Longtime readers will remember that I held 2 Stockpile Sales(think Garage Sale but with new excess food and HBA items)this past summer. Catch up on those adventures HERE and HERE.
I can't recall at which Stockpile Sale the following happened but it really doesn't matter I guess.
Anyway, during one of those sales, one of my customers was chatting with me and as inevitably happens in the conversation, they asked where I got all this nifty stuff I am selling. I usually just answer that I "coupon" and that either shuts them up OR acts as a gateway for them to start plying me with questions about the whole couponing/money saving/frugal lifestyle thing.
Hey, I am always glad to share my saving ways with anyone who asks!
Well this gal seemed intrigued and after we got beyond that whole "extreme couponing" ugliness that is shown on tv which all the non-believers want to know about(lol), we had a nice little chat.
Then she sucker punched me......
Ok, she didn't actually hit me or anything, but out of the blue, she asked me to come speak at a local women's club meeting about couponing.
Turns out she is the President of said club in my teeny tiny town, which meets monthly for lunch and a talk by some speaker, on a topic of interest to said gaggle of women.
She said she's had members ask her about getting someone in to talk about coupons and saving money at the grocery store.
And I am guessing since I have more stuff, obtained through couponing, than I can use, that I must be good at this, so she asked me.
Not being someone who turns down the opportunity to run-off at the mouth to a captive audience(longtime readers KNOW this!lol), I said I'd do it.
I said yes because it was summer and she wanted me to come speak in January of next year.....which at the time seemed like a gazillion years away and I'd have pleeeeeenty of time to organize my thoughts.
Well, here it is the second week of January and I am slated to give this Epic presentation in less than 10 days and my brain is a jumble of mushy facts.
Ack.Ack.Ack.
I need to at least make myself some kind of outline to follow or my 10 minute talk will resemble a Bill Clinton press conference and I'll have hawkers in the audience selling sleeping bags and bug-out packs of 3 days worth of MREs to sustain my audience through to the end of my 'brief chat'. ;-)
Now that this thing is almost at hand I am freaking out. Why did I ever agree to do this thing?!
I am not a public speaker. Ok, I use to be an actress but that was eons ago and I wasn't writing my own script!lol
The club prez did confide that it's not a big deal and they don't expect a ToastMaster, a Power Point, a Steve Jobs company meeting presentation or anything like that. Just talk about what you do and then field questions from the audience, she said. And she suspects there will be oodles of questions since many of the women are younger moms with small children at home who could benefit from and will be eager to hear what I have to say.
So, dear readers......what would YOU cover if YOU were asked to give this talk? How long would you speak and how specific would you get?
I am just hoping when they introduce me as "one who uses coupons" that I don't get a lot of questions about extreme couponing and "the show that shall not be named on TLC".
I sure don't want to spend 20 minutes distancing myself and what I do from that Ball of Crazy!
Whatever transpires, I hope I come off looking like this.....
And not like this.....
Yah, I guess I'd better start practicing my balloon animals now just in case.....
Sluggy
Ok I will meet mark at the lehigh tunnel and we will come together..simply because I so have to see this.
ReplyDeleteAnyway you will do fine. Tell them about the gravy, focus on the easy things to find like cvs, or how you dont have to save 80% every week. You so have this!!!!!!
But really I would like a picture of it!
Hugs
Actually I like the clown. More realistic, less botox. Sluggy just list 3 reasons you like to coupon. Then list three ways you do coupon. Let them ask questions and you will be fine. You have way more info then you can possibly give. This is going to be much easier than you are making it out to be. Not go and return to tell us all about it.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I think you'll do just fine! You could start by talking your way through a grocery shop or a Rite Aid shop where you actually take along everything you ended up with, tell them what it's all worth, then hit them with what you actually paid -- or in your case, what the store paid you. Then you go through each item and explain how you got that item for (next to) nothing, which should bring up all the various methods (IPQs, Sunday inserts, matching coupons with flyer deals, blogs, fb coupons, etc). Then you can do that again (if you start with RA, then maybe switch to grocery or vice versa, so you do one of each). That should use up the 10 minutes and yield a jillion questions that you can answer for the rest of the time you're allotted.
ReplyDeleteOr whatever someone else here suggests that sounds more fun :)
Can't wait to read about it!!!
Oh, plus you can put together a handout list of sources like SavingStar, mfr websites, fb, AFullCup, etc. And another handout that's a glossary - IPQ, OYNO, Catalina, BOGO, etc
ReplyDeleteDuh, and your BLOG - make sure you refer to your Blog often and put it on everything! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, boy. You're asking the wrong person for advice. Not only am I using fewer and fewer coupons as time goes by, but much more importantly, I'd pee my pants if I had to speak about anything to a group of people.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the comment at the bottom isn't working. It's probably me. But since I know Annie, I'll tag after hers.
DeleteLOLOLOL! I love your pictures! I think they'll want to see charts and get some sample coupons from you. You'll be able to clear out all your expiring ones!
I wish I could sit in on it. I'd love to learn more.
First of all, you will do fine... just talk like you write... go through the blog and give the tips that helped you save the money you did...I am sure they are more into the store then the doing anyway.... Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI'm having a panic attack for you! I'm a sucky public speaker.
ReplyDeleteMy advise is don't pass out or throw up. If you can get past that you will be great. You are the all knowing sluggy!
I'd be a basket case! It is so much easier talking to the world via blogging LOL. I'm certain you will have NO PROBLEM. You know what you're doing. Make us proud!
ReplyDeleteDead easy.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is _ and I am a couponer. Say it like you are at AA.
Then:
1) How and why I got into it.
2) Tools and techniques. (I read the newspaper, I look at these websites, etc.)
3) Typical shopping expedition.
4) Advanced couponing (store coupons plus manuf coupons plus rebates and rolling over rebates/coupons into the next cycle).
This is what I would do:
ReplyDelete1) Right up front in about two sentences, dissuade them of the notion that this is like the tv shows, that you don't do that and it is all for show, staged.
2) Explain the concept of keeping coupons until the items are on sale.
3) You are out of time now!
This is not a ten-minute job! Can you ask your friend if there is a problem if you talk longer? Don't freak out as you read this.
4) Demonstrate a simple shopping trip.I get dizzy when you talk about some of the concepts. I can stop and recover or reread. They cannot.
5) Can you give them a copy of a shopping trip? Like you do on this blog?
6) Last thing, give them a handout,quarter page or half page, of sites for blogs like yours, include yours, printable coupons, insert site, and other sites to help them. If you give it to them first, they will read it while you talk. I did it in grad school with a syllabus and so did my GED students with anything I gave them. People just have to read what you give them even if you say not to read it now...lol
A presentation I gave became a nightmare because someone decided to help me and passed out my handouts before it was time for them. Therefore, I was fielding questions before I could start. People raised their hands for information they wanted clarified from the handouts. It all worked out, but I was very scattered that day, more scattered than usual.
I still say 10 minutes is too short. Good luck. You will get it done if anyone can
I don't know if they have av equipment, but that would help lots. Enlist a helper from your family.Pull out the pictures from the Japanese restaurant. just kidding about the last...lol.
Wish I could be there!
You have gotten some great advice. The only thing I can say is for you to bring some of your great humor inrto it right from the beginning. I was the VP and President over a 4 year period for the women's club at the private school my boys attended. I remember how frightened I was the first time. Then I realized they didn't bite. You will do fine.
ReplyDeleteI don't find a reply all button either, so am replying to Precious. I hope she won't mind.
DeleteSluggy, you will do great. Just pretend like you are talking to all of us and you know how we all hang on your every word.