An Idiot at LinuxWorld
I felt like an idiot at LinuxWorld this week. I wasn’t only an idiot. When one salesperson was talking to my colleague, I noticed things about her approach and demeanor that I finally understood. Another salesguy got our names mixed up, and I told him not to feel bad, that I do the same thing sometimes, too.
But when it mattered, I felt like an idiot. I came across the booth for The Linux Link Tech Show. This is a live Internet audio show (like a podcast). I talked to Pat Davila, and having not heard of tllts, I asked him about the show. Knowing that it costs mucho dinero to run even a simple booth at a trade show, I asked what their business model is.
He said, “We don’t have one. We just do this for the love of it.”
Well, I do what I do for love, too, as well as for money, but that’s beside the point. I asked, “So you just take donations? Are you a non-profit? Oh! Of course! We’re in the dot-org pavilion!” I had entered the “.org Pavilion” without even noticing. Bungle number one.
We talked a little more. I mentioned I had a podcast.
Pat said, “Really? What is it?”
Excellent! I thought. Now I get to use my elevator speech. Actually, I didn’t think that, because my brain shut down. I couldn’t remember how to say, “It’s called ‘be the story.’ It’s a blog and podcast about stories and telling stories.”
I couldn’t remember to wait for him to show more interest and then say, “It’s like writing podcasts like The Secrets and filmmaking podcasts like Sam and Jim Go To Hollywood in that we talk about novels and film. But unlike them in that we approach these from the story side, and we don’t talk so much about the mechanics of writing or the business. Similarly, it’s like discussion groups like the Kick-ass Mystic Ninjas, but we don’t talk about what we like or dislike so much as why we like or dislike them.”
That all is what I did not say. Instead, I fumbled through all of the above, in one fell swoop, stuttering and stumbling along as I went. Ugh. Bungle number two.
But Pat did say it was cool and said he’d like to check it out. So I pulled out a business card— I didn’t have any “be the story” cards made up, because I didn’t think I’d need them. I actually did consider making some up, even a few simple ones with a preliminary design, printed on my ink-jet. I considered it, and I didn’t. Bungle number three.
But I did pull out a “J. Timothy King” card with the blue swirl on it. And I didn’t have to ask for a pen, as I had remembered to bring one. And I wrote on the back of the card, “bethestory.com.”
But I did take a lesson away from that experience. I need to work more on my elevator speech! I do plan on doing interviews, and the interviewers will ask about my podcast, and I have to tell them something more compelling than, “Ah. It’s called, uh, ‘be the story.’ Er…” and so forth.
One more fun thing. At the booth, they gave away two Chill Paks signed by Dean Haglund. Here I am waiting for the winners to be selected. I’m the one in the black jacket with my back to the camera. Also, here. I’m the one on the cell phone. They drew ticket #144, and I had #143.
-TimK
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