My First Speaking Experience: Google Photos has reminded me of this day 5 years ago ( August 20 2013). It was the launch of the TobaccoCtrl campaign, a public health campaign I was Project Manager of. We had been planning the launch since June 2013, my bosses gave me all the support I needed at the time, they also allowed me to own the project, I had awesome colleagues too, and they made the whole launch process easy as I was just 3-months into the job.
Also Read: My Benin Experience.
Fast forward to the event, I was supposed to make the opening speech as the Project Manager, I remember stuttering and saying ‘eeerrmm’ a lot. My heart was on my chest. I was nervous, it was the first time I would be talking to a crowd of about 150 in my professional career, even though I was doing this as a worker in my fellowship and had the opportunity to be on stage to say one thing or the other back at the university, but this was different.
Of course, the audience gave me a round of applause at the end of my speech but I knew deep down inside of me that I hadn’t done so well. So after the event, I asked my colleagues and bosses for feedback (I always do this, now). Their feedback was helpful and I resolved to be a better speaker. I have had a lot of speaking engagements and facilitated training and masterclasses since then and I am amazed at the progress I have made and still making.
1. I learnt to always prepare for every speaking engagement like it was my first – (read, research etc)
2. Believe in yourself
3. I have learnt to always stay on my lane (i.e always stay on the topic you are knowledgeable about, even when asked otherwise, re-route your answers to that topic you can conveniently answer without making a fool of yourself.
4. Don’t try to speak ‘BIG BIG grammar off point just to impress the crowd, it doesn’t always end well.
Also Read: It’s Being An Amazing 3 Years and 7 Months. Thank You Paradigm Initiative
That said, Do let me know if you would like me to speak at your events or facilitate training and masterclass sessions. I speak and facilitate on topics around technology, digital/new media, brand communications, web service etc. You can reach out to me via my email Lammyng(@)gmail(.)com or simply drop me a message on olamideyelo.com/contact. It won’t be FREE #ThrowbackThursday — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2wxScMj