10 Things I’m Thinking as I Prepare to Emcee

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Cafe Lulu, Cecelia Margraff, emcee, fears, gown, heels, Lions, miss america, Miss St. Francis, miss wisconsin, pageant, scholarship, St. Francis, stagefright

Volunteers make it happen, whether for Special Olympics, United Way, a community project or a fundraiser to support a family in need. They fill out paperwork, organize people, haul supplies, staple, copy, pour coffee, seek donations and do whatever needs to be done. The causes may be different, but the overall intention is to help someone or something.

This week is the 50^th anniversary of the Miss St. Francis scholarship program. Hundreds of young women have passed across the stage to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship money and compete at Miss Wisconsin and Miss America. To make that happen, volunteers not only put on the show, but also give their time during the year to keep the program growing. I’m thankful for this small army who give of their time and hearts to make the magic happen.

I had the honor of winning the title of Miss. St. Francis 1995. The money I earned paid for a semester of graduate school. Without that additional education, I’m pretty sure my life would probably have taken a different path – one of those sliding door moments. This year my friend Kelly (MSF 93) and I are donating a Professional Preparation Scholarship to one contestant for her internship or job search. We’re also co-emceeing the program. This is something like Kelly’s 10^th time emceeing. She goes with the flow. I’m on the edge of my seat, taking notes and paying attention. The show is in two days.

Things I’m thinking as I prepare to emcee the Miss St. Francis pageant this weekend:

1. Will the microphone work? Check one…check two.
2. There are 10 incredible contestants with great talents and service platforms. One will become Miss St. Francis and then maybe Miss Wisconsin?
3. I have to walk up and down stairs in a gown and high heels repeatedly to enter/exit the stage. I’m bound to take a header.
4. Our outgoing queen is Cecelia Margraff, a student in the Marquette University School of Dentistry. What does she think of my teeth?
5. I probably shouldn’t have eaten that yummy east Indian chicken pita with onions and tzatziki sauce from Café Lulu prior to tech rehearsal. (Sorry, Kel!)
6. Can one suddenly develop a stutter?
7. I’m going to wear high heels for at least three hours straight. I usually work out of my home office, wearing slippers. I’ve already apologized to my feet.
8. There’s no cough button. I must remember not to swear.
9. I will have to endure the “lamentations” of several of the past titleholders who brag about being able to fit into their competition gowns even though they ate one malted Easter egg candy this year. Mine gown looks lovely on its hanger.
10. Thank you to all the volunteers, throughout all 50 years.

Stage Crew

St. Francis Lions

Christmas reading at the Library

The Patti Family

The End

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abraham lincoln, body, Business Communications, business writing, communication, conclusion, development, editing, fairy tales, ideas, introduction, jr, martin luther king, paragraphs, structure, technical writing, writing

Great first lines live on in infamy:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

Once upon a time…

Why don’t great closings earn the same respect as great openings? I know they’re out there. I’ve sat through thousands of presentations and certainly was impressed by a good number of them. I’ve even given a few myself. However, the poor conclusion never quite obtained the level of notoriety as the opening. No one repeats them verbatim. And sometimes people forget to include them. However, the conclusion is just as important as the introduction and body of the speech or written piece.

The conclusion will wrap up or summarize the message you’re trying to convey. If you can present a great closing to your presentation or paper, you’re bound to propel your audience on to further action or discussion.

If you fail to provide a great or even good closing, you’re bound to leave the audience with a rather “ho-hum” or let-down experience. Who hasn’t sat through a presentation only to have the speaker abruptly say, “Well, that’s all the time I have. Thank you.”? It leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied and cheated out of a great conclusion. What is the take-away message? The audience wants that reminder.

After moving from general to specific information in the introduction and body paragraphs, your conclusion should begin integrating more general information to restate the main points of your argument or topic. You want to meet the needs of your audience. In a general way, you can

• Restate your topic and why it is important,
• Restate your thesis/claim,
• Address opposing viewpoints and explain why readers should align with your position, and/or
• Call for action or overview future research possibilities.

Once you presented your conclusion, then you can put up that “Any Questions?” slide. At that point, don’t try to add in more information or explain anything further. Simplicity of restating your message is best for a clear, convincing message.

Remember the structure of your speech or writing needs to include three main elements: Introduction, Body and Conclusion. In your conclusion, remind the audience what you’ve just told them so they take away your intent firmly recognized. A great conclusion should make the reader glad they read or listened to your presentation.

Any Questions?

