Thank you

I'd like to say “Thank you!” to everyone that attended my talk. I really appreciate the positive feedback!

I joined the Speech Team when I was in high school. I had a crush on this girl and that might have been a factor. I was terrible at it. At every competition I came in dead last. At one competition, I just dropped out because I couldn't think of anything to say on a subject.

I'm pretty shy and introverted, but I like meeting people. I discovered a trick: I can pretend that I'm outgoing, even though I'm not, and it works just as well. For some reason, this obvious pretense is sufficient to fool my subconciousness.

Usually there is a rather painful backlash a few hours later when I'm sure I've made a perfect ass of myself. That's when I swear I'll never again put myself through the ordeal of public speaking. But this time I got such support that I don't feel like a total idiot. Thanks to everyone!

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I made a list of the people I talked to at the conference. Part of the reason was so I could remember what it was we talked about and follow up on it here. The next few posts are going to be on that, I think.