It happens almost every time. You start to look around, slowly realizing your attention that was once captured has started to vanish. Your eyes begin to glaze over as you feel your chest start to rise and mouth open to release the first of many, teary-eyed yawns.
So we’ve all been there, sitting through yet another mandatory welcome lecture of some sorts. And whether it’s been for school or work, they all seem to start the same with a dazzled sense of excitement, and perhaps curiosity and then spiral down madly into monotonous, drawn out chatter that’s more repetitive than helpful.
We get it. It’s not very likely that a speaker can captivate their audience’s attention long enough to charm from start to finish, but one very eager and might I add creative Georgia Tech Student chose to color outside of the lines with his explosive welcome speech.
Sophomore Medical Engineering student, Nicholas Selby welcomed an incoming Freshman class at Georgia Tech’s Convocation with a speech so epic, it had it’s own theatrical, crescendoing background music. (The music was from 2001: A Space Odyssey just to forewarn you of the greatness ahead.)
Selby, is actively involved at Georgia Tech including co-leading a team that builds and races solar powered cars.
The video of the speech on Youtube already has over 1 million views along with a trail of entertaining comments. One of the comments even went on to say that the idea was borrowed from a previous professor. Either way, the dude had some courage to go on with such a speech.
Another Youtube user commented, “Just saw this young man on Cavuto & I predict he has a great future ahead. When you think about what’s going on in this country today, Nick is truly an inspiration.”
Regardless of the comment reactions, let’s hope that Selby’s motivational masterpiece will influence speakers from here on out to take a risk and try something a little out of the ordinary.