 

 

 

Achieving Goals

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achieve, achievements, agents, Christine DeSmet, conference, contest, Dale Kushnar, editors, fiction, goals, Laurie Scheer, Madison, Michael Perry, Nathan Bransford, networking, novels, pitching, prize, success panel, UW Madison, Writer's Institute, writers, writing, young adult

This past weekend I attended the UW-Madison Writers’ Institute. Celebrating its 25^th year, this was my third time at the conference, and certainly the best so far for me. There were incredible keynote speakers, including authors Michael Perry, Nathan Bransford, and Dale Kushnar. I entered and won first place in the First Page/Poem contest for the fiction genre and am proud to display my award.

Michael Perry autographs “Truck”

One bit of advice I have heard repeatedly for attending writers’ conferences is to go in with goals. I’d never really done that before, as I’m used to attending business conferences where sometimes the only goal was to get out of the office for a few days. This time I decided I go in prepared. This time I formulated a plan and set goals going into the conference. I was going to network, increase my knowledge on writing, and be successful in my pitches.

I’m not a great networker. For someone who’s worked in marketing an entire career, sometimes I just like to retreat in my shell and keep to myself. I think it comes from talking to people all day and when it feels like my personal time, I just like peace and quiet. However, being a writer is being part of a writing community, and I decided to excel in the networking realm. By talking to as many writers and authors as I could, I could learn as much, if not more, than what I was learning in the sessions. At the conference, I met many innovative and inspirational writers, and came home with a bunch of new writing relationships. I also managed to connect other writers together, which was a really cool and unexpected benefit.

I knew I would learn a lot at the Writers’ Institute because the organizers offer sessions varied in both content and experience-level. I attended as many sessions as possible and took a ton of notes. Because of conflicts and meetings, I couldn’t attend every session, but thankfully, the conference does a great job of providing handouts for nearly all sessions. I was even able to subsidize notes for a class I taught this week with information gleaned from the conference. That was another unexpected benefit. I also signed up for a personal critique session of my writing, and spent an incredible half hour with Christine DeSmet. Her edits were insightful and thoughtful, and will certainly improve my writing. The information, critique and guidance she provided also served me well and prepared me for my final goal for the weekend – the agent/editor pitches.

I signed up to pitch to three agents who represent either young adult or fiction works. Before arriving at the conference, I crafted my marketing summaries, elevator speeches and even prepared query letters. All three meetings, in my estimation, were incredibly successful. Now that I’m home, I am preparing the requested materials to send to the agents. I hope these pitches will take me to publication, but at this point, I achieved my goals for the pitches and am happy with my progress.

It’s important to go into a writers’ conference with goals. One way to gauge success is by being able to tick off those accomplishments as you wrap up and head home. Networking? Check. Learning? Check. Pitching? Check. I do believe it’s important to celebrate the successes. I thank the UW-Madison Writers’ Institute for continuing to encourage writers to do our thing and giving us a venue to assemble and share. My goal for next year’s conference? To be on the success panel.

See you in 2015!

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes x 100

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100 years, birthday, butcher, century, Grandma, grocery store, happiness, lessons, life, love, Milwaukee, musings, patience, Rent, Seasons of Love, writing

Fifty million five hundred sixty thousand minutes. That doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily as the lyrics “five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes” from the song “Seasons of Love.”* But no matter, fifty million, five hundred sixty thousand minutes is the amount of time my Grandma has lived as of this past Saturday when she reached her 100th birthday. It truly was a momentous occasion and celebration.

100 years.

During the festivities, my aunt asked one question of everyone – Had anyone ever seen my Grandma angry? For those of us who have known her our entire lives and see her through many life events, the answer was no. She does not have an angry fiber in her. I’ve seen her irritated and disappointed and exasperated and tired, but never angry. And those other feelings only lasted moments and certainly without any long-standing grudges. Even while raising three very mischievous boys who tested her mettle every day of their teens and 20s, she held her cool. Mad is never a word to describe her. I don’t know she does it, but I’m certain it’s an angelic level of patience.

Grandma behind the counter.

My aunt theorized perhaps Grandma had reached 100 years because she wasn’t harboring hurt or resentment or bad feelings. My grandparents owned a neighborhood corner market and butcher store for decades on Milwaukee’s south side. Grandma served as the resident “listener.” Patrons of the store would use the time while stocking up on groceries and supplies to bend my Grandma’s ear with the latest joys, sadness and events of their lives. She always stood behind the counter and listened. Even though the store has been shuttered for nearly 40 years, she still listens intently today.

These days during visits at the nursing home, she will sit in her wheelchair and listen to us discuss our lives, our trials and tribulations, our joys and our irritations. There’s irony in having a matriarch who is so calm and complacent, while most of us are rather quick to discuss our dissatisfactions. She accepts the long delays between visits without animosity. She is happy to see us when we have the time or when we make the journey from out of state. She is the stillness in our lives. When we leave, she gives a kiss and a smile.

Even at 100 years, Grandma is still patient, still kind and still listening. I have much to learn from her.
* Seasons of Love from the Broadway play “Rent.”