I frowned. I was okay with pictures of my party, but videos made me uncomfortable, especially since my hair was having an extra unruly day. There’s nothing worse than seeing frizzy hair in motion.
Olivia grabbed a portable microphone, then walked over to our table. “Before we dive into my presentation, why don’t we go around the room and do some introductions? Please tell us your name and what kind of videos you want to create.”
I blinked rapidly. This was starting to seem less and less like a surprise party. Unless it was meant to be a really bad surprise party. When Olivia held the microphone in front of my husband, my fears were confirmed.
He stood and adjusted his tortoiseshell glasses. “Hi. My name is Scooter McGhie. My wife, Mollie, and I are starting a YouTube channel featuring our cat, Mrs. Moto.”
I cleared my throat before asking, “We are?”
“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Scooter said, his dark brown puppy dog eyes sparkling with excitement. He picked up a large envelope from the table, opened it up, pulled out a stack of glossy photographs, then handed one to Olivia.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, holding it up for the audience to see. “She’s so adorable.”
I grabbed one of the photos. “Are these head shots of Mrs. Moto?”
“They turned out nicely, didn’t they?” Scooter said with a huge grin plastered on his face.
I leaned back in my chair and sighed. My husband certainly had surprised me, just not in the way I had hoped.
While I contemplated Scooter’s new fascination with cat videos, Olivia continued with introductions.
As Penny explained how she wanted to leverage YouTube to drive business to her sailing school and boat brokerage, I grabbed the last piece of bacon from Scooter’s plate. He was so absorbed in looking at the pictures of our cat that he didn’t even notice.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Olivia said to Penny. “I have a number of friends who use their channels to generate new business leads. The trick is to post interesting content, not just advertisements for your business.”
“I thought I’d start with filming the Coconut Cove Regatta,” Penny said. “People might enjoy watching footage of the sailing races, as well as the other regatta events we have planned to celebrate the Fourth of July.”
Olivia nodded. “Great idea. The regatta sounds like a lot of fun.”
“There’s always room for a famous circumnavigator on my boat,” Penny said. “We’d love to have you on board.”
“I wish I could join you, but I already have plans for the holiday weekend. I’ll be at an artists’ retreat on Destiny Key.”
“That’s where the regatta sails to,” Penny said. “Maybe we’ll see you there.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for your boat,” the young woman replied. “What’s her name?”
“Pretty in Pink,” Penny said. “You can’t miss it. She’s all pink.”
I listened half-heartedly during the rest of the introductions, perking up only when someone I knew was speaking. Alejandra Lopez, a waitress at the Sailor’s Corner Cafe, explained how she wanted to do online tutorials on nail art. Ned Schneider, who owned the Palm Tree Marina with his wife Nancy, described his vision for a YouTube channel dedicated to movie reviews. In my opinion, Penelope Pringle had the best idea—behind-the-scenes videos of how she makes the delicious treats for sale at her bakery, the Sugar Shack.
Eventually, Olivia got to her presentation—two excruciating hours filled with more detail than I ever wanted to know about filming and editing videos, establishing your brand, and monetizing your content. Scooter took detailed notes, I played games on my phone, and, to my great disappointment, neither a chocolate cake nor clowns made an appearance.
* * *
Want to know what happens next? Grab a copy of Dead in the Dinghy at your favorite retailer at books2read.com/deadinthedinghy. Spoiler alert: you’ll want to binge watch cute cat videos after you’ve finished reading.
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