Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Today was full of excitement. It was our holiday Femtor meeting at one of the business networking groups I belong to. Our five-minute Femtor talks are designed for our members to share their bits of wisdom with our group. We usually have one Femtor speak each month. For December, four women were selected in a drawing to speak for five minutes. I was gifted ten minutes to present and was the fifth Femtor.
I woke up this morning resigned to the fact I would be reading my speech from my script and decided it would still be as well received as if I had managed to memorize it. My older daughter put some makeup on my face and tried to give my very short hair a mini mohawk. I had time to listen to my recorded speech one more time before I left the house. I put on my jacket and hat, crushed the mini mohawk with my hat, and rolled to the bus stop.
As I waited for my bus, it occurred to me I had left my house half an hour earlier than necessary. I have become accustomed to catching the 8:37 bus for my medical appointments and I remembered about one minute before the bus got to my stop that I wanted to be on the 9:07 bus. Oops, that is what happens when you get preoccupied by a speech that is not progressing as you hope. I boarded the 8:37 bus knowing I would need to wait half an hour between my second and third bus.
Sure enough, as I rolled off the ramp of my second bus, bus number three left the bus stop across the street and I would definitely be waiting for the next bus. Since it was still quite chilly, I rolled two blocks to 7-eleven and got a hot chocolate to keep me warm while waiting. I parked in a sunny spot and took advantage of the fact no one else was at the bus stop to rehearse my presentation out loud.
Something odd happened. Who knew hot chocolate was a brain booster? I recalled the entire speech without looking at my notes. I delivered a nearly perfect presentation to absolutely no one. Why was everybody not at that bus stop right then when I was in the zone? This morning at 8:30 my brain could not process my speech. At 9:45 my brain nailed it. Will my brain get it right again three hours later?
I was feeling pretty good about delivering my presentation by the time I arrived at my event at 10:45. I had planned to find a space and practice my speech until it was my turn to speak. No socialization for me today. I was feeling so confident in my presentation by this time that I did not feel the need to practice anymore. I visited the table vendors and chatted with my friends. I relaxed instead of stressing about my presentation.
I did not write a sad speech; however, the speech is about me dealing with dying. I have several funny lines in the presentation, and I do not think it would make someone who does not know me cry. My intent is to inspire people with my words. I presented to approximately 80 people and I have been friends with more than half of them for many years. I was concerned several of my friends might cry because they love me, not because my talk was sad. I was also concerned seeing them cry might cause me to cry and I am not ready to admit I am human yet.
At 1:00 ish, when it was my turn, I finally took off my jacket and hat (I was still cold). A friend tried to revive my mini mohawk, but it was not very noticeable. I took off my glasses so I would not see anyone’s face clearly. I was feeling so cocky about delivering my presentation, I left my script sitting on the table. I had this!
Fortunately, I did have this. I delivered a nearly flawless presentation. All those carefully crafted words flowed out of my mouth almost exactly as I wrote them. There was laughter; there were tears. I did not see the tears because my glasses were left at my table, however I could hear sniffing in the room as my talk progressed. People I do not know told me they appreciated my speech, so I believe I accomplished my goal.
My piece of advice to you is to work your plan. Yesterday I wrote about how confident I was my presentation would be an epic failure. Today I am running victory laps (in my head). I kept practicing until I felt I had it right and I am very glad our event was not yesterday.
Until next time,
Susanne
P.S. (written 2-19-2020) Check out the video recording here to decide how I did for yourself.
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Today was full of excitement. It was our holiday Femtor meeting at one of the business networking groups I belong to. Our five-minute Femtor talks are designed for our members to share their bits of wisdom with our group. We usually have one Femtor speak each month. For December, four women were selected in a drawing to speak for five minutes. I was gifted ten minutes to present and was the fifth Femtor.
I woke up this morning resigned to the fact I would be reading my speech from my script and decided it would still be as well received as if I had managed to memorize it. My older daughter put some makeup on my face and tried to give my very short hair a mini mohawk. I had time to listen to my recorded speech one more time before I left the house. I put on my jacket and hat, crushed the mini mohawk with my hat, and rolled to the bus stop.
As I waited for my bus, it occurred to me I had left my house half an hour earlier than necessary. I have become accustomed to catching the 8:37 bus for my medical appointments and I remembered about one minute before the bus got to my stop that I wanted to be on the 9:07 bus. Oops, that is what happens when you get preoccupied by a speech that is not progressing as you hope. I boarded the 8:37 bus knowing I would need to wait half an hour between my second and third bus.
Sure enough, as I rolled off the ramp of my second bus, bus number three left the bus stop across the street and I would definitely be waiting for the next bus. Since it was still quite chilly, I rolled two blocks to 7-eleven and got a hot chocolate to keep me warm while waiting. I parked in a sunny spot and took advantage of the fact no one else was at the bus stop to rehearse my presentation out loud.
Something odd happened. Who knew hot chocolate was a brain booster? I recalled the entire speech without looking at my notes. I delivered a nearly perfect presentation to absolutely no one. Why was everybody not at that bus stop right then when I was in the zone? This morning at 8:30 my brain could not process my speech. At 9:45 my brain nailed it. Will my brain get it right again three hours later?
I was feeling pretty good about delivering my presentation by the time I arrived at my event at 10:45. I had planned to find a space and practice my speech until it was my turn to speak. No socialization for me today. I was feeling so confident in my presentation by this time that I did not feel the need to practice anymore. I visited the table vendors and chatted with my friends. I relaxed instead of stressing about my presentation.
I did not write a sad speech; however, the speech is about me dealing with dying. I have several funny lines in the presentation, and I do not think it would make someone who does not know me cry. My intent is to inspire people with my words. I presented to approximately 80 people and I have been friends with more than half of them for many years. I was concerned several of my friends might cry because they love me, not because my talk was sad. I was also concerned seeing them cry might cause me to cry and I am not ready to admit I am human yet.
At 1:00 ish, when it was my turn, I finally took off my jacket and hat (I was still cold). A friend tried to revive my mini mohawk, but it was not very noticeable. I took off my glasses so I would not see anyone’s face clearly. I was feeling so cocky about delivering my presentation, I left my script sitting on the table. I had this!
Fortunately, I did have this. I delivered a nearly flawless presentation. All those carefully crafted words flowed out of my mouth almost exactly as I wrote them. There was laughter; there were tears. I did not see the tears because my glasses were left at my table, however I could hear sniffing in the room as my talk progressed. People I do not know told me they appreciated my speech, so I believe I accomplished my goal.
My piece of advice to you is to work your plan. Yesterday I wrote about how confident I was my presentation would be an epic failure. Today I am running victory laps (in my head). I kept practicing until I felt I had it right and I am very glad our event was not yesterday.
Until next time,
Susanne
P.S. (written 2-19-2020) Check out the video recording here to decide how I did for yourself.
Please check out my GoFundMe page.