Wow, I can't believe it's over! Our first official webinar was an awesome experience... and completely exhilarating!
In many ways, it brought me back to the days of working in radio where you sat in a room alone, talking into the microphone and dealing with a bunch of equipment. Much like radio, you really have to keep track of several things going on simultaneously.
- 1One must make sure all talking points are covered,
- 2The allotted time for each talking point has to be maintained,
- 3One must remember to cover all necessary plugs and promos,
- 4The chat room needs to be monitored,
- 5Each speaker needs to be placed on screen while talking, and....
All of this has to happen while remaining actively involved with the conversation that is taking place. It really isn't easy, but I loved the challenge!
It's really a test of super-charging and synchronizing several parts of your brain at the same time. It's an enormous coordination of motor skills.
It's like delivering a speech while riding a bicycle. Your audience is behind you, following on their own bikes, and you have to make sure everyone is keeping up (or you're keeping ahead of them) and everyone is safe as you're delivering quality content.
Okay, that is definitely an overstatement, but it sure felt that way. Yes, there were several little gremlins that I had to deal with along the way but I was incredibly fortunate to be joined by an amazing panel of professional wedding officiants.

My Gay Wedding 411 aired on February 23, 2016 from 12pm - 1pm PST. As seen top right to left are: Rev. Mary Calhoun, Frank Harlan, Lani Catherine [moderator], Mauro Walden-Montoya, and Santiago A. Naranjo [host]
The title of the webinar was, "My Gay Wedding 411" and the panel was comprised of Rev. Mary Calhoun from Window to The Soul Ministry, Officiant Frank Harlan, of Frank Harlan Weddings, and Mauro Walden-Montoya from Arcoiris Weddings. The webinar was hosted by the amazing Ms. Lani Catherine of LaniCatherine.com.
Reverend Calhoun is also the author of a book titled, "The Distinctive Wedding Ceremony," which is available at Amazon and a must-read for all professional wedding officiants.
We spent the good part of an hour discussing topics such as myths concerning gay weddings as well as how to deal with more conservative or non-supportive family members.
It was a fascinating conversation with some really great insight from our panel of experts, especially when dealing with the issue of drawing boundaries with family and step-family.
If you would like to watch a replay of the webinar, just fill out the form below (in the footer) and I'll send you a link. Just remember to be easy on me considering this was my first attempt at doing a professional webinar.