5 Lessons I Learned from International Speaking

Wow!!  I did it.  I can now add International Speaker to a resume that I keep inside of myself.  Let me back up.  For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know I left my teaching career and through a series of steps started my own brand and business.  I never had a list of things to do before x age or anything like that.  I always thought that I would retire one day after a really LONG time of teaching and probably look twice my age.  Just true facts right there.

But my life desire was always to make a huge difference in the world we live in and especially in the field of empowering those who feel power-less. 

I had not traveled to Europe in 20 years.  I had NOT traveled by myself.  The steps that I took were scary and felt exciting, but caused me a week of no sleep.  The closer the date came, the more excited and scared I got.  Would they like me?  What if I mess up?  What if I cry?  <<< MOST likely scenario as I told my story.

I practiced and recorded my speech.  I got THE right outfit to make a good first impression.  I started to visualize the reaction at the end of my speech.  I was on fire.  I was going to nail it.  And then I practiced it in front of my roommate in London one night, and I fell apart.  What is happening?  I can’t cry when I speak.  I thought I was healed???  Breathe.  You are healed, but this is powerful stuff.  You can literally change someone’s life with this story.   <<< inner big girl panties are on.

5 Lessons I learned from Speaking:

1. Everyone in the room wants you to succeed.  I knew it.  I could just look at them and tell they were all rooting for me.  It was like they had flags up with my name on them.  GO AIMEE!!!  I saw it.  It was like thoughts bubbles actually, but they were there.
2. Be ready to go with the flow.  After a week of practicing, you guessed it, I changed it at the last-minute to reflect the feelings I was getting from the audience.  They were not ready for the other way I had planned it, but the new way that downloaded into my head while sitting there was exactly what they needed.
3. Give value to your audience.  I know that even though I told my story, I also told them a way to handle their emotions and reflected it back to what any one person sitting there could be going through.
4. Give them an a-ha moment.  I gave them a moment to take away forever.  I told them that even in my deepest pain, I woke up and decided to live each day with thankfulness.  I actually put one foot in front of each other in the morning and said thank you as I made my way to my bathroom mirror.  I saw all eyes on me…and maybe, just maybe a few tears.  But not from me this time.  Not from me.  I knew they were with me and I felt the love.
5. Leave them with a take-away.  I circled around to the theme of my speech, and gave them an activity they could do daily like writing positive affirmations on the mirror in dry-erase marker.  I told them that as I was in pain, I made the plan to heal through my 4 Weeks to Wellness steps, and I developed that as a way for others to move forward from wherever they are in life.  The plan was simple and included daily action steps as well as workbooks and lots and lots of internal work.  So even if they weren’t in physical pain, I have never once met a person who did not benefit from doing some work inside.

This is the shot from my friend in the audience…I will have a video I hope.

As I concluded, you could have heard a pin drop, and I think, just maybe, I nailed it.  The best part of this entire experience was that this was only my third speech ever since stepping into my new role.  Thank you all for your support from the bottom of my heart. 

Comment