DAUGHTER’S OF NORWAY ‘S LUTEFISK PROGRAM

I joined the Daughter’s of Norway’s newly formed Minneapolis group in 2011. It consists of a group of women who have Norwegian heritage and get together to share information and the traditions of Norway. I joined with my sister and have thoroughly enjoyed attending the meetings and learning new things from the programs. In September I received a call from the program director asking if I would be interested in giving a program about Lutefisk and my book, Real Norwegians Eat Lutefisk. I was unsure about the Lutefisk part but since she was desperate, I agreed. Usually program speakers are paid a small speakers fee but since the group is new and the coffers low, it wouldn’t be in the budget. I had wanted to market my book as a program to the Sons of Norway groups, but wasn’t sure what else I could talk about besides my book. This was the solution I'd been looking for, to combine my book, Real Norwegians Eat Lutefisk. with a talk about Lutefisk. The September meeting would be a great opportunity to try out the Lutefisk program on an audience, so I felt it would be worth my time and effort even without receiving a speaker fee. Hopefully, I would be able to sell a couple of books at least. I began immediately searching the internet for anything I could find out about Lutefisk, especially anything about Lutefisk in Minnesota. To my amazement and pleasure, I found more than ample information for my program. I printed out anything I thought would be useful and interesting for the program. That day I talked about Lutefisk songs, Lutefisk dinners, the Lutefisk Capital, Lutefisk movies—Lutefisk Wars, and of course my book, Real Norwegians Eat Lutefisk. I have a professional banner about 6 feet tall with my book cover on it, along with other display items of my book which I brought. Next time, I will have to put it into a Power Point presentation. The program went well and the women were very interested and enthusiastic. They even provided additional bits of information on their Lutefisk experiences throughout my talk. Ultimately, it went well. I was pleased and afterwards I sold about 12 books which ended up being way more than I would’ve received for a speaker fee. So it just goes to show when you do things out of a desire to help others, the payback is always way more than you ever expected!