Public speaking ON HOLD

... I spoke at DMF and later that same week at AdRevolution, a neat student event with more attendees than I had expected. For both conferences I had less than a night to prepare. For the latter one didn't even get the chance to say anything. My colleagues in the panel spoke valiantly about innovation using examples from all over the world which took up most of the time.

I felt bad both times because I felt I was wasting people's precious minutes without saying something that was truly useful. I mean, why go to DMF and praise a client in a roomful of non-clients? What could they learn from what a client had done right. They were mostly students or consultants themselves. Nothing to learn.

And in the innovation student thing, showing them pictures of what smart people do in other countries...will that make them smarter? Finding out about those things is as simple as click on to the Cannes website. Understading the thinking behind each and every one of the examples that was played would have required a whole day. In the end, had it not been for Lorand's case studies which helped make the point that innovation comes from knowledge and dilligence, we would have ended up with a roomful of people excited about what good ideas others have.

Anyway, I have decided not to do anymore speaking gigs until the summer. I have no time to bring any value to the people that listen to me and also being present takes up the time I could spend reading up on things that may bring value to me ... So please count me out of the upcoming ones, unless I have already said yes in which case i will try to attend.

Hope I'll spend more time on this blog also.