Saturday, August 21
Good morning to you. After a flurry of activity, things are quiet here right now. We had big parties last night, last week and a few small parties today. I like the contrast, the mass of action and the slowness that can follow. I love being wildly busy, and I like doing nothing. Today is a day of catch up for me and that’s a good thing.
I’ve been gearing up for this TED talk. If you aren’t familiar with them, I can say that TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. TED talks are short, 15-18 minutes long, and are meant to be “ideas worth spreading.” Last year I was invited to submit a proposal but simply telling about riding a bicycle across the United States was not compelling enough for the committee. Reporting about something is not necessarily an idea worth spreading.
So this year I was invited again and have been selected to be one of 8 or 9 speakers (or performers) to present my thoughts at TEDxAsheville. I’m excited and a bit nervous. There are parameters: No written speech. 15 minutes long. It will be my first time using a remote clicker to change the slides. A big audience will listen live at the Orange Peel and a larger audience will be involved via live streaming video. There will be other speakers and there will also be musicians and a couple of taped presentations from other places. Eustace Conway, the “Last American Man” from Turtle Island Preserve will be here. Billy Jonas will be performing a new “opera.”
This is high-flying stuff.
My message is about bees, tiny little creatures that do so much. As I’ve immersed myself in learning about them this year I have found parallels to my work and my life. To me, these revelations are huge. They have spun me off my feet. But they are MY revelations. And I wonder if that, my own revelations about something that has affect ME is a valid thing to share. IS this an “idea worth spreading?”
I hope so.
I find myself going to sleep running through bits and pieces of my presentation. I wake up with sentences on my mind. I sit here at work, musing, thinking, wondering.
The other day we had our first rehearsal. I come from a theatre background. I used to stage manage. I am accustomed to telling people what to do, where to go, what is next on the schedule. This rehearsal had none of those familiar elements about it. People wandered around. The musicians set up on the stage and the rest of us, the speakers who were there, sat, watched, reviewed our lines. The snack area was a popular place, with lots of folks visiting and nibbling. There was not much attention to a schedule, at least as far as I could tell. There was certainly no sense of urgency.
But as the time passed, I tried to understand the process of this particular rehearsal. No one was clearly in charge, though things did continue to happen. The musicians did do a sound check, did run through their pieces. Photographers did capture the activities. Notes were taken. Lights came on. Video feeds were set up. It came together, steadily and in its own way.
This was not what I was used to but sitting and watching made me see that that old way was certainly not the only way. Things were happening. We speakers did get to stand on the stage and run through our positioning. We did get to see that the slides worked. We tested the microphones, ran through the program. Steady, steady, steady.
It will, I see, be fine.
“This,” said the director, “is exactly the way it always is.”
She’s right. Rehearsals are often chaotic. TED evolved organically. A group of people connected via Twitter and created what was a hugely successful event. It was not the way I’ve ever done anything, but it worked.
I’m excited about being a part of this huge movement. I’m excited about sharing my ideas, spreading them. What I have to say might resonate with the folks who listen. We’ll see. I can only do my best. I have one more week to muse, ponder, develop and review. Then it’ll be showtime.
I hope you can come.
