I speak at WordCamp US in two days 😱

This Friday, day after tomorrow, I will be among WordPress enthusiasts from around the world at the Philadelphia Convention Center, and I will deliver a lightning talk — a 10-minute presentation — titled Publish in 10 Minutes Per Day.

I am speaking at the inaugural WordCamp US, and it is my first WordCamp talk. To use a word coined by my friend and colleague Krista Stevens when she dove into live chat for the first time, I am terricited.

Earlier this week, thanks to a local webmaster and blogger who I met through my blog, I rehearsed in an auditorium on the Virginia Tech campus. Gloria Schoenholtz, photoblogger at Virginia Wildflowers, left a comment on my Trying not to freak out blog post (where I was freaking out about my talk) and she invited me to practice in the auditorium downstairs from her office. I took her up on the offer on Monday. I invited my local friend Dorothy, of Birch Nature, Gloria invited a Communications professor, and before you know it, I was in the zone, with an audience, presenting.

Gloria, Dorothy, and Lindsey provided valuable feedback that I wouldn’t have gotten from practicing alone in my office (come out from behind the podium, be myself, smile 🙂 ). After rehearsing with them, I am still terricited, but the scale has tipped so that I am now a tiny bit more excited than terrified.

If you are attending WordCamp US and are interested in building a regular publishing habit, I will be in the Kite & Key room of the Philadelphia Convention Center at 5:50 PM on Friday, December 4. There are still a handful of WordCamp US tickets available ($40 for both days), or if Philly is too far for you to travel to, Live Stream tickets are also available.

On Friday, I’ll post my talk here on Butterfly Mind. I invite you to use the hashtag #10minwri on social media to ask questions or to share your own adventures in publishing in 10-minutes per day. I can’t wait to see what you write.