I had to get up in front of a few people today to present...
Nothing too dramatic - a 10 minute overview on what I do & where I'm going, but it was somewhat last minute and I hadn't really had time to think through my flow, timing, or for that matter, what I really even wanted to say....let's just say, I've had better days on the stage...
My job has afforded me the privilege of public speaking almost on a daily basis, so I've become quite used to it...but it bothered me that I hadn't really taken the time to properly prepare and put some meaningful thought into what I was going to say...
Yes, any monkey with a microphone can jabber on for hours - but does it make an impact? likely not.
I often feel (and I think this is likely the proper attitude) that every second and every word that comes out of my mouth needs to deliver value and impact - otherwise I've wasted peoples precious time...they've stopped what they've been up to, have made a concious decision to listen to me for a few moments and (if I haven't prepared anything of substance) I've robbed them.
So, needless to say - I want to make sure, and make a commitment, that everytime I have the privaledge of an audience to make the most of it...to prepare, to have something insightful to say and hopefully make people think differently...at least that's the idea...we'll see how it goes...in the meantime - I saw this talk from Benjamin Zander that inspired me to perfect the art and delivery of effective story telling and public speaking - if you have 20 min - trust me - this will deliver value and impact.
