Music workshop post-mortem

Success! While I didn't have as much prep time as I would have liked, and even though the audience was vastly different than I expected, and given I had to quickly adapt to many problems throughout the day, the workshop I gave was a resounding success.

I knew that the workshop was for women ages 18+, but I immediately thought of who that would include in my own church area in our suburban and country area, which is completely different from downtown Toronto. The ages of the women were mostly over 45, and they were all very hesitant to participate in some of the more extroverted ways I had hoped. Most also spoke English as a second language, which also inhibits a lot of audience involvement. I also had some technical hiccups, which I had to work around.

The first workshop was a little bumpy, because I was only 2/3 through when they told me they were running behind and were ending the workshop to get back on schedule (the workshops were in the middle of the conference.) So while I had covered well the influence music has on us, I didn't get at all to the discussion on ways to use music in our homes and lives, which was the application part of the workshop. I also probably had at least an hour and a quarter or more of material to squeeze into 45 minutes. The second time I ran the workshop went much better. I had 45 minutes in between during which I reorganized what I had to say to make sure I got to the most important things.

I felt that I spoke too much and didn't have as much interaction as I hoped, which is something I have learned for the future. But everyone loved my energy. The woman who asked me to speak said that from the short bit she saw (about 5 minutes) and from what she was hearing, she was definitely keeping my number for next year. What a compliment! And when I checked my email this morning, I had a message from someone in Pickering (nearly an hour and a half away) saying they heard about the workshop and would I come and speak this Thursday for the women of their church ward! I had to decline, as I have a band concert, and honestly, Pickering is a little far for me to travel. But just knowing the thought was there is humbling.

So my wildly packed, crazy week is over. I survived, James survived, the kids survived, and after a good 2 hours of cleaning today and a full day of laundry tomorrow, I think even the house will have survived. I'll be looking forward to getting back into our own routine, which is much more laid-back and easy-going than this past week.