The world works in mysterious ways, ya know? I had just recently published a blog posting where I said I was very interested in continuing to develop my skills as a keynote speaker, when the universe came knocking. I was invited to give the English keynote for the Amplifica conference this past weekend in Rio de Janeiro!
This is something that I have really enjoyed doing in the past, and also something that requires a fair amount of practice to get better at, so I was quick to say yes to the opportunity. The women who co-run Amplifica are Carla Arenas and Samara Brito and they are two of the most amazingly passionate and dedicate EdTech leaders you will ever meet! I knew that this was going to be a great event from the moment we started exchanging emails.
The topic of this years event was a broad one; Creativity and Innovation. While that gives you a lot to work with, I also struggled with it a lot when it came to writing the keynote. There are just too many ways you can explore this topic. I wrote several drafts of the keynote and none of them felt right. They felt preachy, dark and stiff and that is definitely not the vide at Amplifica. By perusing their vast social media output, it was crystal-clear that Amplifica teachers are about as fired-up and as outgoing as it gets. They don’t want some downer droning on for 45 minutes; they wants ideas and they want ACTION!
So I took it back to my roots as a classroom teacher and though it might be fun to explore innovation and creativity in a hands-on way; by testing out some frameworks and methodologies that can lead to a more innovative learning environment. I chose computational thinking, ideation and fast prototyping. And then I practiced, practiced, practiced.
The day of the event was great. I was feeding off the energy of the crowd all morning and was more and more excited to speak after lunch. There is still a healthy dose of nerves in the final 20 minutes before the keynote began, but unlike in my past, I could feel it being tempered by the confidence I had in my hard work leading up to the keynote.
And it all paid off! I was super happy with the results, tone and reception of the keynote. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, nor did I expect it to be on the first go. Part of the beauty of keynoting is seeing the message, delivery and impact evolve and grow with each time it is delivered.
I am so thankful to Carla and Samara for letting me be a part of their wonderful event, and giving me space and opportunity to continue to grow as a leader and speaker in the work that I do. And I am very happy to continue to spread this message of change through action to other educators around the globe!
It was an immense pleasure to have you with us, Dale, and I was sure that it was going to be a huge success from the moment we started exchanging email as well, for you asked questions that indicated that you were focused on the audience, their context and how to make the content a lively and engaging one, but still bringing depth and reflection to it. The feedback we got was great! I really hope that we can go on other collaborative endeavors together and help educators amplify their voices �� Having you at Amplifica Internacional was a huge pleasure for us.
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