Today I gave a presentation to the Consortium of College and University Media Center’s annual conference titled Tasting Beervana. It was a larger group than I expected (maybe 250+ people), and while I expected to be a stuttering mess I quickly found my pace because, after all, it was about beer.
The presentation was to share about Portland’s rich brewing history and encourage them to get out and try some of it. I started by explaining the concept of Beervana, gave a brief history of brewing in Portland and the Northwest, the craft brewing movement and the flourish of artisan and beer destinations, and finally my streetcar/brewpub map which my boss placed on the “things to do” list for the conference. To finish, I mentioned a sign up sheet for 10 folks for a tour I would lead on the streetcar route. I looked up to laughter as a few people darted for the sign-up sheet.
Afterwards I got a few compliments about the presentation and I felt like it went well – I didn’t notice any frowns in the crowd, only smiles, and they were a captive audience. The list filled up quickly too. By the time I had made it out of the room, I was informed that it was full, and was surprised to find several inquisitive beer lovers with questions. One of them was my former boss from when I was in school. Bizarre.
Here’s a copy of the ppt. Not that interesting and lazily referenced.
Congratulations, the presentation sounds like it went excellent. I’m jealous that I could not have been there to partake, but it would have been a very long bike ride there and back (maybe 8 weeks). I’m curious to see the pdf, but the link does not seem to be working. Out of curiosity, what kind of questions did you recieve from the audience?
I fixed the link, but I put up the ppt instead of the pdf. I didn’t take any questions from the audience because of time constraints, but afterwards people approached me with questions about recommendations for this style or that, the best way to get this place or that, and how best to prevent a hangover.
Later, one of the folks on the tour said that he thought the presentation was great and that my dry wit was perfect, but wondered if the folks from the east coast would “get it.”