Total Disaster Leads to Lessons Learned
The General Manager of the hotel introduced me to the employees, and as he exited the stage, handed me the mic. There I was, staring at the 700 eyes staring back at me. My hands were shaking. My mouth was dry and my heart was pounding beneath my black business suit. I stumbled in my heels as I stared at the massive silver chandeliers in the ballroom, searching for inspiration. I opened my mouth to talk and all the audience could hear was my breathing. No words, just breath.
It was a quarterly All-Employee Meeting and after everyone ate their tiny appetizers and we found out who won Manager of the Quarter, I was on the stage to explain Open Enrollment, the time of year that employees could make changes to their health benefits. I had five points to talk about. I remembered two.
Open Enrollment is a time when Employees can make changes to their benefits. If you need to select a new plan or if you want to change carriers, you can.
Come see me if you have any questions.
There. That was what I told them. I didn’t mention the great benefits the Company offered. I didn’t talk about the benefits broker who would be meeting with employees to answer their questions. I didn’t inform them that the deadline to make changes was the end of the month. None of that. Just to come see me if they had any questions. I was certain employees had a lot of questions when I was done.
As soon as I finished saying my two lines, I dropped the microphone which emitted a high-pitched screech followed by an audible thud. I ran to the bathroom to splash water on my face, catch my breath, and decide if I was going to quit my job. My first attempt at public speaking was a disaster. I had made notes of what I had to talk about, but my ego didn’t think I needed to refer to them, so my first public speaking engagement was a disaster.
Instead of quitting my job, I took another deep breath, walked down the long corridor to my office, and decided to do better. I planned to attend pre-shift meetings to talk to all of the departments about Open Enrollment. I created a monthly newsletter to distribute to employees and the first newsletter was dedicated to Open Enrollment. And I signed up for more speaking engagements, inside and outside of work. I was going to do better.
I started to attend more speaking engagements to see how others did it. I raised my hand at work when they needed a facilitator for a leadership workshop. Years later, I joined a new company and they sent me to a week-long Group Training Certification course in which I learned how to create informative, interesting presentations and facilitate effective workshops. At the end of the week, each participant presented their own hour-long workshop on a topic of their choice. I accepted all of the feedback I received that week and was going to do better by incorporating all of the information I learned into my group presentation. .It was a successful week that built my confidence to speak in public.
After I took that course, I signed up to facilitate more workshops. When my local HR Association chapter asked for panel speakers, I raised my hand. When they asked me to present to 100 people on HR trends for that year, I said yes. I was going to become a better speaker.
Since then, I have been presenting to local chapters of organizations I want to help. Recently, a statewide organization selected me to conduct a workshop during their annual conference. Virtually. I had never facilitated a virtual talk before. This was definitely new for me. During live engagements, I interact with my audience quite a bit. I can read people’s interest and adapt my presentation based upon their eye contact and body language. With the virtual conference, no one answered when I asked questions. Most of the attendees were off camera, so I couldn’t read their body language. It was definitely different. I vowed to do better for my next virtual conference.
I have even signed up to guest on podcasts (hosted nationally!) and been submitting applications for national speaking engagements. I am doing better.
Recently, I was awarded a grant and I had to go up on stage to thank the organization and receive my grant. 200 eyes were staring at me. I didn’t flinch as I thanked the organization and told a bit of my story. I even remembered my notes to refer to as I spoke. A few days later, I received a video message from one of the attendees. She thanked me for sharing my story as an inspiration to women everywhere. I have done better.
Thinking back to the first time I spoke in front of hundreds of people, I think about the lessons I’ve learned and how I improved upon that first experience. It took humility for me to realize that I didn’t know anything about public speaking. It took courage to ask people for their help and their feedback. I realized that we can learn libraries full of knowledge if we’re willing to ask for help and accept help. As I learned from others, I built confidence by talking to more people, learning from them, and building relationships. My heart still pounds and my mouth is still dry and I have my breathing ritual before I take the stage, but I am better prepared now.
