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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

I actually think the decision to narrate the scramble probably increased trust more than a perfect delivery would have. This is true for me in my presentations. I am a nervous wreck if I overprepare, but if I do the basics and just show up, it runs smoother, and like you, I enjoy it.

People can sense when someone is operating in real time rather than performance mode.

Happy Tuesday evening Bryant.

Bryant Duhon's avatar

Thanks, Neela. Yeah, just kinda felt good and right so went with it. Think I'm going to spiff it up and do a webinar, just to do one. Leads would be bonus. Forcing myself to try more video.

I do have a professional voice, when in that situation, I've been told. It's not performance, but it is a .... tighter, more on point version, same, same humor, and POV, but less meander and wandering through the forest (like this 🤣)of me. I wonder if that sentence is even vaguely grammatically correct?

My last gf called today "Happy Humpday Eve." I still miss her sometimes. Lol.

Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Oh oh - 🤗

I say Happy Humpday Eve a lot lol

Today feels like Thursday, though.

Bryant Duhon's avatar

It is a fun thing to say. Weird week, I was just thinking it felt like Friday!

Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Today felt like Friday until I got a call that I need to be on-site.

ugh

enjoy the rest of your Thursday Bryant

Bryant Duhon's avatar

Booooooo. Here’s wishing good traffic mojo for you.

Laura Michelle Wolff MEd's avatar

I love your ability to create such powerful visuals and make us laugh along. Also, how have I never heard of Chris Stapleton?!?

Bryant Duhon's avatar

Thanks, the visuals are weird. I keep wanting to pull them back more in my original guinness poster direction, but they’ve been working (mostly). A lot of it is just feeding in the post and getting out of the way and choosing the suggestions. Sometimes I’ll tweak, sometimes I’ll have an idea, sometimes I’ll see what spits out and adjust from there. It often drives me freaking batty though!

I am particularly proud of the Cobra Chicken’s victory face on the printer though; that one was my idea. And the cover suggestion too though I left the details on that one vague.

I was early on the Stapleton wagon. OTOH, I’m continually finding “new to me” artists. Chick I was dating two years ago is a Jean Batiste fan and I was like “how’d I miss this guy!?!?!?”

But, yeah, you live in the south surrounded by country music stations, he’s a weird one to miss ;)

Laura Michelle Wolff MEd's avatar

Oh, I meant creating images with words AND also the visuals are premium, lol. Thanks for a whole new artist to binge!

Nina Cuellar-Barry's avatar

As someone who was in the audience of that webinar, thank you for not rescheduling. I appreciated the honesty of the moment. I felt reassured that mistakes happen, but when you have the inner wisdom and experience you can still more than salvage the moment. Your presentation enabled me to make a couple of mindset shifts that were really helpful. You were great!

Bryant Duhon's avatar

Thank you, Nina! So happy that it was helpful for you.

And, oh yeah, mistakes can, will, and do happen. I think I’ve finally built up a large enough of a callous that I just keep on going now. The previous webinar disasters helped — one of my favorites was when On24 (the webinar platform — pre-zoom days!) switched the audio feeds for multiple webinars.

My audience for a document imaging presentation was getting a soybean crop estimate.

Someone else’s audience was getting me, cussing, a lot.

I wish I had kept the questions — my audience started making jokes about greasing the rollers with soybean oil, could soybeans make good paper for archival, and other industry jokes funny to no one else.

Then they “fixed” the feeds and we were getting a not-for-public, NDA only conversation about a merger.

Nina Cuellar-Barry's avatar

Wow! Gives a whole new meaning to “the good old days!”

Bryant Duhon's avatar

My "good ol' days" rant is mostly for bar-type conversations. :) But, work-wise, stuff we've got now is freaking amazing. You know, when it works anyway.

I mean, this, right here is crazypants amazing when you step back and think about -- asynchronous communication with literally anyone from around the world.

Theresa Resek's avatar

Dear gawd. Missing a webinar was a literal recurring nightmare for me.

Bryant Duhon's avatar

Huh, that was never one of my worries — also why I got into the office early on webinar days when I could though.

A speaker (big problem) or sponsor (lol, their problem) missing the call, that gave me the heeby-jeebies.

My biggest paranoia was fat-fingering (or someone else) the “end” button in the middle of a presentation. Still no fucking clue what ON24 was thinking with that button placement and availability.