It’s been almost exactly a month since I last posted – what’s going on? Fortunately, last week was March break for me, which means I can use this transition period back to school as a fresh start.

I always keep saying I want to post more but have never really lived up to it. So here I am making a challenge for myself: to post 30 times in 30 days. I’m not placing any rules on myself beyond that. It can be one word or a thousand words, but I have to post 30 times. What do you think? Have something you want me to write about? Let me know – I could use some writing inspiration!

Anyways, on to post 1 of 30…

Science Expo

I’m excited about an upcoming speaking opportunity. I have been invited to be a keynote speaker at Science Expo, a conference that aims to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to high school students in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area. I’m being asked to share some of my stories and motivate high school students to consider pursuing STEM fields.

Whenever I have the opportunity to speak, there are four key things I want to do no matter the topic I am speaking on. I call it the (IF)² approach (actually I just made this acronym up, but it’s all true!):

I: Inspire – I want to the audience to leave the talk feeling inspired and motivated to go out and do something themselves. Maybe it’s related to my message and maybe it’s not, but I want to move people and see them move afterwards.

I: Insight – I want to share ideas and thoughts that the audience may not have heard before. I want to challenge conventional thoughts and get the audience going “HMMMM”. Because if I’m just saying what you already know, what’s the point?

F: Fun – I want people to smile, laugh, and have a good time. I know how boring talks can be. I want people to be moved, but I always want them to enjoy themselves, and humour is one of the best ways to do that.

F: Forward – I want the audience to leave knowing exactly how they can move forward from the talk. A lot of times you finish an awesome talk, but you’re left wondering “err… now what?”. I want to close with a resounding, clear, and insightful message. I want the experience to be enriching and motivating and forward-moving. You’ve heard my speak and you know exactly where to go from here!

I’m currently putting together and outline for the talk and I hope I can accomplish all of those (IF)² goals. If you’re interested in attending the conference, check it out at http://www.science-expo.org/. Hope to see you there!