Speaking on Stage to 600 people

What a week building up to one of the biggest days of my life. The week was spent finalising roller banners, finishing off the bookmarks, organising the delivery of my books and sending off several emails for potential new business.

This weekend started its life 2 years ago when I spoke at a Rotary Club and they enjoyed the talk and suggested that I would be good as a speaker at the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Rotary Conference held in Southport in the North West.

Interest shown

A few months after that the District Conference director turned up at another Rotary club I was speaking at to see me speak and agreed that they would put me through to the committee to consider me as one of the keynote speakers at the conference.

I8 months later the weekend appears and here I am sitting in a tea shop in Southport having delivered my 20 minute talk to an audience of 600 Rotarians and their partners. The talk was very well received by an appreciative audience. I was wearing two mikes one provided in the form of a headset and one which was provided by my video guys who had travelled and stayed overnight to film me.

It fascinates me every time I step up to a new level that the techniques I teach on confidence really do work. When I was an 18 year old student in Tech College I couldn’t introduce a professor to 4 students sat round a table because I was too nervous. My hands were sweating, my heart was thumping and I couldn’t think straight. I bottled it and he had to introduce himself.

Inner Voice

But this time my Inner Voice was positive and remained positive; and I had already Visualised myself up on stage speaking well and enjoying it. But you never know until you step up to the plate whether you will perform well or not. Its live action and anything can happen – there was the possibility that I could bottle it but I didn’t allow any negative voices to enter my head. The largest number of people I have ever spoken to up to this event has been 280 so this was another step up.

The venue itself was a real live theatre with a grand stage and tiered seating. I could imagine all the actors and singers who had performed on this very stage as I waited in the wings to be introduced. This was a surreal moment and one I couldn’t pull out of. I observed that I wasn’t nervous even at the point where I was being introduced.

Staying Calm

I checked that I had my basketball with me, my head mike was switched on and that I had the right remote to control the slides. My name was announced and I walked forward into the spotlights and the large stage. I started talking and remained calm during the 20 minute talk and the technology behaved itself.

This was the first time I have experienced not being able to see the audience when I was stood in certain positions on the stage and this interested me. Julie had given me some sound advice regarding not speaking too quickly, and this came to mind several times during the talk so I slowed down.I received many comments of congratulations and this now gives me a new platform to work from to gain even larger audiences. The video guys also got a few people at the end to comment on what they thought of my talk which will go on my website and YouTube.

Confidence Techniques

I have developed the techniques for confidence over the years and now share these in my one to one executive coaching sessions and my Confidence workshops which you can find here https://www.jdmindcoach.com/training/confidence-building

The video itself will be used on my website and I will split it up and post it on You Tube as well. What I have learned from this is the importance of the pipeline and taking action. I have spoken to many Rotary clubs free of charge over the past two years and sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the late nights these involve.

Be Patient

But now I see the payoff you can receive when you put the work in and do things to help people. The Law of Attraction states what you send out you get back so when you do some good for someone it comes back to you in some way.

I have learned that you need to be patient with the marketing you do and don’t expect results straight away. But if you keep working hard and working on new leads, things will eventually work out – you just have to keep going!

Action for the week

1. Have a think about what you doing to generate new business
2. If you are thinking about giving up on something, think hard about the possible outcomes if you keep going
3. All the great achievers have made it just after they thought it was all over but they gave it one more go
4. If you find yourself thinking negatively about something then reframe your thinking and think of something good in your life
5. Work hard on the right stuff and don’t give up and you will be amazed at what you can achieve

Have a great weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John