My Experience Speaking at a Medtronic Meeting

Hey y'all! It's been a small gap since I've last updated my blog but I think the wait has been worth it! I wanted to tell y'all about my experience speaking at a Medtronic meeting. I was asked by my Medtronic rep, Tasha Kennon and my endocrinologist, Dr. Latif to speak about my life with diabetes and about how the auto mode feature on the 670g pump has been working for me. I was very happy that they asked me to speak about this at this meeting they were also speaking at. They asked me if I was alright with my reports being put on the big screen for everyone to see, which I was comfortable with them doing that! (Reports as in my sugars, carbs I'm eating, the amounts of insulin I'm being given, how I've been doing in auto mode, etc.) I began thinking about what I was going to say at this meeting.

The meeting was held at the Capital Grille in Memphis, Tennessee (which is about an hour and a half or so from where I live depending on traffic), on Monday, May 15, 2017. It was fun getting my outfit together for the meeting and everything. The shorter the days counting up to the meeting got, (I was asked about 2 or 3 weeks before if I wanted to speak) the more nervous I started to get. I had a basic layout of what I was going to say but I still was a little nervous. I had a lot of my support group (family, friends, etc.) wishing me the best of luck and I'm blessed to have such a great support group by my side. That afternoon leading up to the meeting was filled with my phone going off from all the texts I kept receiving from friends & family wishing me good luck with speaking at this meeting. It felt really good to know that I had a lot of people supporting me and making me feel confident enough to speak in front of a lot of people.

As me and my mom walked into the restaurant, I felt pretty calm. The room the meeting was being held in was a little small but that was okay with me. My Medtronic rep and I talked a little before my endocrinologist got to the restaurant and she told me to just be myself, which was the best thing for her to tell me, because that's exactly what I did. My endocrinologist had told me to do the same which was great, because I don't do well speaking off of a prewritten script most of the time anyways. (Anybody that knows me super well knows that I stumble over my words when I read sometimes, so it's best for me to just speak on the fly, but it helps to have things written out :)) I'm always the one to talk as things come to my brain, which most of the time is the way I originally have things lined out to say in my speeches and whatnot. I had a paper with what I was going to say but I didn't go by that at all. So in basic terms, I just said what came to mind about my story and my 670g & automode, which happened to come out just like I needed it to. It also was pretty neat, my Medtronic rep had printed copies of my blog post about my experience with auto mode and the 670g system for everyone attending to read and see. They all got my web address for my blog website so they can see when I post blogs (which I will really try to keep updated as much as I can or as much as y'all want.) and they all got a close up look at all my numbers over the course of a week. The room I was going to speak in filled up fairly quickly and there was around 35-40 people there. I honestly felt better once some of the doctors and nurses started talking to me and my mom and started laughing and joking with us. I spoke last that night, telling my whole story about how I was diagnosed with type 1 to getting my first pump to getting started on the 670g with auto mode. I remember some of the comments the nurses and doctors said to me, and one that stood out was one a there doctor quoted from me, I have these moments where I'm like, man, this must be what it's like to not have have diabetes. This is what auto mode does for me. I have moments where I can forget that I even have this disease and it feels great. No, auto mode doesn't mean I can completely forget about the diabetes I have, but it allows me to have a better way of managing it without stressing about my sugars all the time. I sleep better at night, I have more energy it seems, my numbers are so much better. I received so many compliments from everyone and they were all thanking me for speaking as they were leaving. It made me feel like I did a great job. Everyone seemed to like my personality and I gave a few laughs here and there and some clapping for the super good stuff that I shared. Overall it was a great experience speaking at this meeting. Never in my 19 years of living (almost 18 years diagnosed with type 1) would I have seen myself speaking in front of a bunch of people talking about my life and my experiences with new diabetes technology, but I've made it this far and it's awesome.

Well y'all, that was my experience speaking at a Medtronic meeting! I'd have to say, I would definitely do it again! (It has helped me get over my slight fear of talking in front of a lot of people.) I'm so glad I was asked to speak! It felt really good to be able to share my experiences with everyone that was at the meeting. I hope you've enjoyed this blog post and I apologize for waiting so long to publish another one. If y'all have any ideas for future blog posts, please do not hesitate to send me ideas!!! Any ideas are very much appreciated. My contact info is on the contact page of my blog website. Under all the info there is a section where you can directly send me an email with whatever you'd like to send! (comments, ideas, etc.) Please feel free to share my website with whoever you would like! I love seeing when people are reading blog! Below I've posted just a few pictures from that night, the rest will be in my gallery on the gallery section of my website. I hope y'all enjoy!

xo,

Maddie