After Eve Recap

I'm back and mostly sleep recovered from my trip to DC. Wow...what a great event. Thanks to all who were praying and offering well wishes for my session.

As it turned out, the session went far beyond what I could have imagined. I've done speaking gigs in the past, but with only 60-90 minutes, it's not realistic to give more than an informational overview. With three hours at After Eve, I was able to give participants time to engage as well as learn. For each of the nine effects described in my book, I included an activity or discussion questions to give attendees time to process and personalize that effect in their lives. I learned how to include music clips in my PowerPoint, which not only allowed for an appropriate song to play during the work time, but it also helped me track time.

The most amazing aspect of the whole thing to me was watching these women go from nervous strangers to vulnerable fellow travelers. Somewhere around the 90 minute-mark, something happened, and the trust we needed to really dig in was there. Tears were followed by laughter, shared concerns were affirmed as the group brainstormed solutions together. And after our three hours were up, I stuck around for another 40 minutes to keep talking with these precious women. I'm quite certain I got as much out of the seminar as anyone else there.

So a heartfelt shoutout to the red-eye crew, I'm gonna get myself a spa day in honor of you!