Idea No. 38: Ignite Craft Boston

Friday was a difficult day.

I had to pick up paintings from two art shows and then make a speech at Ignite Craft Boston all in the space of one afternoon.  It was one of those days where having a car would have been really convenient.

As I ran out the door to catch the first bus of the day, I was in a good mood.  The sky was gray but that was okay and I did manage to make the bus.  I decided that I would treat the hours I was about to spend on public transportation as a gift, a time to think and read.  On the way I began Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky and immediately my mind started to churn.

Through the first two stops I managed to stay in a good mood.  I picked up one painting from the Arsenal Center for the Arts and then took the bus over to United South End Settlements where I had three paintings waiting for me.  On the bus from USES up to MIT, where Ignite Craft took place, I couldn’t read because my hands were full of my paintings.  My mood started to go down and I immediately knew that I needed food.

I grabbed dinner on my way to the event.  It was much more than I had expected.  Between 150-200 people showed up to listen to me and a group of other speakers give five minute presentations on our topics.  My paintings, so inconvenient to carry, were spread across the back of the room for everyone to look at.  I wasn’t nervous, at least not in the hand-shaking way that I have been in other events.  Most of my nerves now tend to come after a presentation.

Did I do okay?  How did they receive it?  Did I communicate how passionate I am and how interesting the idea is?

I’m still not sure the answer.  Ignite presentations are 5 minute long Powerpoint presentations with 20 slides each lasting 15 seconds.  In the moment it helps to get over fear of presenting.  There’s simply not enough time to be worried.  It’s afterwards that you have time to think about what you didn’t say and what you could have said better.

Thankfully, even though I was worried about the first time I’ve ever spoken in public about my knitted canvasses, I was distracted by the wonderful other speakers who came on.  It turns out, even when you’re having a rough day, hearing ideas from other people can help.  I hope that Friday night was only the beginning in a series of events where I get to speaker about my artwork while also listening to other great ideas.