As many genealogists do, I earn a little extra money using
my love for research. While some people
enjoy being paid for helping others find ancestors one on one, I prefer giving
presentations and classes. I find these
help keep me up to date and I like being with other researchers.
Local high schools hire me to teach their continuing adult
education programs. I also make presentations on a variety of subjects to
genealogy groups. Not all are for pay,
for example, I volunteer to teach a monthly beginning genealogy class at local
libraries.
I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of this. The preparation updates
me and my PowerPoints to new ideas. My
handouts are thorough, for which I am particularly proud. At the presentation, I enjoy mingling with
the attendees, being “on stage”, and helping others by answering questions at
the end.
EXCEPT for one question and this is
the issue. It comes in various forms but basically the question is: “Will you send me your PowerPoint?” Not just
a couple of slides, which I am happy to do, but the entire PowerPoint. When I hesitate, some people get rather
annoyed and insist that I rethink my answer, or change my policy.
MY question is “How do other presenters handle this?”
And while you are pondering about this, here are some
thoughts that might help.
My
normal reply (so far) is to say that if there are a couple
of slides you are interested in, please send me an email request. (Which can be
followed with the annoyed response above.)
Another reply is that my handout contains every source and website
mentioned in my presentation and if they still need more help, to email me any
questions.
There are a couple of slides which get the most
requests. One set of 3 slides in
particular, which is the history of an area, took me two solid weeks to
research and create. It is a highlight of the presentation. I give a chart with about half of that
material in my handout. The attendees
can take notes. But I say no to these slides.
Thank goodness that recently an excellent book has come out on the
subject, and I refer them to the book which is listed in my handout. But I
still get replies like, “I checked and the book costs $40. Or ”I can’t find that book for sale used” To
which I politely reply which libraries I know it is at. (Which is followed with
the annoyed response above.) What would you do?
Classes
vs presentation, should there be a difference? For the classes, the students have paid a fee.
For the presentations, people do not pay to attend, although there may be an
annual dues for members. Other,
non-members may attend for free, and there is no charge for a library
presentation. Should there be a difference in my answer? What would you do?
Don’t
let one bad apple ruin your day. Each time I speak, usually there are only one
or two people who ask for the PowerPoint.
This is out of maybe 50-80 people in the room. Maybe I shouldn’t be so concerned by this,
since it is definitely the minority. (Although it does upset me, maybe it’s
just a part of being a presenter and I need to learn to let it go.) What would
you do?
Do you make presentations?
Do you get this request? Are you
an attendee? Do you make this
request? I would love to hear any
opinions on this. What would you do?
