through their principals.
So if there is something you have always wanted to try give it a shot. Sometimes I learn how to do things by being the support staff of past events led by others. For example I’mve been on the staffs of The Leading Edge, Life the Universe and Everything, managing family reunions, Utah Patriot Camp, and event committees etc. Each thing we do to help in the success of an event teaches us and enables us with a better foundation to do our own project once we decide to lead.
My invitation is that if there is an event you want to put on, find people who may want to work with you on that project. And just jump in. You may tread water in the beginning but often with enough effort we all learn how to swim.
