How I Overcame Stage Fright to Speaking at The UN
As a teenager, I found it challenging speaking to girls.
Even if I summoned courage to walk up to them, I’d be nervous they’d hear the intense palpitation through my voice.
This wasn’t just a girl-thing. It was a general anxiety that occurred around unfamiliar people.
However, I was more comfortable with people whom I was already acquainted with.
For me, it was easy to have one-on-one conversations with fifty friends but impossible to do this with all fifty simultaneously.
Stage freight ate up my confidence and this lingered up until I got into the university.
Building my Confidence in the University
Despite my lack of confidence, I really wanted to be a public speaker.
Public speakers intrigued me. I admired their gestures and charisma when they spoke on stage.
“How could I speak like them?” I would ponder.
So, as soon as the graduation class committee was convened, I took this opportunity to serve as a member.
Committee members give regular briefings to the class on all activities leading up to graduation day.
Becoming a member meant I was compelled to address the entire class thus building my confidence in the process.
It worked.
After several class briefings, I gradually began to gain composure and confidence when making public speeches.
Unfamiliar faces
Now that I felt comfortable speaking to large audience members mostly made up of familiar faces, I needed to take it up a notch.
It was important to do the same thing with unfamiliar faces — lots of them.
As a result, I participated in university debates in front of thousands of fellow students.
During one of the final debate preparations, I discovered a highly recommended and helpful movie: The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington.
This movie was a huge inspiration in my debate performances.
My Initiative for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
In 2016, I started an initiative to use maps to stimulate awareness on contentious societal issues in Nigeria.
The main objective was to present technical data, resources and statistics using easy-to-read maps for public consumption.
This initiative was named Nigeria in Maps (NIM).
NIM was an online catalog of thought-provoking Nigerian maps showcasing major national issues.
Each map was displayed alongside a corresponding article which I coined “Mapicles” [Map + Articles].
The UN SDG Action Challenge Awards
A few years after the conceptualization of my NIM initiative, I saw an advertorial calling for initiatives that support the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
“The UN SDG Action Challenge Awards recognize outstanding achievements and innovative efforts to promote action on the Sustainable Development Goals. The awards aim to celebrate actions taken by innovators, mobilizers, connectors, storytellers, communicators, visualizers and includers from across the Globe to advance the 2030 Agenda.”
After a bit of reluctance and with just a few hours before the deadline, I put in my application for the VISUALIZERS category.
My entry addressed three important SDGs namely:
· SDG 4: Gender Equality
· SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
· SDG 17: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
UN SDG Action Award Finalist
Friday, the 9th of February 2018 was as ordinary as it could be.
It had been a long week, and I was already making plans for the much-awaited weekend.
Suddenly I got an email notification on my phone with the subject headline: “CONFIDENTIAL — UN SDG Action Challenge Awards 2018”
The first line of the email made my jaw drop: “We are very pleased to inform you that your nomination to the UN SDG Action Challenge Awards is one of the finalists in your category.”
Filled with pure excitement, I continued reading and saw the invitation to attend the Global Festival of Action in Bonn, Germany.
In addition, all finalists will be delivering a one-minute “Elevator Pitch” about our initiatives at the event.
The thought of having to speak at the United Nations made me both anxious and excited.
Speaking at the United Nations
It was the night before the D-Day.
I was pacing up and down in my hotel room; practicing my lines and deciding what words would make it into the final one-minute speech.
On the day of the event, I was overwhelmed by a rush of emotions.
Being the first to be called up to speak wasn’t particularly helpful.
I walked up to the podium and for a brief second, my mind flashed back to all previous public speaking engagements.
I took a deep breath and delivered my one-minute pitch.
I must confess, I was a bit nervous and did stutter a few times.
However, I was shocked to see people come up to me after the event, telling me how impressed they were with my performance.
I certainly didn’t feel that way, but their feedback was both reassuring and taught me a vital life lesson.
Sometimes we may be too hard on ourselves unaware that our output is valued.
Fear is on the other side of courage and I’m glad I took that bold step to conquer it.
May my story encourage you to conquer your fears.
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Thanks.
See you in the next one!
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