At a recent
genealogy conference I met a distant Facebook friend for the first
time. The person was aware of this, my blog, and had visited it more
than once.
I was asked:
"Brenda, why
don't you consider speaking engagements? You should give talks at
these conferences."
As if the idea were
new. The tone was encouraging.
After a momentary
blink I realized that the average blog visitor sees only the latest
post and knows nothing of the blogger's history. If there is
any history. Or if the visitor cares to explore a step further.
Blogger ‒
the medium ‒
does provide a "View my complete profile" page the
visitor can click on. When I checked, mine says
"Life happens,
and then we die."
Smartass, yes;
biographically revealing, no. What was I thinking? Probably that a
bullet-point resumé
would sound just like all
my contemporary
colleagues who
frequented perennial
conference programs.
 |
| BC Genealogical Society, Richmond BC, 1991 |
The answer to
"considering" it, dear Facebook friend, is complex. First
of all, I've done it. For twenty-five years I did it as a Certified
Genealogical Lecturer®.
At dozens of Ontario
Genealogical Society branches and annual conferences.
Dozens of venues across the country and in
the U.S.A. with
NGS and FGS. There
were extra special
events: being invited to speak at the 150th anniversary
of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society (1995);
the International
Congress of Genealogical and
Heraldic Sciences
(1996); the first and
only (so far) Great Lakes Conference
in Fort Wayne (1994).
 |
| With Sylvie Tremblay, Quebec City, 1996 |
A conference in
Brandon MB saw me accidentally sharing the ensuite bathroom with
David E. Gardner, author of the then-standard English genealogical
textbook; I saw the Blue Jays win the World Series while on a weekend
engagement in Saskatoon; I was detained at the border on the way to
Grand Traverse MI; that NH motel of critical U.S. election Primaries; in 1996 I
gave the APG luncheon talk, "Marrying, Divorcing, and Murdering
Your Relatives" ... plenty of stories where all that came from.
Secondly, some
people are born to public speaking. I am not. I had to train myself
to feel comfortable, to enunciate clearly without raising my voice,
to adopt a spontaneity that did not come naturally for question times. In other words, to perform. I'm a writer, not
a speaker.
Thirdly, every
speaker on the genealogy circuit will tell you it's not only the
endless hours of preparation for your podium notes (reading a
"paper" is never acceptable), it's also the timing,
tailoring to audience level, creating accompanying visuals, the
handouts, syllabus material, and complying with equipment and
conference arrangements. Before that, thankless hours are spent
composing submissions to a call for papers. Hard work.
 |
| National Institute of Genealogical Studies, 2004 |
Is it worth it? Oh
yes. The token honorarium is negligible in the grand scheme of
things. But the opportunity to be there at yet another
gathering of like-minded colleagues, always learning yourself, is its
own reward. Best of all, it only takes one person to thank you
for a new insight, a new resource, a new research avenue, to restore
equilibrium.
Speaking engagements
... one aspect of a professional genealogist's life.
Is it time to update
"my complete profile"? Yesterday's child, my friend.
Probably age-related. Ya think?
©
2017
Brenda
Dougall Merriman
