A few weeks ago I submitted a proposal to give a presentation at Ignite Indianapolis. Not knowing anything more than the little information included in the two emails I had received from Smaller Indiana, the proposal I submitted was basically the brief of The Value of Design booklet. Then I saw this video:
Needless to say, my initial proposal was not nearly refined enough to “make the cut”. I anticipated that I would either hear nothing at all from them or be asked to submit a new or refined proposal. They did in fact contact me over the weekend and asked for a refinement. How Design Effects Business is definitely the most stimulating topic of my booklet to me, and they agreed that this topic has promise for their event format. Since I am still knee-deep in research for the ROI of design, I was concerned that I wasn’t quite yet prepared with perception-altering, life-changing, irrefutable facts. I offered what I could for the place in my journey that I am at now and made it clear that I would have more localized facts even only a year from now. I asked if what I could offer now was the type of “substance” they were looking for.
I didn’t hear back.
Until today, that is. We were supposed to be informed by yesterday if we had been selected. Apparently they wanted to make us sweat. And they succeeded, with me, at least.
My Speaking History
In high school I volunteered for a local Christian teen center. There were times where I would have to get on stage at concerts and speak to the crowd. A requirement for high school graduation was a Senior Project, which included a research paper, speech in front of faculty, and a demonstration. Mine was on the subject of audio engineering. I have no clue what my speech entailed or how I felt about my performance (I received an A of some sort, if memory serves correctly), and my project was a CD I recorded of me playing the piano and singing one of the songs I wrote.
In college, Speech Class was mandatory. I wouldn’t have minded as much if it weren’t for the irony of having an instructor that spoke English about as well as I can snowboard. (I’m no Shaun White, that’s for sure.) The class was only 30 people or so, and for some reason that made me more nervous than speaking in front of 500+ people at concerts. Apparently, the larger the crowd, the more confident I am. Or, perhaps it was the fact that I couldn’t see much of the audience when up on the stage.
I’m Freaking Out
In the best way possible, of course. There is only a 120-person capacity at the venue, but I am hoping that will be a large enough crowd for me to wrangle my nerves. And, I will only have 5 minutes to talk. Since I know the information like the back of my hand, I will be following an outline and will not have much problem remembering what I have to say about it.
Still, it is rather exciting. Exhilarating. Down-right scary. But still, nonetheless, fricken awesome! [Repeat x20million]
I’m really hoping that they will provide us with recordings of the event. I’m hoping that, in general, the experience holds up to the caliber of the presentation shown above. Most of all, I’m hoping–at the very least–that I don’t vomit or soil myself on stage.
The Weeks Ahead
I have exactly one month to prepare. The next four weeks will be….interesting. To say the least. My first hurdle is coming up with a title for my presentation. “How Design Can Change The World (And Your Business)” is basically what I will be talking about. However, it should be 7 words or less, and I definitely want it to be cunning, catchy, and do justice to the global Ignite program.
Once I have the title down, I will be working on a basic outline. I might end up sketching this out while trying to determine a title if I don’t have any luck before then. Once I have the outline, I’ll move on to the slides, then finalize my presentation. I make it sound so simple. And perhaps it will be relatively easy with the plethora of knowledge I have to include. My largest obstacle will definitely be refining that information down to 5 minutes!
Hi Amy
I was impressed by your comments at the powerlunch and I like what you have done with your site.
I have 25+ years of public speaking and was a professional comedian for 10 yeas. I would be happy to meet with you and help you get ready for this presentation.
let me know if your available..
Joe