Epic Nervousness

Friday was a big deal. All of it. The whole day. Why? Because Brittany and I spoke to an audience of about 800 people. It is kind of a long story...
It all started when I visited a church a few weeks ago. I went to visit a youth minister (and his precious family) named Marcus Neely, a guy I know from Harding. Well, one of the kids in his youth group recognized me from Uplift. We talked a little bit. She was really nice. Well, a few days later, Marcus calls me and tells me that this girl wants me to speak at a conference... ummm. I was a little confused, because why would she want me to speak at a conference?
It turns out it was for HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America). She wanted me to talk about child life and my experiences in that field. Well, okay. Me, being in super LEARN MODE during this internship was like, OKAY! I also roped the other two interns into doing it with me, thinking it would "impress our supervisors." Well, after I agreed to it and got the girls to agree to it... I find out that there will be close to 800 people there. My first thought, other than I'M GONNA PEE MY PANTS was: Well, I guess everything IS bigger in Texas.
We planned it out, my supervisor agreed to go with us... I guess to chaperone us or observe us or something, I don't know. She even gave us a powerpoint to use, so we didn't have to make one.
All good right...???

The day of the conference: Friday, February 17, 2012... duhn duhn duuhhhhnn.....
First thing: Heather was sick. She wasn't coming.
Okay okay, we can fix this. Brittany and I just did some last minute adjustments to our powerpoint preparations. No big.
10 minutes before we were set to leave, the girl calls me and says, "are you on your way yet?! Can you make sure you are here a little early?!" Okay, this girl was freaking out... did I tell you she's a senior in high school...? Anyway, she was stressing, which made me stress. I reminded her that we were going to use a powerpoint and she was like, okay... is it on a flash drive? I said yes.
When Alana (my supervisor) showed up, the ppt wasn't on a flash drive, but it was on a disc. I sent a quick text to the other girl saying it was on a disc... needless to say, she said it would be easier if we didn't use the powerpoint. Awesome.
THEN!! We got stuck in traffic. (SIDE NOTE: I miss Arkansas... where the worst traffic means getting stuck behind a school bus because you left your house too late in the morning. )We ended up showing up at 2:15...ish. The conference started at 2:15.
When we got there, there was somebody waiting for us at the door. They said, "Are you the speakers?"
"ummm. yes?" They escorted us to our seats. ESCORTED!!! Like we were important. That should have been my first clue...
Then, when we were seated, I looked around and we were pretty much surrounded by students. I asked the lady that "escorted" us in who was speaking after us. She looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "no one." Then I said, what is happening after we speak? and she said, "nothing...?  You're it."
AHDIFNDKFDSOIKLDAMFISODFNS?! Huh?
Yep, ladies and gentlemen! We were pretty much the key note speakers of the night.
Nobody told me that we were that important! We showed up with a 'career day' powerpoint for goodness sake... that we didn't even get to use!!! It was weird... the whole thing.
The presentation went alright... I mean, Brittany and I were both shaking the whole time, but we pushed through it.
After we spoke, the girl came out on stage and presented us with certificates... and THEN called Alana up on stage. Poor Alana... she was in scrubs (it was a sea of black business casual in the audience, very professional.. picture like an FBLA conference) She walked up on stage and for some reason... was presented with a FRAMED certificate of appreciation. Like I said, this whole experience was weird... miscommunication allll around.
We left immediately... When we were driving away... everyone was exiting the auditorium. I guess we really were... 'it'
So weird...
Then we got sonic happy hour.