SignWorkshop OASLTA

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
September 26, 2010

Hello Charles!

First of all, a big hug from me, and a big THANK YOU for being so brave to present at any conference - It takes courage to present in front of a skeptical audience (if that was what they were...they may not have been)...

I am sure you did an excellent job and please do not be hard on yourself...

All presentations help SignWriting, no matter what the reaction, because people become interested later. Even if they express some doubts right now, it is because it is the first time they have heard of it and we all are skeptical about new ideas - but then later, they hear about it a second time from someone else, and they remember the discussions with you the first time they heard about it, and they decide to look into it because now their interest has been stimulated a second time -

So you have really helped SignWriting no matter what - 

Thank you for telling us about the presentation so quickly after it happened - 

And Kelly Jo was there? Wow - that is so great!

So is there more time at the conference now? It will give you a chance to talk to some of the people with questions - don't worry, Charles, this was a real blessing -

Val ;-)

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On Sep 26, 2010, at 5:33 PM, Charles Butler wrote:

> Well, I presented the workshop but I felt that I fell on my face for the following reasons:
> 
> 1) Too much information, too little time.
> 2) Lack of vocabulary, all of the attendees were interpreters AND teachers of the deaf, and my vocabulary was inadequate to the task.  I should have asked for help from KJ or another interpreter at the beginning.
> 3) I got positive responses from a couple of people, but the most common one was "how many people IN OHIO are using this system", "why should MY students have to learn anything else?"  Half of them maybe "got it" but the others just kept with questions.
> 4) I should have simply linked to the website and gone from there as the website is informative, answers most of the common questions, and I could have had a Deaf Advocate actually talking to the group.  
> 
> Lessons learned, but I feel very small and inadequate right now.
> 
> Charles Butler
> 
>