Today is the last day of the FMCA Convention, and it has been amazing. Tuesday night was a special treat to go to the entertainment and see Debbie Reynolds, or, as she introduces herself: "Carrie Fisher's mom" :-) We even lucked out and had pretty good seats in the room filled with over 1,000 people. (We were parked next to Todd Fisher's RV and had a great time getting to know him and seeing his video editing setup. )
Then, on Wednesday we had to be up and at our table at 7am to register people for our Hands-On computer class. We sold out, as usual, which is great. Then, we presented 3 seminars. First came our new ‘Internet Love Story’ where we tell all about our history and lifestyle on the road and how we love the Internet for making it all possible. It went well, and we got lots of ideas for improvement as well. Then came “How to Connect to the Internet on the Road.” Then came Picasa! OMG has that become a popular seminar! Take a look at this crowd:
The room monitors told us that they counted 740 people!! And, that doesn’t count the online audience. This is the seminar that was webcast. We’ve had lots of emails from folks that watched it online and said it was great! We haven’t heard a count yet – but we know we hit capacity because we also got emails from folks who were unable to get on.
We had rave reviews from our other seminars as well; Blogger, Navigation with Streets and Trips, and Jim even left me alone at our table while he assisted in a new seminar called ‘RV Destinations.’ This is where the audience suggested great places to visit and Jim followed along using Google Earth. He said that lots of great places were discussed and he will have them all placed on Google Earth and posted on the web sometime soon … when we recover.
Then, of course, we’re thrilled that LOTS of people have purchased our DVD of all our videos – and our online membership. Yes, we definitely have enough money now to make it back across the country to our next rally in Elkhart, Indiana:
We’re feeling extra good this morning because we completed our hands-on class. That’s a hard one because we let people in with all different types of computers and all different operating systems.
They learn about how to find the specifications of their computer (RAM, Drive size, Operating System version, Service Tag ID etc) They learn to use Wi-Fi connections, how to use Folders and Files on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, copying files to a thumb drive, and how to keep their computers maintained and secure.
We’ve done this course in two full days before, and this one was 4 hours! I was afraid it would turn out that they didn’t learn anything – but I think they learned something. The students seemed happy – but I don’t know if we want to do this again. Thanks to our helpers for keeping everyone on track: Al and Sue Wilson, Honey Shellman, Dixie Proulx and her granddaughter Marisa. We surely could not have done it without your help!
Ok, we’re of to do our last seminar: Picasa – Beyond the Basics. We’ve had GORGEOUS weather all week – cool at night, sunny and warm at day, with spectacular views of the Three Sisters mountains – which I have yet to take a picture of … maybe today.