Show and tell

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It is not just for those of us that are expressing themselves creatively that it is important to have the opportunity to ‘show and tell’. To let others know what you are working on, where you are standing with it, whether you are encountering problems with it, or if you happen to find great fulfillment in actually doing it.
And it really doesn’t matter a whole lot whether you are doing a ‘show and tell’ just for your friends, your family, or on a bigger scale like an event or fair ~ the idea is to share about the things you are doing. As it turns out it can be an inspiration to others, yet any feedback can also be very helpful to gain new and different perspectives yourself. To start seeing things in a different light, and consequently, start guiding your project in an even more productive direction.

Where family or friends are possibly the smallest scale to do a ‘show and tell’ on; doing a talk on TED would arguably be the biggest scale event for a ‘show and tell’. But then there is an enormous amount of other venues, other places, other audiences where we can show others and tell the world about what we do, like fairs, job-related events, markets, and yes, the internet etc.

The thing that is totally personal is what we expect to get out of doing a ‘show and tell’.
Sometimes it is enough to just have fun doing it, and any real interest or productive feedback is a bonus. Other times we may aim for our ‘show and tell’ to be a low key ~ or perhaps even a full blown ~ marketing event. Not just showing what we do and telling the world about it, but definitely trying to make a couple of sales as well! And these ‘sales’ may result in having more, new people on our mailing lists; or an actual exchange of money and product…

The one thing that we pretty much always do expect, independent of the venue or what we are aiming for, is that there are people who are interested in listening to our ‘show and tell’. Especially when it is on a fair or event where we pay for our space ~ be it a table or a booth.
If there are few visitors, or even none at all, then the whole positive, inspiring, re-enforcing ‘show and tell’ can turn upon itself and can quickly become an experience that leaves a bitter taste in our mouths…

It is one of those things that makes me think that planning for a ‘show and tell’ in a relaxing, homey atmosphere, is the very best we can hope for!
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