Speaking Terms

I'm finding new things that can be considered part of my job that are a lot more stimulating than the run of the mill stuff. Last week I had two of the more enjoyable days outside of camping events that I have had on the job.

The first was my debut speaking experience at Lakeland College. I'm pretty sure I have mentioned the school before, but, as a quick refresher, Lakeland is a small liberal-arts college about 10 miles from me that has a lot of Scouters at it and hosts a non-profit management degree program (American Humanics). This program and its adviser (a Woodbadge-trained Scouter) are why I even investigated the school in the first place. Last week was the first (and definitely not the last) actual class that I "taught". That's somewhat inaccurate as it was almost like being interviewed by about 30 students at the same time. Currently they are taking a non-profit management class and as part of it needed to get a perceptive from someone in the field. Enter me.

I spent about an hour and a quarter answering a variety of questions about Scouting and how it handles marketing--poorly in terms of a coordinated plan. They asked some great questions and gave some good feedback. The only question that rocked me on my heels was if I had projects for students that could be completed within the term. I am always seeking volunteers, but that many at once is hard to swallow. The questions ranged across the board from organizational basics to how our mission has affected our ability to reach potential new clients. Overall, it was a lot of fun. I can't say that I am keen on public speaking, but that was easy and I thought effective. In theory, that discussion will be the topic of several student papers--those would be fun to read. I did happen to skim the textbook for the class and have a borrowed copy to read now.

The following day Brian and I had lunch with one of his past co-workers who used to be VP at Lakeland. The point of the meeting was to ask for help recruiting people for the committee. The fun part was not asking that, but having to respond to her objections about Scouting before she would consider helping. When I first started this job I did not enjoy getting quizzed about the political challenges we have faced the last decade or so. Now however, I kind of enjoy the opportunity to put to rest some of the demons the media created. I don't deny our policies, I just put them in perspective. In the end she agreed to help out. Brian did an admirable job as well, he's learning and we make a good tag team.

I guess the meat of it is that I get bored at times with the day-in, day-out FOS and membership stuff and need something intellectually stimulating every once in a while.