Public speaking can be scary!  We had over 1350 attendees for Ignite Boulder 11, and speaking in front of that many people is a trip!  Watching the video of my presentation, barely a trace of nervousness shows through. I felt happy, and full of goofy fun and confidence. 

I had just spent the day teaching Swiftwater Rescue to Sheriff Deputies with Boulder Emergency Squad, and was already buzzing from that.  By the time I got on stage I was absolutely bouncing with energy.  Part of this comes from being the focus of a thousand people’s energy, standing on stage sharing something with a captive audience.  THAT is empowering.  Another part is Ignite which is something dear to my soul, something the organizers and I continue to pump full of life energy, which in turn cascades among the Boulder community into a massive torrent of creative wonderfulness exploding every two months with more and more fulfilling events. 

The speaking experience was amazing, and to me says “success” at making such a terrifying thing a strong point in my skill-quiver.  However, I struggled deeply with the light and fluffy nature of my presentation.  I strive to add more substance, and meaning to each Ignite, and so doing a fun presentation was a real challenge for me.  However, I prepared the presentation and deck in a night, last minute to fill a dropped spot, and as I watch it again, I see my clear message came through despite the fun aspect of most of the talk. 

This is exemplified with the rest of the presentations at Ignite Boulder 11. Holy crap, what an incredible speaker group!   By far the most cohesive and prepared yet.  Each talk had a life message, and encouraged the audience to get out and change the world, or appreciate the world how it is now.  This is the most important message we can get across to a motivated and powerful audience and we did it!  Now, let’s go geeky, let’s show the community something screwball and passionate, let’s show them by example of changing the world rather than telling them to do so.  I really look forward to continually changing and adapting Ignite Boulder to fit a dynamic Colorado audience whether from the perspective of a speaker or an organizer.

As a personal side note, doing a backflip in front of 1350 people on stage at the Chautauqua Auditorium is freakin’ exhilarating! 

Check out my talk from Ignite Boulder 11 here:

And my Ignite Boulder 5 talk on Surviving Freefall from 30,000ft Without a Parachute here: (see how much more nervous I am!).  

And my frustrated post on Ignite Boulder 4, and how the whole thing began for me, wow, what a long way it has come!:

As always, check out IgniteBoulder.com for info on the next event, and the videos of the rest of the amazing speakers.