Stewart Brand is one long-term cool individual.  He was associated with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, he founded The Whole Earth Catalog, and he wrote one of the most interesting books on buildings ever written:  How Buildings Learn.  That last one will change the way you think about habitable space.  If you haven’t read it, you should before you buy a house to live in.   

So we’re talking about someone who has been around a long time in human terms and who has a deep perspective on the way humans live on the planet. 

Currently, he’s working with an organization that encourages really long views.  For example, he’s working on a project that’s trying to develop and find a home for a 10,000-year clock.  That’s a hundred centuries. 

Where do you locate something like that?  It has to be a place that will withstand an enormous amount of change, to say the least.  Brand manages to make the quest for a good home for the clock a story about stories – specifically the 7 stages of the mythic adventure:  http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/stewart_brand_on_the_long_now.html. 

First, he says, you have to get an image of the goal in your mind.  Then, you need a good jumping off point.  Third, you must go through a labyrinth.  Fourth, you need a beacon – something to help you find the goal.  Fifth, you need a payoff – and a secret, unexpected payoff.  Sixth, you need to return, and last, you need a memento of your journey.

He quite seriously investigates a remote mountain range in Nevada for all these properties.  Most of it matches pretty well. 

It’s a very entertaining subject.  Unfortunately, it’s delivered in an amateurish way. 

Brand’s talk beautifully illustrates the danger of speaking on the fly.  He clearly wrote the talk shortly before he was to deliver it.  The result is that a normally confident, engaging speaker is tied to notes, too many slides, and a podium that gets between him and his audience. 

He spends too much time with his head in his notes, or figuring out which slide comes next.  The talk itself needs editing and tightening.  The organizing principal of the 7 stages of a mythic adventure doesn’t quite allow him to cover everything he wants to cover, so he wanders off into the other areas, undercutting the inherent strength of the core of the talk. 

It’s too bad; it’s like watching a famous musician learn a new piece, with all the mistakes and hesitations all-too-clearly visible. 

What separates the mediocre and the excellent in public speaking?  Practice.