One of the oddball perks of this job is attending meetings, lectures, and other discussions about topics that don’t interest me at first glance.
Now, I attend these events with the same viewpoint as I do with my movie review columns.
Predominantly, that means to me that it’s something new or there is some interesting angle to be had once I start digesting the information I’ve been given.
Rarely is there a topic or movie I want to see that aligns with all of my desires for something unique.
Or, at the very least I’m hoping for some interesting entertainment to make the loss of time more worthwhile.
Plus, I tend to pay attention better when I’m engaged in the topic at hand.
I’ve also found out that I tend to retain the most trivia-worthy tidbits of information that seem to serve no real purpose in my life.
But, if I were to go onto a trivia game show of some sort, I might actually be able to survive the first round – of course, that also depends on how tailored and specific their questions are.
My mom, younger brother, and I actually discussed some of these facts during our Thanksgiving celebration.
While mom is full of gardening and handyman-related knowledge, my brother is equipped with technology information and is growing his automotive skills, too.
Mine was much more random than that and doesn’t seem to adhere to any specific category like theirs or Mike’s history buff skills.
That discussion also brought me back to the time I spent taking “Public Speaking” at Wharton County Junior College.
My then-professor extolled the virtues of being able to speak publicly as a key facet to almost every job we could possibly imagine.
She even had a variety of group projects for my class to participate in – including writing a speech for fellow classmates or doing a presentation on something we really enjoyed and trying to persuade our audience to get interested in it, too.
Unfortunately for her, I knew of only two sure-fire ways to get rid of my stage anxiety – removing my glasses so I couldn’t see the audience or turning my speeches into stand-up routines via well-timed comments, jokes, or my body language.
And while she may have docked me points for making the other students laugh, she did tell me that it kept the audience engaged in my words so it wasn’t all bad in the end.
Furthering my college career also gave me the chance to ask questions or explore discussion topics with larger crowds than just a handful of students.
There’s nothing quite like having to explain what your college’s Student Government Association does on campus and trying to recruit more members to prospective students and their parents during an on-site visit.
In that same vein, we’re not going to discuss my ill-fated bid and run for student body president back then either!
I don’t regret the overall experience though and walked away with a handful of skills that I use to this day.
Sadly, the same two-stage fright remedies are still in play – so, if you ever hear me talking to a group of people and they’re laughing, then you know that I’ve managed to tell a joke to get their attention.
Of course, that also means the joke worked on getting your attention, too.
