TED Talk

I really did not know what to expect when it came to Plab B scenarios. All I could do was cross by fingers and hope that I wasn't given something that would completely sabotage my presentation! Alas, I was given the dreaded "Elevator Pitch" situation and had to pitch my ideas to my audience as she walked to her car. She said she totally forgot that I was giving a presentation and she actually needed to catch her flight to Tahiti.

At first, I was really confused because I thought Julie had pointed outside the classroom so I was ready to walk out in the hallway of Hodson with her. Turns out, she meant we were headed to the window and when I finally understood what we were doing, I went into the elevator pitch mode. It took me extremely by surprise so I was a bit off in the beginning, but I definitely went into it without feeling to nervous once I knew what I was supposed to do. By the end, I knew exactly what the Plan B scenario was and I felt in the zone. I do believe I made Julie a little uncomfortable because I had no idea what I was expected to do in the first 15 seconds of my presentation. Sorry.

I really tried to give a brief synopsis of my entire speech so that the audience would know why they should care and keep in contact with me after an awesome time in Tahiti. One thing that I would take back is when I stated that I was sure they would see a lot of homeless individuals in Tahiti. A wealthy benefactor would never want to hear those words uttered as they are off to sip their margaritas on a beach. I made sure that I was cordial even though I had technically been blown off and I think that I made it known that they would be hearing from me again.

My topic actually was not about helping the homeless with funds actually. It was a discussion on discrimination against the homeless we see in the United States today. But, I went with the flow and because I only had 30 seconds to talk, I changed it so that Julie was at least hooked and would hear me out after her wonderful vacation in Tahiti. I figured someone on their way to a jet plane would not want to hear about such melancholy affairs and tried to keep my conversation as upbeat as possible.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to use my slides and it wasn't really a TED talk, but I had a great time being given something so unexpected. At least I didn't have to prolong my speech, right?