Let’s go for a ride
February 20, 2009 – 10:29 amAn amazing thing is happening. After a long departure from public speaking, it’s returning to my life in 2009. Last night, I gave a talk on why people should ride the bus during Ignite Portland 5.
The Ignite concept boils down to this: What if you had 5 minutes and 20 slides — that automatically change every 15 seconds — to talk about something, what would you say?
In the days leading up to the event, I went through my notes, practiced my slides, practiced the pacing of my voice, practiced how to recover in the event I stumbled and/or forgot something (no notes allowed on stage). Practice, practice, practice.
Well, apparently that paid off as my presentation went over very well with the audience of 700-ish people. I’m even looking forward to seeing the video of my portion of the evening. Being the somewhat awkward person I am, it was very odd to have people coming up to me saying how much they liked my presentation. I’m just not used to it. But I greatly appreciated the instant feedback from everyone last night. It made it hard to go to sleep last night because all I could think was “Wheeeeee!” and wait for the adrenaline rush to subside.
While there may be other speaking opportunities between now and the summer, I’m very much looking forward to participating as a panelist during the annual BlogHer Conference being held in Chicago this year. I was already looking forward to the next conference, but stepping up my participation to chat about travelblogging is an amazing opportunity.
I can get used to this having confidence gig.
My presentation at Ignite Portland 5:
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11 Responses to “Let’s go for a ride”
That was SO awesome, Angel!! It sounded like the crowd really liked it, too.
By Cindy on Feb 20, 2009
Thank you!!
By DimpleAndASmirk on Feb 20, 2009
Cool, i think you did great, had me laughing. Now do one on why I (me) ride the MARC train,lol.
By Mother on Feb 20, 2009
That was so great! You have really good timing, funny story and very well delivered!
By mikkie on Feb 21, 2009
Thanks so much! It was a lot of fun. I hope the Ignite concept continues to catch on around the globe.
By DimpleAndASmirk on Feb 21, 2009
Hi Cindy,
I’m one of your co-panelist on the BlogHer travel panel.
I posted about our panel on my “What a Trip” blog, http://tinyurl.com/cwdej2 and mentioned it on Twitter.
Are you on Twitter? I look forward to meeting you.
Follow me on Twitter @Nancydbrown.com
By Nancy D. Brown on Feb 22, 2009
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m definitely looking forward to participating on the panel at BlogHer ’09. I’m not on Twitter…I’ve resisted joining so far.
Looking forward to meeting you as well!
- Angel
By DimpleAndASmirk on Feb 22, 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Angel Venable! (Crowd goes wild …) Supahstar!
By Heidi on Feb 23, 2009
My head has doubled in size…and it’s all your fault!
By DimpleAndASmirk on Feb 23, 2009
I’m not a big fan of Public Transportation, but your stellar presentation opened my eyes to the concept of bus riding as entertainment (perhaps it’s only redeeming attribute!)
By Jim Dittmer on Feb 26, 2009
Jim, thanks for stopping by. Riding public transportation is definitely great entertainment. One of my co-workers reported seeing a woman wearing a FedEx box on her head during his bus commute to the office this morning. Sadly, he didn’t get a photo…
By DimpleAndASmirk on Feb 26, 2009