Taking My Speech to the Lion’s Den

Today is public speaking day. I always enjoy that. Whether it’s a wedding day toast, a eulogy, or a talk to a class, give me a script and I’ll have fun up on a podium. My first stop is the Holyoke Lions Club, where I’ll be a featured speaker today at a luncheon at the Yankee Pedlar. I was invited by my friend Rick Luccesi, and my topic will be “Ten tips to Make Using Your Computer More Fun.”

Since even distinguished Lions often admit to computer illiteracy, I should have some interested listeners, and I’ll pass out GoNOMAD notebooks so they can take some notes about the websites I’ll recommend and tips on defragging one’s own computer and clearing out temporary files in the cache. While these are really basic tips, I’d venture to say that most people just don’t really get it.

Then I’ll share the stage, as it were, with my editor Steve Hartshorne as we speak with a UMass journalism class who are coming out to the cafe. The last time they came I spoke at length and with passion about the articles we publish and the business we run. The students were for the most part indifferent, I guess they were trying to be cool, and it was somewhat frustrating. I told the professor David Perkins that I’d need a little more interest and chided him to just tell the kids that it was somewhat of a bummer to have such a bored audience.

Maybe he will let them know, and we’ll have an enthusiastic bunch of listeners for today’s talk.