Last weekend was the last Central Soapers Workshop, since the person who has run it for the past several years is going off to pursue Modern Soapmaking full time.
I was invited to speak at the conference this year, which truly put me (goofball to the max) in the company of giants: Here's the list of speakers -- betcha can't find me.
I'm struggling with how to put this in a way that makes it not sound like I'm a terrible person, but I'm just going to go out there and say it honestly: I arrogantly assumed I didn't have a lot to learn about leadership, Instagram, blogging, etc. I pride myself on being pretty savvy about these things.
Key word being "PRIDE."
I've been in the business end of things for a long time, and my experience has come with a lot of knowledge... and I was reminded this weekend that "a lot of knowledge" is very different from "all the knowledge."
I went to the seminars expecting to just blankly nod and smile as the speakers recited everything I already knew. Instead, I filled PAGES UPON PAGES with notes, scribbling into the margins and taking over pages intended for other notes from seminars I could not attend, eventually resorting to writing on my own handouts so I didn't let any of these precious pieces slip from my fingers.
And this wasn't stuff that's just going to float away into the ether... I just looked up my notes on the specifics of how to run an Instagram contest this morning and emailed the speaker (now a friend) with my proposed contest. I'm dying to try it!
Shameless plug: go look at our Instagram because it's about to get FRICKEN' ALARMINGLY AWESOME.
After spending the first few minutes of every session bemoaning the fact that I'm doing everything wrong, I picked myself up and resolved to do better.
(In fact, I'm going to be moving this blog)
This taught me a very valuable lesson: never get too smart.
I'm moving forward with a new humility, knowing that everyone can teach me things and I'll never get myself together to the point where I can afford to miss a chance to learn something new.
So... tell me something new! What have you learned recently that you'd like to share?
Want to see my friend and colleague's reflections on the speakers? Here's her blog post!
