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In front of a full house, I gave my first talk to the general public about my relationship to photography. I put in 33 hours preparing the presentation and nine hours refining and rehearsing. It paid off; many questions were asked by audience members at the end, an invitation was extended to speak at another event and ten copies of my book were sold. I had a video crew present who will be combining last nights footage with footage they shot last of me last October. In the end I’ll have a great promo piece for the professional speaking portion of my business activities. One of the most gratifying aspects of the night was the presence of photographers from my generation who appreciated the look back. There were also a number of photography students present and it was a joy answering their questions.

An SECP is compelled to expand his or her boundaries. It’s a way to measure how we’re working to grow our businesses. We push with specific intentions to mesh with our overall growth plans. In my case I shoot, write, educate and speak publicly. Last night was my first attempt to see how well I could connect (and interact) with an audience that’s made up of the general public and not photography students or Photoshop students per se. The event was a success because 90% of them stayed for the two-hour program, I sold ten books, and I was invited to speak at another venue. The invitation to speak again is an important metric because I plan to speak at colleges across the country in the next year. I’m currently under contract with Wacom to be a presenter at this years ICON6 event here in Pasadena. I met several people today who are in education and who are potential candidates for my series of presentations. Wish me good fortune.