Kindness vs foolishness
Note: no names will be revealed so that I don't end up destroying anybody's reputation. It is the principle that we are talking about here, not the facts themselves.
Recently I was asked to give a series of public speaking engagements on 2 topics. Posture and nutrition to a groups of youth who are at risk due to their sedentary lifestyles (yes... adults are at risk too!).
Thats easy. I love talking about this kind of thing. And to back up the talking (and uh... so my reputation as a fitness expert is not tarnished), I also love reading health, fitness and performance related books, DVD's and science journals.
However I faced a situation. In this series of talks (about 12 -15 in total) the first 2 were terrible logistically. No microphone, no working projector, no suitable area to project on, organizers were late getting people in, sudden changes in venue and timing. All in all an unprofessional organizational job...despite being given prior instructions to have these in place.
It happens. Not everybody matches our expectations.
But what to do about it? I thought it through. On the one hand, I want to give the talks because i really do care that these youth will end up dead prematurely with their current lifestyles. However with the support I am getting, the quality of the presentation and the perception of myself as a professional goes down...
So far I have kept cool about it and "shared" my views with the organizers. 2 times... is actually 2 times too many. But I'm trying to be understanding about it. I hope they can match the standards of excellence that I expect (and really, its not a lot that I am asking for as a speaker). Or else this will be an unpleasant experience.
posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 5/24/2007 07:42:00 PM
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