With the Climbers’ Forum at the German Tree Care Days less than ten days away, I will freely admit to getting rather excited!
These days are a blur of sorting stuff out…
- Putting final touches to the new presentation, ironing out last niggles and sticky points, making sure I have really got my head round the topic
- Finalising technical requirements from the AV company
- Talking to the lady in charge of the simultaneous translations and providing documentation for them
- Gah! A cancellation… coming up with a means to fill an empty speaking slot – sorted.
- Coordinating tower transportation and set-up
- and so the list goes on… and on.
Did I mention I have a day job? I do.
This may sound like me whinging away, but it is most certainly not. Yes, it is intense, but the truth is that I love it… that moment when everything starts to come together, when you know that people from all over the world are starting to converge towards a location – and the best thing is that I get to spend time with all these fantastic people! Whoop whoop!
Another aspect that I greatly enjoy is seeing what people have made of their topics.
Often the way the way this has worked these last years is that I come up with thematic blocks for the program and then start approaching people about presenting – or, alternatively, people make suggestions for topics which are then fitted into the program. It is so interesting seeing what and how people finally present their topic… is it going to be a practical or formal presentation, is it going to be dead-serious or have a funny twist to it. Will they employ some really clever analogy that allows me to reflect upon an aspect of a topic that I had not seen before. This is very much an end point of a creative process, the unveiling of the speakers’ thoughts regarding their chosen topics.
Also, we have four female speakers this year which I am very happy about, as it moves the whole forum towards a slightly more balanced gender ratio – I get tired of guys-only events, we have enough of those in arboriculture as it is.
I could ramble on and on about this or that aspect. However, I will leave it at that, suffice to say that I am excited. Hopefully we get to meet up there – and if you are at a loose end for something to do the week after next, you could always pop over to Augsburg.
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Did I mention I am excited about the new gear being launched at the show? I did not? Well, I am.
