When was May? Training and Travel Begin Again…SocMed Style.

August 4, 2011

Earlier this year, my father died. It was as bad as you can imagine and like other humans, I’m dealing with it. What I miss most about him is actually his presence as a sounding board and as someone with whom to discuss my travels and travails.

It’s been almost four years since a good portion of my professional income started coming in via keynotes, panels and professional training sessions. In that time, I’ve given around 100 presentations and spoken to audiences as varied as bloggers and professional journalists; housewives and university presidents; Fortune 100 CMOs and hobbyist podcasters. And with each audience came a different story.

Now, three months after his death on April 5, I take pause to think about how I might share my upcoming adventures. To rattle it off, I have a Lesbian and Gay Journalist Conference in August, The Social Media Integration event in September, SPJ/RTDNA also in September, Cable Communicators of America in October, Tech Day Camp in October, Journalism Interactive in October, BlogWorld in November and a few ‘camps’ in the middle.

Most recently, I even did an impromptu fill-in role at WordCamp Boston for a speaker who was running a little late.

Ultimately, I think it’s the excitement of teaching others about content, communication, social media and marketing that makes it all fun. It really brings out the kid in me because I valued the teachers I had all through my life. But that brings me full circle to one of the best teachers I ever had and the realization that at a time when I could be teaching him stuff and sharing my adventures, he’s no longer around.

And I’m just a kid who still wants to share a smile and a story.