The last lecture before breakfast.

I am in the middle of writing a transcript for a keynote with my colleagues.

Giving a keynote is a great responsibility, and it does give me the pre-performance nausea and performance jitters all the time.
Both my relief and grief is that I don’t remember much of what was said in the last academic keynote I watched.
Most keynotes or speeches are like that. Forgettable.

And so, what helps me with taming the nerves is knowing that my keynote has a structure and delivery that is very similar to the great speeches of our time. And sometimes I come across some very unforgettable ones. One such great speech is the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Randy gave the world a really special gift. A lecture. And the passion and joy and optimism he delivers it is unlike anything Ive seen before.

If those of us lectures, speeches and academic keynotes could match this guy’s enthusiasm…My word.. the world would be a different place I think