Whew, seven hours and one presentation left!

Today was absolutely fantastic. I had amazing audiences. It was incredible to stand on stage and speak my message and make contact with people to see that they were really engaged and hanging on to my every word. In fact, the presentation has been so successful that I’ve decided that I will be recording my slide show and offering it as a free download. Check back later this week for that!

What I’ve found hardest about the last few days was being alone and, thus, tied to my booth. So, I haven’t had time at all to enjoy the show. I went in a tad early today and wandered around to see what was being offered this year. I mostly saw towables, with a few high end class As, lots of truck campers, and a pitiful handful of Bs and Cs.  I had hoped to tour a Jayco Embark, but I didn’t see one.

My booth is in a prime location, but has the disadvantage of being right in the food court, so within full smell of the incredibly delicious coffee being served. I bring tons of snacks each day, but crave a coffee mid-afternoon to get me through to 9PM. The lines are just too long for me to pack up everything and grab one. So, you can imagine that I was incredibly grateful this afternoon when a reader (hi, Ron!) offered me a coffee and came back with one made up exactly the way I like it, and with a treat to boot. The thoughtfulness of the gesture completely changed my mood for the rest of the day.

I’ve been talking to a lot of people and am amazed by how many full-timers come to talk to me just to say that they’ve been doing it for years and thus don’t need my book. I ask leading questions that prove that they do and they just scoff, essentially sticking their fingers in their ears and going la la la, stop rocking the boat. Well, I’m done with living like an outlaw ashamed of her lifestyle! I’m not going to stop talking about these issues until full-timers get some sort of official status and recognition!

So, I have one talk left, at noon tomorrow, and then Miranda will be turning back into a pumpkin! I’m going to put the rig back together tonight since I decided to move back to overflow tomorrow morning, so I can be out of the way well before I need to be. I thought I might be abusing Tradex’s hospitality by requesting a final night in overflow, but the manager made it very clear that I’m not (thank you!). So, I’ll be able to go home and crash tomorrow night and move on at my leisure on Monday.

As for my post-show plans, I prefer not to divulge them at this time. I’ll let you know when I get there, because I’m determined to do so.

Brief post tonight, I’m feeling exanimate, what with the 1.25 hour drive to Burnaby today for my TV interview with Global, in addition to the eleven hour day at the show. I haven’t seen the interview, but I had about 100 people go by today to tell me that they saw me on TV this morning and that I was professional, poised, and articulate, so I’m assuming it went well and that I didn’t embarrass myself too badly. 🙂

There are two articles about me online. One is by Mike Lloyd at News 1130. We taped an interview earlier this week and he pieced it together into a 30 second spot. Haven’t heard it, but his article makes me think it was a great piece. Check it out: A woman’s love of the road with her RV.

The Vancouver Sun article blew me away. I got nearly a quarter page in the ‘A’ section with a full colour picture of myself with the rig. Check out the online version: Moving from unhappy hoarder to queen of the road.

The show went well. The first talk was okay; it felt like a tough audience. The seats were almost packed for the second and I got my second wind as I got into my topic. I came away feeling that I’d really nailed it and hit my stride.

The people I met today were from all walks of life and all ages. Some bought my ebook, others just wanted to chat, but it was wonderful to know that my story has touched so many people in so many different ways.

One of Will’s friends came by to chat at some point and grab some pictures for him, so I can show off a bit of what I was doing today! Thank you to Ron for sending me the pics!

Here I am at my booth talking with Colleen at JRFM setting up an interview that I did right after my first seminar. She was the first to ask me on record why my rig is called Miranda, because she got a kick out of the story when I answered it before the interview.

And here I am on stage near the end of my first talk. Not a bad turnout!

Two seminars down, five more to go. And one final radio interview tomorrow. I’m off to catch some much needed Zs!

My agreement with the RV show was originally that I would speak twice a day for a set fee. When I mentioned that I had an ebook to promote they somehow worked some magic and offered me a booth in a prime location for a slight reduction in my fee (much less than what a booth would have cost me as an exhibitor). So, I’ve had to scramble around to come up with some half decent promotional material with which to decorate the space in which I will be living for 40 hours over the next four days! I know I’m going to look super amateurish compared to everyone else, so I decided to keep things as simple as possible.

I had three 18″ x 24″ glossy b&w posters made up to hang at the back of my booth. One has the detailed summary of the ebook, the second the author bios, and the last the reviews; essentially the same information provided on the Full-Time RVing in Canada website.

To this, I’m adding a printed and bound copy of the ebook for people to flip through, my personal business card, and a card offering a discount on the book for those who don’t want to buy the CDs I’m selling on site. I’m offering a 25% discount on the ebook if you enter EARLYBIRD at the checkout. This code is only good until Sunday evening! The CDs have the book in PDF format and are on sale for a the low price of $20 at the show. If you’ve been thinking about buying Full-Time RVing in Canada, this is the time to do it!

I also made sure to get a float and receipt book. There’s so much to think about; my head is about to explode! At least, it’s keeping my mind off The Talk. Then again, I’m not that worried about that part of the weekend, except for learning to use the AV equipment I’ll be provided and hoping that it’s all compatible with my Mac. I got over my fear of public speaking in high school and I did theatre for many years, so I’m reasonably confident that I won’t embarrass myself. 🙂

I was able to bring a box of supplies to my booth, but it wasn’t ready yet. The show manager told me that she’d set up my table and chair for me, but to arrive ASAP in the morning to finish setting up. The show opens at 10 tomorrow, but I doubt I’ll be back from my TV interview by then, so I’ll need to go straight from my car to the show and finish up my display. It’s going to be a big day! I decided to be unusually realistic about how much personal stuff I’ll be able and willing to do over the weekend, so I stocked up on frozen dinners for the evening and snacks for the day.

Also, I’m settled in my spot with 15A power, but was told that I need to be out of here at precisely 5PM on Sunday since I’m blocking the garage door and they need to get the RVs out! I’m welcome to go back to overflow, so I may decide to just get up early Sunday and move out before the show even opens so I can go home and crash after!

Well, I need to be on the road for no later than 6:30 tomorrow (dang GVR traffic!) and I need to prepare my clothes and do a final run through of The Talk. Catch me on Twitter this weekend; I doubt I’ll have much time, or energy to blog!