On or about this date in 2013, I was asked to speak at a banquet honoring a gentleman named Ken Bussart, pictured in a wheelchair, along with my wife, Dawn, and me. This was different, though. The address would be recorded on video played at the banquet in Ken’s honor. For me, it was a new experience. In court, I delivered opening and closing arguments essentially without notes.
For this, I wanted notes and wrote out my comments. When I arrived for the taping, I sat in the open sitting on a tall chair similar to a barstool. The problem was immediately apparent—I would be sitting and reading. The optics wouldn’t be great; worst of all, I’d be sitting in the audience, watching it. Not only that, but I thought it would be posted on YouTube. What should have been heartfelt would instead be preserved forever as me looking like a sixth-grader reading a book report to my class.
It’s not on YouTube, though I wish it were. I tried to get a copy for years but couldn’t. What follows is from my Facebook Memories today. For whatever reason, it won’t share. Following is the original writing.
I took part in a video today, which may or may not be on YouTube. The logo was added just to catch your attention. I’ve been interviewed for television news, been a guest on some radio shows over the years, including hosting, and have done two or three training videos in the past. So, a question-and-answer format is easy to do.
What I found odd about this one was that I asked the woman if she would ask me questions or if I was supposed to speak off the top of my head about the subject. It’s for an awards banquet, so I can’t go into that aspect now, but she asked if I knew what the award was all about. I knew a little, but not enough. She said she would read what the award was about, and we could use that as a starting point.
So she did and said she wanted to know how it related to the person being honored. It was nice of her to read me the full award description in advance. So, just by way of chat, I told her. She listened, asked questions, I’d tell her some more. Finally, she said that it sounded good or great; however, she worded it. I said thanks and told her I wasn’t sure I could do that again because, really, I didn’t know if I’d remember what I had just said since it wasn’t rehearsed. I thought it was a good practice run, though. Plus, I had some notes as an outline.
But no, the camera had been running while I was chatting with her about the award and what I thought I would say once we started. We were done except for a final few words while I looked directly at the camera. And I’ll probably look fat to boot!