26 May 2016
About a month ago, I was asked if I would talk at Ignite Boulder 29. Though I supported it for some seven years as an organizer, I had never once been on stage to present a five-minute “spark” (what we call a talk). So I said yes, expecting I would have plenty of time to prepare and share something interesting. Five weeks later, and I was struggling with a topic; Sunday night before the Thursday event I scrapped my previous ideas and furiously set to work creating some visuals to share a travel story and some thoughts. This was a small test of my own limits, all the meanwhile reminding myself that I could do this.
And in short, I did.
Was it my best talk ever? Probably not. And yes, I was a bit anxious about standing in front of a packed room at the Boulder Theater. But I recognize something, following that evening: folks want you to succeed. And that’s a fantastic audience to have.