Participating in the Niche and Kind Presentation Event: 'The I Can Talk About This Meeting'

The other day, I participated in a truly unique and fun event called the 'I Can Talk About This Meeting.' It is an event held by the FIRE CAFE community I belong to.

I felt the warm atmosphere of the venue as an audience member at the first meeting and enjoyed it so much that I took the plunge and participated as a speaker for the second and third meetings.

The motto: 'It doesn't have to resonate with anyone'

Usually, when giving a presentation in front of people, one is conscious of the impact on or contribution to the audience.

Gaining empathy, providing new insights, or offering useful information.

Being a speaker and presenting some kind of value to the audience is the standard way of doing a presentation, right?

However, speakers at the 'I Can Talk About This Meeting' are not required to provide any of those elements at all.

It is the exact opposite concept. The biggest motto of this meeting is, 'It doesn't have to resonate with anyone.'

To be selfish and just focus on presenting what you love and what you are obsessed with.

Everyone should have at least one thing they are good at or have a deep passion for.

It is an opportunity to talk about that without hesitation, and it is a very luxurious and wonderful concept for a venue.

The theme is free

The theme of the presentation is completely free.

Anything you want to talk about is fine. It is the perfect chance to open up drawers of knowledge and experience that you want to talk about to someone, but are too niche to bring up in casual conversation.

For example, themes like these are also OK.

・Things you are currently obsessed with
・Love for something that no one else understands
・Personal experiences where you were really glad you did something
・Behind-the-scenes stories from a previous workplace
・Investment success
・Failure experiences or theories
・The process of achieving FIRE
・Your own life story

At first glance, these themes seem scattered, but really, anything is fine.

If I list some of the presentation themes from the first to the third meetings:
・How to grow a lawn
・The joy of puzzles
・Love for Pokemon
・Supporting YOASOBI
・What is event part-time work?
・How to grow fruit trees
・Rescue cat activities, and so on.

I presented under the title 'Social Investor Activities' at the second meeting, and 'Note as a Hobby to Enrich Second Life' at the third meeting.

The 'Gentle Rules' That Make the Event Work

This event is built on a relationship of trust between the speaker and the audience. Because of this, very gentle rules have been established for both sides.

<Speaker Rules>
No need for a polished presentation:
Even though it's said that it doesn't have to resonate with anyone, every listener is full of curiosity.

Talk about what you love, as much as you like. Choose a presentation time of 5, 10, or 15 minutes, and stick to the allotted time.

<Listener Rules>
・Listen with respect:
Everyone listens with respect to the person who is happily talking about what they love.

・Bring your 'curiosity':
Bring an open mind to enjoy unknown worlds.

・Use it as a new catalyst:
Take someone's passionate talk as a positive catalyst to start something new or think about something new yourself.

What I realized after taking the stage

What I felt after actually participating as a speaker was the pure joy of outputting my own 'likes'.

Released from the pressure of having to be useful to someone, I just talked about what I wanted to talk about.

Then, strangely enough, the listeners also relaxed, sometimes leaning in, nodding with smiles as they listened.

The warm applause and sense of unity after finishing my talk had a comfort that is hard to experience in a normal presentation.

Receiving questions at the lunch party after the event is also a blissful joy. When I talked about volunteering at the second event, an astonishing amount of curiosity was directed at me in the form of questions.

There were also many people who wanted to try the activity. I was even able to receive donations.

The script for the day

I am posting the script I actually read during my 5-minute presentation at the 3rd 'I Can Talk About This' event here, also as a personal memo.

Presentation Title: 'note' as a Hobby to Enrich Your Second Life

1. Introduction: note is a 'hobby'

2. Stance: Freedom without anyone's coercion

3. Purpose: Activities to replace work and anti-aging

4. Mindset: A public diary for myself

5. Summary: A rich second life

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1. Introduction: note is a 'hobby'

Hello everyone. My name is Mako. I took early retirement in 2022 at the age of 56, and I am currently starting my second life to practice my own version of happiness.

I have given myself the title of 'Social Investor' and am enjoying a life centered around myself.

To enjoy that life, I will talk about 'note,' which I work on every day.

The platform called note is a place to write and publish articles.

If I were to describe my engagement with note in one word, it would be a 'hobby'.

Because it is a hobby, writing is not painful at all; in fact, every day is very enjoyable.

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2. Stance: Freedom without anyone's coercion

When it comes to work, there are requests from others and deadlines. Naturally, you produce output assuming it will be seen by bosses or colleagues, right?

I have heard that when posting on social media, people sometimes feel the pressure of 'having to update regularly'.

In my note, there is absolutely no sense of being chased by time or any coercion from anyone.

This is because it is 100 percent my own will, and I am doing it for myself.

If work is something you continue due to force or obligation, a hobby is something you continue because you like it.

After all, it is fun to write. My current reason for continuing is 'mental exercise'.

I currently write articles on a wide range of themes, including investment, daily essays, philosophies on the meaning of life, intellectual exploration, and behavioral psychology.

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3. Purpose: An activity to replace work and prevent aging

When I was on the front lines of business, I used my brain to its full capacity every day.

However, since retiring, I no longer use my brain in the same way I did back then.

In place of that unused brainpower, I now use my brain for writing on note.

Rather than thinking of something entirely new, it is more of a process of turning the thoughts already accumulated in my mind into text.

It feels like I am writing out the digital assets of my thoughts from within my brain.

Just as one accumulates financial assets in a securities company, I find it truly enjoyable to keep accumulating my thoughts on note.

I can quit whenever I get bored, so I continue it casually, but I have already been doing it for four full years and have written 800 articles.

This is a supremely fun hobby that I can continue for the rest of my life, and note is the perfect tool for verbalizing thoughts.

That is precisely why I am able to keep writing without getting bored.

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4. Mindset: A public diary for myself

And there is one more point as to why I have been able to continue.

I do not use it as social media, and I have absolutely no intention of 'showing it to someone' or 'increasing my followers'.

I am simply making my 'personal diary' public.

You might think, 'Then why not just write in a secret diary that no one can see?'

However, by intentionally choosing to make it 'public,' a slight sense of tension is created, which triggers a conscious effort to verbalize my thoughts more clearly.

That becomes the best kind of mental exercise. It is not about being read by 10,000 unspecified people, but the awareness that a few specific friends are reading it that creates the tension and motivates me.

I write because I want to write, not to be evaluated by anyone.

Because I maintain this stance, I am able to enjoy note from the bottom of my heart without any stress.

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5. Summary: A Rich Second Life

Spinning words for myself, by my own will.

As I reach the age of 60 and my body and mind begin to decline, I am happy to have found such a good hobby to help prevent aging.

The fact that I was able to publish a book with the help of Mr. Terasawa is also based on the results of writing on note.

Publishing a book in English is also an achievement made possible by the cooperation of Nazuna-san.

Since this is my second life, I realize that it is about taking on challenges regardless of age in order to meet a new version of myself, rather than just continuing as I have been.

That concludes my story about the 'things I can talk about' on note. Thank you for listening.