Parent Workshops: Spreading the Word on Creative Confidence
I had the pleasure of doing my first parent workshop this past weekend at a local preschool. While turnout may have been a bit low, as it’s the end of the school year, the parents who came out were fun and engaged. I learned a lot about the process and had a blast sharing my passion for creativity and encouraging creative confidence.
If someone had told me, even a year ago, that I would be hosting creative breaks at the co-working space and standing at the front of a room giving a presentation to parents on growing creative confidence in their kids…I would have laughed. I’m one of the biggest introverts you’ll ever meet. I’ve never been comfortable talking to a crowd…heck, sometimes I’m barely comfortable talking at all. But apparently, passion for a topic can push you beyond the boundaries you thought you had. And I am passionate about creativity.
I consider this the model for my ‘base’ presentation, the introduction to creative confidence and how to encourage creativity at home. I’ve got material and ideas for future presentations, but this is the one I think I could start giving around town. I had positive feedback and I think the overall presentation flowed fairly well. If you’re interested in a general overview of what I talked about, see my presentation slides below:
I’m not going to say that I wasn’t nervous. Getting up in front of people will probably always make me nervous. But once I got started, once I hit my stride with my topic, the nervousness melted away. I made sure to add interactive elements to the presentation, not only talking to the room about creative confidence and making suggestions for how to grow it at home, but walking the crowd through a couple of hands-on activities. This was certainly the most fun part…hopefully for everyone!
I want to show people that bringing creativity into your home doesn’t have to be intimidating. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Activities that encourage creativity and creative confidence can be simple, can start early, and can grow with your child. I want to show that these same activities work just as well for adults, that these simple acts of creativity can stretch grown-up minds as well.
I certainly hope that I can find more opportunities to bring my message and my passion out into my community. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I love brainstorming, coming up with activities and writing blog posts, but nothing is more fun than getting out and actually talking with people, inspiring creativity face-to-face.
I got a great email yesterday about my presentation. It included some pictures of the parent and child trying out my ‘drawing together’ activity. It’s wonderful for me to see my ideas in action!
If you’d like to hear a few excerpts from my presentation, take a look at the video below. M took the video, so it’s a bit choppy, but I’m grateful that she managed to capture the presentation in action.
If you are local and know of any schools or groups that might benefit from a presentation on creative confidence, let me know, or let them know about me!
