At last, after 30 months, my presentation based on my book, Seltzertopia, is back in person!
During the pandemic I gave many online talks, which I enjoyed. And they worked. But there’s nothing like seeing people’s faces in front of you when you make them laugh, or surprise them, or both. Or chatting with them afterwards about what they enjoyed, and hearing the nostalgic memories it brought back for them.
Yesterday I went out to Long Island to present for the Green’s (a 55+ community) at the fantastic new auditorium at the Half Hallow Hills Community Library. 80 people were in the audience, joined by another 20 over Zoom. It can be challenging to set up the tech for a blended presentation, but the team pulled it off and it worked flawlessly.
And because we were in person, the organizers could work with Brooklyn Seltzer boys to get fresh, siphoned seltzer and offer make-your-own egg cream stations. Yum!
Earlier this year, it was the old Zoom-only format, which is also a blast. I presented a new seltzer presentation – NYC and Seltzer: a Love Story – for Temple Emanu-El in Palm Beach. The camera was positioned in a god view, looking down from the back of the congregation, watching them watch ME on the screen on the bima – that was a bit odd, given the context, but worked out well.
I also presented at the Israel Center of Conservative Judaism close to my home in Fresh Meadows. It was SUPPOSE to be live, but this alas was not to be (Darn you COVID!!!). At the end we ran a novel “best dressed egg cream” contest, with me as the sole judge.
