No one can do you better than you

Interesting fact – more people are afraid of public speaking then they are of death.

I managed to survive last nights expert talk and the final question in Q&A time was for presentation tips! That was where I confessed that I hadn’t done a public speaking event for 5 years and was a bit of a nervous wreck beforehand.

A few things really helped me though:

1. Coming from a place of giving rather than trying to impress with knowledge. That really helped narrow down my content and not throw random bits in that might appear “cool”

2. Being “authentically” me. Cause no one can do you better than you, and it's tiring putting on a persona.

3. Being vulnerable and telling lots of real honest stories. I was getting quite stressed out by the number of coaches and respected agilists that were RSVP’ing to the event, and just going back to sharing my own personal experiences made it easier. In terms of finding stories to talk about the following quote from Lisa Nicholls really resonated with me:

"Life's gifts often come wrapped in sandpaper”

4. Trying to keep it active. The talk was an hour long and I warned the audience at the start that there was going to be a quiz at the end. I think that kept them more attentive and engaged through the talk. We then gave away some small token prizes. I used Kahoot, but there are lots of other options out there.

So there you go. I wish you all the best in any public speaking events you have coming up and don’t forget: