We were standing on the deck of a boat, in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The woman next to me pulled out her camera and then turned to me with a wry smile and noted that if she actually took pictures of the gorgeous view, noone would listen to her when she complained about having to go on a business trip. Considering that I was there for the same business trip, I had to agree. Compared to the mandatory trip to Las Vegas last week, this mandatory trip to Tahoe was a world different. There were meetings to sit through, to be sure, but that’s where the similarities end.

This trip was rather hastily planned, and I hadn’t realized quite how involved I would be in the whole thing til Friday, when the Development head called me at the conference in Las Vegas to let me know that by the way, I was going to be introducing my team, and also facilitating a meeting. I didn’t find out what the meeting was about or what I needed to do to facilitate until about ten minutes prior to the meeting, but it turned out fine. Then afterwards, I found out that I was elected to skim through all the flow charts on our development process – in front of the whole crowd. Did I mention that I really am not that crazy about public speaking? I have a tendency to talk fast normally, but when I’m nervous (and talking in front of a huge crowd does that to me) I speak even faster. I had a number of people come up after the presentations and tell me how much they enjoyed it…and how amazed they were at how fast I was capable of talking. Oof. I try to slow down – really I do.

This trip to Tahoe wasn’t nearly as slick or fancy as the meeting in Las Vegas, but it was much better. The meetings were relaxed, yet we actually got a lot of work done. Yet despite that, there was still enough time set aside for everyone to have fun and enjoy the area. My company could learn some lessons from them.