The Speech
Apr 22nd, 2007 by tortoise
I have to give a speech in 28 hours and I am freaking. I’ve done little to no preparation and that doesn’t help matters at all. I feel like one of the candidates on The Apprentice who knows they are losing the task and has all but curled up into the fetal position.
I can’t get out of the speech. I can’t get into the speech. I am totally stuck.
I guess the first place i could start is with language. I feel totally stuck. And paralyzed. Like someone tied to railroad track. In the middle of nowhere. And I can hear the train. I can feel the train.
The speech is really open: the topic is about business and I can cover any business-related subject I want. I know enough about many different areas to make the speech a success, but I just feel terrified.
I’ve been feeling terrified for a couple of days now. It’s hard to think clearly when I feel terrified. My mind is in this continuous loop — Oh god, the speech is in 30 hours. Oh god, I’ve got nothing prepared. (Repeat ad infinitum.)
What the hell do I talk about? I could talk about geekery. I know a little about the internet to be able to pass on useful information. I could talk about what’s reasonable in setting up a website. There are still some people paying $35 a year for a domain name.
I could talk about marketing on the internet. Hey! Did I just step out of my loop? I did! I did! Let’s go a little further.
What I’ve sort of been playing with is talking about the business mindset. About how all this stuff to learn seems overwhelming. About how things which seem so unrelated to your business you suddenly have to become an expert on.
For instance, I remember hearing that Ray Kroc (the founder of McDonald’s) once asked a group of people what business he was in. They looked at him stupidly: everyone knew McDonald’s sold hamburgers. “Real estate,” Ray said, “McDonald’s is in the business of real estate.” I think I’ve read McDonald’s is one of the biggest holders of real estate in the world, second only to the Catholic Church.
If you think about it, the location of a fast food chain is pretty vital to business. It’s not fine dining and therefore a destination unto itself. A fast food shop has to pick a good location to set up shop. And McDonald’s has had to get really good at finding good locations in cities all over the world.
I think I’ve got a topic for my speech.
Crisis solved.
Sometimes the best way to solve a crisis is to focus on it. Somehow, in the focusing, crisis becomes creativity.