One of our class projects is to do an individual research project on a historical person, event or structure that helps make Oktibbeha County what it is today. I chose to research Dr. Douglas L. Conner. My reasons for this choice were twofold: 1) I knew little about him and 2) I had for nearly ten years been driving on a street named after him.

For this project I was able to read his autobiography entitled A Black Physician’s Story: Bringing Hope in Mississippi (1985) which was written with long-time friend and Mississippi State University William L. Giles Distinguished Professor John F. Marszalek. I also was able to interview his wife and daughter. His life was full and his story very compelling. Though he lived to be 78 years old, he never retired.

I have included my report and presentation slides below:

• Report (6 pages with photos; pdf)
• Presentation (9 slides with 2 to a page; pdf)

In closing, I was honored to give this presentation to my class on November 13, 2008. I found that date especially fitting since it exactly marked the ten year anniversary of Dr. D. L. Conner’s passing. I was also honored to share a portion of the story of a man who gave more than 50 years of his life in the service of my community.

Our presentation slides can be viewed here and a video below (unfortunately the picture and sound quality is low).

Click here to view the embedded video.

I enjoyed this panel and the positive experience of working with the other panelists. We had a lot of fun and our audience seemed to enjoy it as well. There were a number of questions.

Being a blogging conference, there has also been some written feedback at Startup Whisperer and Work In My Pajamas (which I referenced as an example). Conference Buddies provided a great recap of our panel presentation in a concise “note-taking” format. Melanie Nelson of Blogging Basics 101 provided a nice summary as well.

Perhaps the greatest compliment came from Jim Kukral who wrote:

Mike Allen presented on a track about affiliate marketing secrets for bloggers for me at the BlogWorldExpo 2008. As a conference organizer, I was delighted to work with such a knowledgeable and prepared speaker. His secrets taught me a thing or two as well!