a few years ago, I was asked by the faculty at MICA to supply data for a class in the Data Vizualization graduate program, and if I could sit in and help with critique for a few of the classes. I’ve done it for two semesters now, and one of the students in the last cohort got in touch with me after the final class and asked if I’d come and give her students at the Yale School of Management a presentation on how WRI uses data visualization. That sure sounded like fun, so I immediately agreed.

I’ve spent the last week or so working on the deck and my delivery, and I had it down pretty good by the time I had to board the train to New Haven. They paid for my ticket and a hotel room, which was very nice of them, and after checking in and doing a final runthrough I took an Uber to the shiny School of Management building for my big show. After some technical challenges with the room A/V setup—my work laptop would not connect, but luckily I had my personal machine with me, and that played nice—I went  through my deck and our work successfully. The students seemed to respond well to it, and there were more than a few who were from the School of Environment, so I had some good questions to answer at the end.

From there, they took me out for a delicious Italian dinner, and a few more faculty from the Urban Studies program joined us, where I learned they are working with WRI on a project I’m involved with. The conversation was far-ranging and very interesting—I was worried we’d only talk shop, but the topics went from the environment to architecture to personal histories to where the best thrift stores are (I said Austin; one of the students suggested London).

This morning I woke to sunshine coming through the window. I got a coffee and a muffin at a crunchy cafe down the street and walked back over to the campus to meet one of the Urban Studies folks I met last night. I was there to look at a room in the Sterling Library where WRI will be exhibiting an installation featuring five years of the WRI Ross Prize. I’d been in the fancy new Management building on Wednesday, but the Library was like I was walking through a Harry Potter set. With my reconnaisance done, I got a car back to the train station and headed back home.

I was nervous going into it, but I think seven years of teaching and other opportunities I’ve had to do public speaking have gone a long way to making it easier to do. As a kid, I never thought I’d be doing this kind of stuff, but I find it a fun challenge, and I have to say, I kind of enjoy it.