Last night was an absolute blast! There were 12 amazing speakers from all different perspectives on all different topics. The presentations ranged from Education to Creativity, Raising Bison to the iPad, and most everything in between. Aside from the presentations, there were plenty of awesome people to meet. Aside from the drama of the Technology Ban that arose from the camera crew’s request for all cell phones to be turned completely off, it was by far one of the best events I’ve attended since I’ve been in Indy.
My favorite presentation based on content alone was “Why Houses” by Bob Mattax. He works at Developer Town, a venture development firm that recognizes the need for people to have their own work spaces. They solved that dilemma by building each team member their own house within their building. I’ve always been one to get annoyed when someone interrupts me while I’m working; I don’t deal well with distractions. For a company to recognize their employees needs of not being distracted so they can actually do their work is absolutely astounding to me, especially considering the last company I worked for. I’m more than inclined to build my own “house” one of these days.
Overall, I really can’t pick a “favorite” aside from the one that really spoke to my own personal aggravations. “Meet or Die” by Doug Karr was also one of those that really hit home. He nailed it on the head by demonstrating that meetings kill productivity. He challenged us to not allow Outlook (or whatever calender or meeting platform you use) to schedule meetings for one hour by default, but to limit meetings to only 15 minutes.
Other great presentations included “Bison: Back From The Brink” by Brian Shafer, co-owner of Walnut Valley Bison; “Revolutionizing Education Through Technology” by Stacie Porter-Bilger, Chair & CEO of Hoosier Academy; “Six Degrees of Awesome” by Daniel Poynter… Well, they were all awesome in their own ways.
My Own Worst Critic
So, I have yet to mention how my personal experience went with my first professional speaking engagement. It really would have helped had I not been so sick lately. I’ve been plagued with a relentless sinus infection for six months now, and it’s been affecting my ability to focus. Few days as of late have I truly been on top of my game, and yesterday definitely was not one of them. Throughout the entire presentation, I struggled to hang on to my thoughts, and I got pretty nervous toward the end. It definitely was not up to my own standards.
However, all is not lost. Aside from it being a great learning experience, I got some awesome feedback and interaction with the audience. I had flashbacks to my days of performing [music] on stage, and it was great to be able to connect with them. I’m not sure if I’ll watch the video of myself more than once, but I will definitely post it anyway.
What’s Next?
April 20th is my next professional speaking event, and this definitely has more of an emphasis on “professional”. I’ll be giving a 10 minute presentation at the Power Circle Luncheon, and this time it will definitely be more geared toward the left-brained, analytical crowd that my perspective really speaks to. Should be another awesome event, as I will be sharing the proverbial stage with business coach Thomas Barnes and one or two others. This time I’ll be able to see my audience, there will be no more than 30 or 40 people, most of which I will have probably met before (which is both a good and bad thing), and I won’t be using slides or anything. It will allow for more of a discussion than a “speech” or “performance”, and I think that might ease my nerves a bit.
The thing I loved most about your presentation was the statistics. Those were some pretty telling stats.
Hope you are feeling better for your next go round.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Bridging the Middle as well. Lots of energy.
[...] Edwards, Design Strategist, Point Brake – Earlier today I read and commented on Ann’s blog. She certainly looked nervous but her statistics that she presented were pretty amazing. I [...]
Thanks for speaking, Ann. I think you did well – especially considering the tough format of auto-advancing slides! I hope you get over that annoying sinus infection soon!