23. Get accepted to and attend/present at a conference.
Today I gave a joint presentation at a tutoring conference. We were scheduled during the very last of the group sessions, so we feared that we would have low attendance because so many people would have gone home early and not stayed for the last day; however, we had 15 people attend, which is a good number for a small conference (I saw presentations on Monday and Tuesday that had fewer attendees).
Our presentation was about tutoring students online – specifically, students who are taking online classes and so are rarely or never actually on campus. They do all their work online and, therefore, also need tutoring available online. One older woman seemed a bit confused by the whole concept. When she realized that we weren’t tutoring online students in person, but actually communicating with them online (golly gosh gee), she said, “Ohhh, so you don’t mean real tutoring; this is all online.” Enter my nice plastic smile and overly cheery tone as I responded, “Oh, trust me, it’s all quite real; a comma splice is a comma splice online or in person.” She continued to be quite confused throughout the session, but afterwards thanked my boss and me for really helping her understand what we were talking about. She had the most difficult time understanding how an online discussion board works, so she really was a few steps behind most of the other participants, technologically speaking.
Overall, the presentation was a success and my boss was very happy with how it went. She wants me to submit it for another conference that takes place in Virginia in October… right when my sister is due to give birth. Figures. Watch – we’ll be accepted, I’ll have to go, and I’ll miss yet another niece or nephew’s birth because I am out of state (I’m 0/2 so far; this would make me 0/3). If I’m ever pregnant, I’ll probably have my water break at a conference I’m attending.
