Public Speaking: "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads

Public speaking is hard work.  Period.  Though I make my living training people on products my day job manufactures (and I hope to make a living pitching finished novel manuscripts), standing in front of a group of people is tough.  Especially when you want to be informative AND entertaining.

Last week, I gave a speech titled "Smart Buildings, Smart Homes: The Future of Building Intelligence" at a local trade show.  Some of you may read that title and think: GEEK.  But it's actually quite cool.  I'm talking Minority Report or Blade Runner kinda cool. And since I am a geek girl who reads and writes futuristic, my interest in smart buildings is actually on another level.  Add to this recipe the fact that my day job involves designing and making the new hotness in building automation products....well, let's just say that I had a lot of fun prepping for this preso.

This presentation was particularly personal, since I used my parent's journey from dirt poor poverty to the present moment as the back drop for the timeline of how far the technology has developed.  These advancement have taken a relatively short period of time.  Truly, it feels like the blink of an eye.

I ended my preso with a picture of my three year-old niece holding my sister's iTouch.  Yup - she can navigate that thing like a champ.  She loves playing 'Anga Burd', or rather, Angry Birds and she can find her favorite Thomas the Train videos on YouTube.  (Though we have to make sure that she is watching the correct and age appropriate videos.)

It was a great presentation, but  I didn't anticipate how draining sharing my personal information / family history in a public forum could be. <sigh>  But, it is an amazing story that I was glad to share.

The future is NOW, dear reader.  I hope you continue to enjoy the ride.

"Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads

I love Talking Heads.  Nothing says 80's like HUGE shoulder pads in blazers.  (Check out their Girlfriend is Better live performance video for even bigger shoulder pads - sheesh, lol!) Add the heavy synthesizer and raging drums in this song and you have one smokin', eighties number with staying power.

This song immediately came to mind, because my presentation really 'brought the house down.'   I was asked to speak again, next year....hmmmm, we'll see what my schedule looks like this time next year.

"My house is out of the ordinary..."

www.openarch.cc prototype smart home in Spain - home owner interface. This video will blow you away!