Before I began this blog in January of 2010, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep it up. How many things could I possibly have to say about speaking and presentation?
So I spent a few weeks thinking and wrote up 20-30 ideas. It seemed as if every idea I explored quickly led me to several other similar thoughts or variations on the theme, and in no time at all, I had dozens more potential ideas for posts in my brainstorming file.
Now, at my one hundredth post, instead of running out of ideas, I find myself with a 40-page, and growing, document on my hard drive of nothing but blog post brainstorms; from chunks of several paragraphs down to, in a few cases, a single word. It seems there is far more to talk about than I had thought.
At first, I intended to focus almost exclusively on the idea of charisma and attention; how to grab, and keep, the attention of others and how to use that attention to communicate at the deepest, most profound and most effective level. I’m not sure what it says about me, but that’s what I find most puzzling, interesting and exciting about speaking.
Along the way, through the process of writing, I have made many other fascinating discoveries – fascinating to me, at least. You may beg to differ.
I’ve learned from comedians, magicians and veterinarians. I’ve taken important lessons from newspaper ads, elevator panels and roller coasters. I’ve studied great communicators from the worlds of business, politics and academia, as well as geeks on webcams.
I’ve struggled to make sense of everything I have read, heard and thought, everything I have learned from skilled professional speakers and nervous beginners. I’ve tried to break it all down to its simplest components and concepts, so I can write about it, put it to use in my own speaking and teach it to my students and clients.
Some readers have been with me from the beginning, some have just recently arrived and others have dropped in along the way. I thank you all for your support, encouragement and interest.
I feel as if I am just beginning this journey.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations Rus, real journey starts after 100 steps..hehe. Keep on inspring.
I think I’m the one who has been inspired by this journey, Dipesh.
Russ:
Congratulations on reaching the landmark of 100 great posts. I was glad to see that being on Alltop Speaking hadn’t led you to change your pace and make more frequent but less well thought out posts.
Your posts have inspired several of mine. My favorite example is your Give Me Hammers Hammering http://www.presentationdynamics.org/?p=414 and my
Finding Images That Show What You Mean: http://joyfulpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-images-that-show-what-you.html
Thanks, Richard.
If anything, the more readers I have attracted, the more pressure I feel to have something useful and interesting to say. Fortunately, there seems to be no end to the subjects worth discussing. Like you, I get a lot of my best ideas from perusing other blogs, whether I agree or disagree with the author.
Rus — Congratulations for passing Number 100 ! Nico
Thanks, Nicholas. This is more exciting than my birthday was.
If you ever run short of good ideas, just skim YouTube for a few minutes. I would really like to see a video of your speech in Orlando on YouTube. It might be a good place to get publicity if you are looking for new clients or students.
Hi Rus. I just found your blog (via an old comment on Six Minutes blog) and I’m really loving your content & writing style!
As a presentations blogger approaching my 1st anniversary, this post appealed because it (and the comments) mention several issues I’ve wrestled with myself.
Like you, I keep ideas for future posts in a document, but the fact my list is growing much faster than I’m creating posts made me feel discouraged, as I wasn’t keeping up! It seemed I’d wasted my time by writing parts of several posts that I haven’t published. So your positive attitude has made me reassess – it’s certainly a much better situation than running out of ideas!
I’m also interested in the “ideal” posting frequency. At first, I was posting 3 or 4 times a month, but I soon felt like I couldn’t keep that up – despite many bloggers (including Richard Garber, above) posting almost daily for years on end! I feel like I spend a lot of time on my blog as it is, so I can’t comprehend how prolific bloggers manage to do such a good job!
Anyway, this comment’s almost morphing into a post itself (!), so I’ll say thank you again and sign off. Keep it up!
Thanks, Craig.
Posting once a week is my intention. There are times when that’s a breeze, but other times when it feels more like a chore.
Between two book projects, Toastmasters contest season, being in the middle of the university term and rebuilding my blog’s thesis theme. I’m a bit behind the curve right now, but I’ll get back to it when I’m ready. There’s always something to write about.