This past weekend I volunteered to help with a training class. It's a recently revamped course, I've taught the old, longer version dozens of times. (Public speaking and and platform skills) I offered to teach it here when we first moved but they said no, they only do it as part of staff development for a high level multi-day course where it's required. Having staffed one of those, I can say confidently that no, they absolutely did not incorporate this training class.
So the new version is condensed, which is great. It leaves out a couple things I would have preferred they keep but not terrible. The person facilitating the class had never taken the old course, he'd only taken half of the beginning part online, and was thrilled to have my help. I didn't get connected with him until just a couple days before so was careful to let him lead but it became apparent that he had no idea what to do so I gently handled a few decisions.
On the day of, there was a youth (always ideal) and her mom presenting the first half of the day. They were great, had well organized slides and knew the material. The only issues were 1) they had to leave after their parts 2) they scheduled the start time an hour later than what it should be for the two part class that we had planned.
After lunch, the facilitator and I got started. There were a few red flags in the days before and all of my worries came true: He was a hot mess.
I know for certain that he was familiar with the materials. We talked on the phone and he knew the topics, but up front, with 15 participants watching, he absolutely choked. Later, he would say "It took me about 7 seconds to realize I prefer to be an administrator for things like this, and not a presenter." During one of the easiest modules, about body language, where the presenter picks an item from a list like pointing vs an open hand to call on someone- showing how gestures change meaning, he stood and stared at the page for a solid 4 minutes, like every memory of having read the page had dissolved. It was a very different thing than being bad at public speaking. Being in front in general, he was confident, affable, coherent, and seemed otherwise totally capable. But when it came time to deliver content.... blue screen. I think a big part was that he had never seen it presented before.
During my first presentation, while the participants were in small discussion groups and I came back to our table for water, he goes "You are fathoms beyond me in presentation skills. It's not just the preparation either. You are so good at this." I didn't take the demure route and explained that not only have I delivered this material dozens of times, but loved it so much that I decided to get a degree about it. Thank you, but also don't try to compare.
After, there were a couple of people who hung around to talk about other events. One woman was so sassy and I just loved her from the start. She's insisting I join her at a promotional event and I'm actually excited. She and the other presenter are buddies and he kept working in how I saved the day and he doesn't know what he was thinking when he planned to do all the presenting himself. As it was, he took my recommendation to cut out a 45 minute section that he was supposed to give about managing discussions. The new material is a little convoluted and we were way behind for time so there was no way to get him comfortable/have me learn it on the fly well enough to present coherently so I said to axe it. I think he was just waiting for me to insist on that. He was so relieved.... which is funny because once again, I encountered a man that has all the makings of being this hard, domineering person. Everything about his career, hobbies, and bearing is intimidating. Except I immediately antagonized him in a way that made him laugh hard, made fun of him in a way that made us suddenly become besties, and by the end of the day, he was willing to tell me about some tender things. So taking my suggestions was no problem at all. It's like this whole other dialect spoken primarily by military, law enforcement, and medical providers. If you indicate that you can handle some shit, then the facade falls and you get to see the real person. Many times, they are people who walk into a room and if no one is obviously in charge, for better or worse, they take charge. I am someone who can obviously take charge, knew more than him, so he was comfortable handing over the reigns even though it was his job. He wanted the thing done well so he wouldn't get in the way of a good plan.
The sassy woman also fell into that category, but since she was a participant, I didn't get to interact with her like I did with him but she saw how I was and decided I "got" it. It was a lovely bonus for the day. There was some great gossip and talk of me actually taking on a role that was half heartedly offered to me a time ago. I think I'd enjoy that quite a lot and it will help get me out of a funk... which I alluded to and the sassy woman picked up on instantly. She told me about trying to get back involved after some health issues and feeling disconnected and I felt so seen when she said "I really want you to be there with me" like it wasn't just a blanket invitation, but a specific desire for me in particular to be there.