I was terrified of the microphone. Absolutely petrified. Completely intimidated. When I went to open mic nights and had to stand behind the microphone, I was a frozen bunny in the spotlight. I had no idea how to adjust it for my height or how to speak into it so I could be heard.

But that all changed on the weekend when I attended the Mastering The Microphone workshop with musician and poet Meena Shamaly. The workshops part of the phenomenal Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival. If only I had more time and didn't need to sleep, I would be going to all the things.

Meena has the best voice, a love of all things sound tech and a great way of sharing his passion. He taught us how to set up a mike stand, showed us how a mixer worked and then let us loose on the microphone buffet he had created. We got to experience where on the mic to speak into, how far away to stand, what to say to the sound guy to make us sound better and so, so much more. At the end Mena even hooked the mic up to an amp he'd brought long so I could have a play and see the difference in the sound.

It was so much fun playing with a piece of equipment that had terrified me. And really? All that cool new gear? You guys know I love good tools. Now I have a microphone, stand, speaker and mixer on my wish list. It would be so cool to have a set up at home to play with and to practice more.