Pecha Kucha, Game Shows, Butterflies and My Lucky Turtle

Pecha Kucha, Who would have thought the combination of 6.4 minutes and an unpronounceable word would result in the trashing of so much paper and so few hours of sleep.

I have spoken in public quite a few times, and I have lead classes before too, but there is something about having to squeeze your ideas into a 20 second, 20 slides formate that has given me a bad case of butterflies.

One of my friends said I should think of it like being on a game show. That was a good idea at first, then realized that when simply asked for somebody's name, I will blank on all the names of all my closest friends as well as most of my family members.

Remember the game show Family Feud, where two families would compete to win big prizes? There was always one member of the family, Uncle Eugene, who would be doing the deer/headlight thing all the way through the program, then suddenly jump up at the last minute and shout Rutabagas!!! Thus destroying his families dreams of side by side washer and dryer for their communal mobile home back in Arkansas. That's me, everything except the Arkansas thing.

In Alan Alda's book Things I overheard while talking to myself, he says he could whip out a new story for MASH in just a few hours, but if asked to give a 10 minute speech at a graduation ceremony, he would agonize over every word for weeks. So perhaps that is good to know... perhaps not.

I think I'll take my lucky ceramic turtle with me for support.