I had the honour and privilege of being invited to speak at The Chaos Asia at Neverland II with Dixii and had the most amazing and humbling experience meeting lots of interesting people and learning a lot about giving an impactful pitch.
When I have been only a teacher most parts of my life, I love talking to and interacting with young impressionable youths. You can talk to them impassioned about making positive change to the world and in turn, their eyes will sparkle right back fueling you to go on. So I thought talking to adults would be right the same but when I wasn’t getting the feedback I usually do with youths, after sharing a story close to my heart about an encounter with a beautiful juvenile whale shark to start my 180 seconds pitch, I think I lost my composure a little (coupled with the technical failures at hand) and actually told the audience there and then that sorry I am blacking out right now…well done. And hence the humbling experience. Nevertheless, I was touched when someone came up to me on day 2 telling me that They saw my eyes dazzled with such brilliance when I was sharing about the whale shark experience, that they had to take cover form the brightness (yes, a little extreme, but still encouraging.)
Nevertheless, I was truly inspired by Hayk Hakoban’s pitch about the evolution of life (the only one that stuck other than dear buddy and fantastic photographer, Wei Yuet’s one of course) although it hurt a little that he did not remember me at all when I approached him but oh well, just happy to get to share with him that hey, I really liked your pitch, it was different. 🙂
Thank you, Noritaka, for pulling off such an amazing and indie event without any sponsorship and going out on a leg for a dream. You have inspired me with your innocent passion and sincere and candid ways when speaking to the crowd. I respect the fact that you believed in getting a bunch of 88 presenters of innovation together, and practiced due diligence in getting the right speakers. You and your team have definitely left me with a lesson to learn about being fired up and just going against all odds when you want to make something work, indeed.
I am blessed to have met many other amazing people through The Chaos Asia too and may like minded people form strong communities that can leave a positive impact to a world in need. 🙂
