Public speaking is a scary thing for most of us and I was no different. I truly hated standing up and talking in front of a room for most of my life. In late 2016 I resolved to change all that and for the past year I have been getting out of my comfort zone and going against the natural grain. A recent chat at a 4N networking meeting led to me sharing my experiences which in turn led to a guest blog opportunity with The Rainmakers Club and the subject of a new topic for my public speaking armoury.
The final article is a pretty good recollection of my year with a few exceptions. It overlooks the wonderful speaking day I spent with Jamie Denyer (known as “The Grief Preacher”) and the many self-development events – including at least one devoted to public speaking – with the one and only Taz Thornton. These two fantastic people contributed a great deal towards getting me where I am in my journey to date for which I thank them wholeheartedly. However, my very first experience of proactive speaking help was via a Dee Clayton video about elevator pitches when I was really quaking about doing a simple 40 second introduction when I began networking in earnest with 4N in August 2016. So a big thank you also to Dee.