A new professional first

Today I spoke at a conference in Amsterdam about Social Networking and how Kodak is participating in the space. I was pretty nervous as it was my first presentation at a conference, and I was a stand-in for a colleague that couldn't attend - but I was well prepped and it seemed to go well overall. People were nodding their heads in agreement and asked a lot of questions, so I guess they were engaged. I misspoke at one point though, calling the Beijing Games the "Kodak Olympics!" Oops! Luckily I caught myself and we all had a good laugh about it! The conference organizers still invited me back for the second day to participate in the discussion, so overall I'd say it was a success.

I was also amazed when I got back to my house after speaking, and my US colleagues had already e-mailed me a few positive twitter posts about the content of my speech! One tweet even said we had the best quote of the day :-) I can't take credit for the quote as I was re-using a colleague's deck - but it was still rewarding to see how positively Kodak was received.

When I responded to this person's "tweet" he replied yet again saying how much he enjoyed our story and how impressed he was with our work in the space. That alone made it worth all the preparation and stress it took to present.

I can honestly say that I'm glad I did it. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't too horrible either and it will make me a stronger presenter in the future. Still, I'm relieved. The adrenaline of the afternoon has worn off - and I'm going to bed.