February 11, 2004
Ursuline Academy's Lions Roar
Today I gave a speech at Ursuline Academy(UA). My wife Kathy graduated from UA years ago. My oldest daughter also graduated from this great institution two years ago and two years from now my youngest daughter will hopefully attend UA.
The teacher who moderates the school newspaper asked me to speak to the group of young women who produce the UA school newspaper. I was flattered.
During the first few minutes of my speech, I asked the group to ponder for a few moments and think of things they would like me to talk about. "I can talk here for hours even though I only have 45 minutes. I want you to leave with information that is important to you," I said. Several minutes later one young lady raised her hand and said, "What impact has the Internet made on writers and what will it do in the future?" She actually stole my thunder as I was segwaying into how the Internet turns writers into instant publishers.
One thing led to another and I asked these energetic and attentive students about blogs and wouldn't you know it that 50% knew about them and I believe 4 out of 30 had their own. I congratulated these forward thinkers.
I then tried to motivate the rest into action by saying, "Take out a piece of paper and write this down: www.simpleurl.com. Go there as soon as you get home and buy your actual name. You must get this undeveloped piece of real estate on the Internet. Later you can decide what to do with it."
A URL is just that - a piece of real estate in the vast Internet. One of the young women in that room today might turn out to be one of the best writers of the century. If she buys her name tonight, she will have staked a claim that could yield enormous riches in the future.
What? You haven't driven your stake into the virtual ground yet.....?
Posted by Tim Carter at February 11, 2004 8:49 PM
