I was a guest lecturer in a class on campus today. I spoke about how to make effective presentations. A presentation about presentations. So meta.

I get excited talking to groups about effective presentations. So few people seem to relish the opportunity to speak publicly. Yet it’s such a worthwhile way to force yourself to think more clearly about a subject and to spark the possibility for action and new perspectives in others.

The JFK quote above is audacious. And it’s a worthwhile challenge to consider whenever you have to stand before fellow humans. If your aim in speaking is not to cause some sort of change, then what’s the point?

How many times, though, have you sat through a lecture, a meeting, a sermon, or a class and left feeling that your time and attention had been wasted?

But if even one person can be affected by what you have to say with a changed perspective or a new possibility awakened or the impetus to take action, mission accomplished.