Hello crazy people, welcome back! In this project called Cray Cray Yay Yay (a very professional name), we dived into why it takes a “crazy” person to change the world.

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To launch into our project we started by defining what we as a group, deem crazy. This project was structured around the Apple Think Different campaign from 1997. The ad came to be known as the “Crazy Ones” because it highlights the innovators, misfits and the ones who think differently. It celebrates those who challenge and push boundaries despite criticism or doubt from others.

(Because of, this project, I am pretty sure I can recite the whole campaign by heart)

Our definition of crazy is not to be confused with what might first come to mind, something or someone that is strange and weird. What crazy means to us is someone who isn’t afraid to be their authentic selves, pursues unique ideas and thinks outside the box.

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Now that we had defined crazy we were each tasked with doing a mini-presentation. The presentation was about the crazy people of the world. This was to prepare ourselves for our final project which was a Pecha Kucha presentation. You are probably wondering what the heck a Pecha Kucha is because I know I was. A Pecha Kucha is a presentation that is 20×20 which means 20 slides and each auto-advance after 20 seconds. On the slides there should be no words, only images that enhance your story but not control it.

Once I understood what a Pecha Kucha was, I began to like the presentation style more and more. It gives me some structure to how I should lay out my presentation. Our first Pecha Kucha was a mini one so it was only 10 slides but each where still 20 seconds. I did mine on Lucille Ball who was an American actress and comedian! I learned that she was a trailblazer in the entertainment industry and she revolutionized TV filming. She shattered the glass ceiling and used her platform to challenge societies norms!

(source)

I was nervous to present my Pecha Kucha since as you all know by now, I don’t like public speaking. But I surprised myself!! I think I did well for the first time and my friends thought so too, that was a nice start to the project.

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At this point we understood how a Pecha Kucha works, so we were ready to start diving into our actual presentation. Our final presentations were going to be in front of a live audience (a.k.a parents and friends). But there are 30+ people in my PLP 10 class and 30 presentations would be a lot for our parents to sit through. So instead we got split up into 9 groups:

I was with Daniel, Jessie and Silas and our Pecha Kucha was on Urban Transformation. To better understand our topics most of my class went to Seattle to experience and learn about crazy people, businesses and places firsthand. This also allowed them to take photos of places so our Pecha Kucha’s would be fully done by us because we wouldn’t need images from the internet. Sadly, I stayed home with 6 other students including my friends Susan and Brooke. At home we learned more about local crazy people like Rosemary Brown who I wrote about!

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When everyone came back, we jumped right back into crafting our Pecha Kucha’s. My group was focusing on how cities should look like and improve for the future. Our examples to back up our point were the Museum of Pop Culture, The Climate Pledge Arena, and Boeing.

For our presentation we divided it up so we each had 5 slides that we were going to present. I was mainly focusing on The Climate Pledge Arena. I struggled a bit to get started with my slides because I didn’t know how to word them so they flowed smoothly and related to our point. But eventually everything started sliding into place and it all fit together. Everyone in my group stayed on top of what they were supposed to do so we were able to make a pretty solid script and slide deck.

Now came the fun part, practicing!

To make sure we didn’t crash and burn on the day of we had multiple little run-throughs and got some valuable feedback from our peers.

My key takeaways were to make sure to look at the person talking, don’t sway when I speak, practice our timing and make sure to not say Uhm! Whenever I am speaking I never notice if I do those things, I especially can’t tell if I am swaying or not.

It was finally time to present our Pecha Kucha’s, all our work had led up to this. I am always a little bit nervous before presenting but this time I had the confidence that I would be able to deliver my slides. My group was the very first one presenting so it was our duty to do amazing, and that is exactly what we did. Our timing was on point, we projected our voices and there were very few uh’s and um’s. I messed up a few times but it wasn’t about memorizing the script. Plus no one can tell and I was told I did good getting back on track. PLP has allowed me to get better at using my voice and speaking in front of audiences. It has given me the time and opportunities to keep improving.

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So why does it take a crazy person to change the world?

The crazy people are the ones who think differently, challenge the status quo, and are willing to take risks that others might not. They often have unconventional ideas and the courage to pursue them despite criticism or doubt from others. Crazy in the context of my group are the places that stand out from traditional buildings. In order to push cities towards we need buildings like the MoPop that bring unique inspiration and intiatives like the Climate Pledege Arena to set examples for others to follow. These efforts help us promote more sustainable development and better equip our cities for the future. They are the people who push the world forwards.