I'll be talking to Roosevelt High School seniors about my new book Stranded in a Snowstorm.

It drops Nov. 11, 2014. Oh, how I love that I have something that is dropping.

When I present to groups, my favorite method is that of engagement.

I like to make my points with help from the audience. As one of my favorite teachers likes to say, "If you aren't going to engage the audience, make a video and put it on Youtube."

Engagement is the key.

So, I'll start with a question. Which question I ask is informed first by the material I'm presenting, second by the type of group, and always by some old radio wisdom that tells us to 'Invite everyone to play.' I want the question to be one that everyone wants to, or at least, can answer. If you listen to me at about 8:35 a.m. each weekday morning, you are familiar with the Impossible Question. Have you ever noticed how I ask questions that are so easy it's kind of the opposite of impossible? That's because I want everyone to play.

It's the same with live presentations. I want everyone to engage. My first question will be this.

Who has a place on the Earth that is very special to them?

After I ask that, I will acknowledge whoever put their hand up first, and explore with them where that place is, what it means to them, and why. I have to be ready with follow up questions so that I can continue to use engagement to arrive at learning--for me and them.

Where is it? What do you like about it? Can you describe it? What features does it have? What do you do there?

After I acknowledge the first person, and continue to engage with them, the rest of the crowd will want to share, and if I wanted to, I could spend the rest of the 35 minutes just engaging on this one topic. We'll move on, though.

As I take these answers I will guide them to the point of my books--gratitude. In one way or another, when we are at our favorite place on the Earth, we feel gratitude, and it is my goal to have my books spread the message of gratitude. I seek to help everyone realize that we should protect the Earth, make good, environmentally conscious decisions, not because of fear, but because we are so grateful to have our feet on solid ground where there is air to breathe, water to drink, and a sun to shine.

I'll use engagement to arrive at the point of my mission, which is to foster love and respect for our amazing planet. There are so many people who are trying to scare us into protecting it. I believe that if we have a palpable sense of gratitude, and an understanding of how lucky we are to be here, we'd have much less of a problem with things like global warming, water supplies, and other environmental issues.

That's why my books don't use fear as a tactic of spreading green messages. Fear shouldn't be necessary, and as our former President said,

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

After that, I tackle imagination, and will turn to more of a trivia style format to get to the next point I'll make.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Who said it? That's my next question. It was Albert Einstein. I can't wait to be the guy who goes into a school, a place that is filled with tests and grades and homework, and tell them to just let their minds wander, dreaming of all the things they want to do, all the things they can do.

James Cameron. What did he do? And when he gave his Ted Talk, what did he say were the two most important things in his becoming one of the most successful people of all time?

Through these questions, I am seeking to relate not only what I consider to be the most important assets in my quiver, the tools I've always used to continue my creative journey, but also why I believe they are so important. I believe they are so important because they seemed to have always served me to bring me to where I am in my life, and because these geniuses say they are important.

For James Cameron, as you can see and hear at 15:43 in this video, the most important things he's used in his career have been curiosity and imagination. I feel the same way, and obviously am nowhere near as successful as James Cameron, but as he says a few seconds later,

Don't put limits on yourself, other people will do that for you, don't do it to yourself.

At some point, I may play them a song. It would be my song, one I made up, because I was curious enough to learn to play guitar 20 years ago, and because my imagination never quits.

It's called Water. It's in my story, and a free download comes with every book. In fact, if you like it, take it, and listen to it as much as you want.

You can download that song here.

Steve Jobs' 1994 interview has been making the rounds on Youtube. I've been all over the parts where he talks about asking for help and not fearing failure. He gave these interviews after he'd changed the computer industry, but before he transformed the world with his advances with the phone and revolutionary shift of the music industry.

Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right.

Who said it? That's right Henry Ford. I'll conclude by saying that I am publishing a book that I hope will inspire people to enjoy the world a little more, feel the incredible feeling of gratitude, and make protecting our planet a priority because they feel they should do it for something they love, because Henry Ford told me that if I think I can, I'm right.

 

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