The City of Goodyear’s Arts and Culture Division was searching for a person to give a calligraphy lecture. They host a monthly series of artist talks called Hot Coffee Art Lectures. The artist will share interesting things about their art form and how they got started. When the Civic Center had a cancellation for July, they contacted Jodean Cooper to see if she could give a talk about calligraphy. Unfortunately, she was booked for that date, so she referred them to me, and I gladly took the opportunity!
As an expert at saying yes to things I’ve never done before, I would normally panic and then wait until the last minute before throwing a presentation together and wishing I had done better. But this year, I’ve been trying to do things a little differently than before. Dalton with the Civic Center first contacted me in February. By March, I signed the contract. Knowing that the calligraphy lecture was scheduled just after I returned from an annual international calligraphy conference, I started my research and planned an outline as soon as I could.
How I Prepared for the Calligraphy Lecture
Dalton gave me some common talking points as a start. I then looked at articles from professional speakers about how to give an engaging talk about a topic. From there, I developed an outline about the main things I wanted to discuss. Having to submit a description for my talk and a bio at this point was helpful, as it set up a direction and flow to the talk for me to adhere to. By the time I had these sent, life ramped up and I didn’t touch the lecture until after the conference!
The week after the conference, I put together the slideshow. This took a full day, since I hadn’t made one in 25 years and was starting from scratch! Again, I researched, “How many slides do I need for a 1 hour presentation?” the answer was about 20, talking about each slide for 2 to 3 minutes. Having the description of the talk to refer to helped me to address what I initially said I would.
After I submitted the slides, I researched how best to use notecards when giving a presentation. I didn’t want to constantly be looking over my shoulder to stay on track! The best hint was to write on the notecards in BIG capital letters with a marker rather than a pen. This helped significantly!
What I Planned to Discuss
Calligraphy is a huge topic and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the details. For this talk, I chose the most significant topics I could think of:
- What calligraphy is
- How I got started
- How I became a professional
- Why the lettering arts are still incredibly relevant
I chose this combination because calligraphy can be deceiving and is often referred to as a “lost art”. I wanted attendees to have a basic understanding of the lettering arts as compared to handwriting. It was also important for them to see how accessible calligraphy is and how much more common it is than people realize. Here’s the description I wrote for the talk:
More than Words: Traditional Calligraphy in Modern Times
Renee McAdam is a professional calligrapher and artist. She creates thoughtful, bespoke artwork for clients using traditional methods in calligraphy and illumination. You’ll see how the uses of this art form have expanded in the 10 years Renee has been doing client work, along with photos of her most recent projects. Renee will share her design process, favorite calligraphy scripts, and most popular client requests. She will also discuss the differences between handwriting and calligraphy and why the lettering arts aren’t, in fact, “lost”.
How I Prepared My Nerves
The last thing left to do was practice. I was apprehensive about the timing of the talk. The talk would last for 1 hour to give the talk, followed by 30 minutes for questions. I was worried that I would be nervous and rush through the whole thing, and forget rich, significant points. The night before the calligraphy lecture, I ran through it, twice, holding my notecards. I can’t remember any speech I’ve ever given, so I needed practice with referring to notecards. I dropped them all twice as I practiced. Luckily, I numbered them! But each trial run was exactly an hour. The next morning, I practiced one more time, and then made absolutely sure to put the notecards in the car!!
I had kept reminding myself that I was invited to speak, and that the people attending were interested in the topic and what I might have to say about it. I put the talk together with the understanding that when a person is passionate about something, it makes it easier for others to admit their passion for it, or something else, too, and pursue it. Sometimes the underlying current of a presentation isn’t the specifics, but the love that drives the exploration and development of a skill or interest. Relating to that in someone can be just the right push to keep going, and we all need that time and time again.
How it Went
Goodyear is in the Phoenix are of Arizona and is about a 2 hour drive from Tucson, where I live. I gave myself about 3 hours to get there because of unpredictable rush hour traffic. The drive was smooth, so I got there with enough time to cool down, get a little snack, and introduce myself to the people who organized the talk: Dalton, Donovan, and Dariana.
They already had my slides up on the 2 tv screens in the room. Around 30 creative people attended that night. Though both microphones failed pretty much at the beginning of the talk, the staff arranged the furniture in such a way that I could walk around and people could hear me. I took questions as we went along, made some jokes, and talked about the significance of calligraphy at turning points in our lives. Questions from the audience invited me to share a lot more about myself and my work than I ever thought I would, but it was natural and added to the discussion. I used examples of my own work and statistics from both calligraphy associations and the calligraphy industry to illustrate calligraphy’s usefulness and relevance in our day-to-day experiences.
Poignant Question
The question that stands out in my mind was about overcoming imposter syndrome and feeling confident enough to share my work online, and in more serious settings such as the calligraphy lecture itself. I was bewildered by the timing, since I had just realized that I wasn’t nervous at all before or during my time presenting. I was also astonished when I noticed I felt qualified to answer this endearing question.
Practice is what develops your skills, which will help boost your confidence. And this is something that never goes away. There’s always an opportunity to improve your skills or try something new. When you post, the people you admire will encourage you. The people who care about you will encourage you. Paul Antonio said recently in a video that we don’t choose calligraphy; that calligraphy chooses us. I think that’s true for many crafts and trades, and it’s our responsibility to then carry on the traditions. It’s not necessarily that we develop the confidence, but that we move away from the fear of judgement, and toward the acceptance of love. At least, that’s been my experience.
Notable Feedback
Most written responses scored the talk as “Excellent”, peppered with a few “Above Average” ratings.
An attendee told me she practiced calligraphy years ago and enjoyed it. Attending the talk inspired her to pick up her brush again.
Another attendee gave me some resources for fountain pens.
Someone asked my opinion about teaching calligraphy.
Another person posted about being inspired to continue their drawing practice.
I have a good speaking presence and was engaging and knowledgeable.
A couple drove in from another neighboring city to give me some of their calligraphy book collection, along with ink, paper, and pens.
No one is surprised by the above feedback except for me. I’ve always been doubtful of both my abilities and my impact, which is something I have realized I can improve. I’m proud of myself for preparing, for showing up for something new, and for following through on something I’m passionate about.
If You Give a Calligrapher a Pen . . .
Though we’d discussed the Center taking a phew photos during the presentation, we were all so engaged that we forgot! After the talk, one of the organizers asked my opinion of a pen he happened to have with him. He’s an illustrator and wondered if I was familiar with it. I’d never seen it before, but out of gratitude and excitement about the successful talk, I asked if I could write the organizers’ names in calligraphy.
In doing so, I hope I created the resonance I described that keeps me coming back to the time and effort of calligraphy.
Thank you so much to the Goodyear Arts and Culture Division for having me. They were so supportive and encouraging throughout the entire process. These types of events not only benefit individual artists, but also the arts community as a whole. If you ever have a chance to check out the Goodyear Civic Center (and library!), I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!