The Week of Power Point and Transcription

Now that I have a goal to work towards, Fedor Wu of Wild at Heart, began arranging opportunities for me to talk about Patagonia and 1% For The Planet. This is a very strange concept for me because I have never enjoyed public speaking, in fact, I have always dreaded it. Oh well, one is never too old to try something new.

Fedor had two meetings lined up for next week, one at the Himalayan Foundation and the other at Green Formosa Front; both are non-governmental organizations. Himalayan Foundation focuses on issues relating to corporate social responsibility while Green Formosa Front battles corporate polluters through legal means. He suggested that the best way to convey the message is probably through a Power Point presentation and he would take care of the translation part.

It had been quite a while since I have had the need to use Power Point so I was excited to have this opportunity to refresh my skills. The tricky part will be to do so with Windows Vista. While the format is attractive, it took some adapting.

Later in the week, Robin asked me to work on the transcription for a video of the first Global Greens Conference took place in Canberra, Australia in 2001. Piece of cake I thought, but no cigar.

There were more than 800 attendees from Green Parties around the world, over 70 countries, so I had to contend with varied English abilities and accents. I marked the time when each speaker began and transcribed what they said in English. Since the information had to be translated, I tried to pause every 15 seconds or so, to allow for Chinese characters to fill in.

Despite the challenging task, I appreciated the heartfelt messages to save the environment, especially the one from a New Zealand teenager. Hers was an inspirational call for the young people to take action for their future depended on it, quite literally.