Fragments From Floyd

I'm a morning blogger, that's all there is to it. By this time (almost lunch) I'm too scattered to see a post through, start to finish, and especially if like this late morning, I'm not writing from my desk. I'm at the town library in Floyd, after meeting with the Roanoke Valley Rotary Club for breakfast this morning. How'd it go, you ask?

Well, let's put it this way: I planned to keep it loose and informal for a breakfast meeting, to pick what to read and how to direct the time (up to 30 minutes) as the occasion dictated. Every one of these events is different, and being able to change directions at mid-stride is a valuable and necessary skill. I suppose those years in the classroom equipped me toward this end.

I read somewhere that, to be a successful public speaker, there must be two minds working at the podium. The first is the presenter, who is totally focused and attending to the tone, voice, rhythms and subject of the presentation. His face and voice are the focus of those in attendance.

The second mind is the director, who must be constantly looking OUT, aware of audience reaction, tuned into the energy flow, the eye contact and body language of the consumer, and of course, with one eye to the clock and to what comes next after the current sentence, paragraph and page is done.

I went in with 50 minutes worth of program, and with each sentence finished, i culled, transposed and modified what would come next, paring it down to somewhat less than 15 worth of program since this was the space I ended up with. in all the condensing, I don't think I did fatal damage to the heart of the story about the book. I enjoyed it and the smallish audience seemed to as well--not to mention the seriously hi-test breakfast of gravy and biscuits, eggs, fruit and lots of coffee!

A week from tomorrow, I will be meeting with the new Floyd County Rotary, not breakfast this time, but lunch at Ray's--another seriously hi-test meal. If I keep this up, I'll need to burn more calories than I do by blogging, that's for certain!