The UFM Community Learning Center and the Manhattan Public Library hosted the second semiannual Talk20MHK event Thursday night, inviting six local speakers to give 20-slide presentations in just seven minutes on topics ranging from beekeeping to community involvement.
Local beekeeper Nikki Bowman, who will be teaching a class on beekeeping this Saturday at the UFM Community Learning Center, said it was challenging to condense such a broad topic down to a mere seven minutes.Related:
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“That was crazy for me,” Bowman said. “I can do that for three hours without notes.”
Similarly, community-driven entrepreneur Josh Hicks said the hardest part about giving a presentation in seven minutes is determining what to leave out.
“I wanted to tell a whole lot of stories, but I just had to get right to the point and figure out what the most important things were,” Hicks said. “Once I got that, it was a lot easier.”
Hicks said he chose to speak at Talk20MHK to encourage community involvement.
“I believe that communities thrive when there’s more people starting more things bringing everyone together,” Hicks said. “This platform was to maybe encourage other people and start more things, new things and bring more people together.”
Whitney Bandel, art instructor at Kansas State, spoke at the first Talk20MHK event last summer on electronic textiles and how art can be integrated into science, technology, engineering and math. This time around, she said she enjoyed being a part of the audience.Related:
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“I participated in that one, and now I’m trying to pay it forward by going and supporting the next ones,” Bandel said. “It’s also very nice to see what other people are talking about without the pressure of having to give a talk yourself.”
Bandel said she most enjoyed listening to the presentations on community and mindfulness.
“I really feel like they did a nice job of talking about community,” Bendel said. “Just being more in touch with either doing activities where you can go out into nature and you can just experience the world around you, or even just … being more mindful of your own life.”
Other presentation topics included landscapes, engineering and storytelling in film. For more information, visit the Talk20MHK Facebook page.
