Two years ago, I was asked to come play music and speak at the chapel of a private Christian school in Birmingham, AL. Normally I would have had a loud rock band with me, but on this particular day it was just me and my piano. I thought it would be like a cool, unplugged experience for fans of the band. I planned on playing several songs and speaking briefly before the last one.
I arrived to find that only one person in the school, the person responsible for booking me, had any clue about me or my music. After the first couple of songs, I was met with blank stares and yawns. I decided to scrap the songs and just talk to the young, impressionable scholars. The only problem is that I had not prepared anything to say to them. I started talking off the top of my head, jumping from one noble theme to another. At one point I was trying to communicate the importance of not treating other people badly in order to get what we want. In the middle of my unscripted rant, I noticed a mixture of giggling from students and shocked looks from teachers. My wife informed me later that what I had said was, “Some people just screw everybody to get what they want.” Lesson: Know your audience and know what in the world you’re going to say.
Mark Nicks
Cool Hand Luke
