Speaking at UNA Commencement, 2020

 Last post I described getting ready to speak at 2 of the graduation ceremonies at the University of North Alabama. I consider this one of the greatest honors I have ever received, and was about as nervous as I ever get about my speech. Some of you might relate to that.

The biggest challenge I faced was the shortest time limit for any speech I have ever given. Because of all the COVID hoops, and the necessity of 6 different ceremonies from Friday night to Saturday, my requested time limit was 12 minutes. Yep, whatever I wanted to say, I had 12 minutes to do it, and I pride myself on meeting the time limit set. Typically the time limit is 30 minutes, not 12, so I really didn't have a good feel for a 12-minute talk.

I prefer to use PowerPoint to give talks, mostly because I am a a visual learner and have great sympathy for visual learners. I prepped the PowerPoint, but I was warned from the start that with live streaming etc. they techs were NOT at all optimistic that I could use it in the ceremony. And, indeed, I could not.

So, I wrote out the talk, printed it off, cut some, and rehearsed it. This is highly unusual for me. I am ADHD and the idea of rehearsing is tough, but, as I said, I was taking this very seriously. My first out loud practice, was a bit fast, and I finished just a few seconds under 12 minutes. On the first REAL delivery I went 12:20, and on the second one, I slowed down a bit a went 12:34. So, I didn't meet my goal, but I figured no one would complain about me going over by a few seconds. And no one did.

This was a rare opportunity of speaking twice only a few minutes apart. After the first commencement speech I approached the President and the Provost quietly and separately. I asked if they had any suggestions/amendments to my talk, and they independently agreed it was fine as it was. Whewwww, finally I could breathe.

After the second commencement, I relaxed completely for the first time in a week or more. The Uni had booked us a very nice room in the Marriot Shoals and bought our supper and breakfast. Though it was much later than usual for dinner, we couldn't pass up a free meal in the kind of restaurant we usually avoid. We enjoyed both meals and I especially enjoyed having this task completed.

Thank you O L^rd for getting us through this challenge. I am thrilled for the opp, but also thrilled it is done.

Thanks be to G^d.