Lessons I’ve Learnt from Almost Two Decades as a Public Speaker!!!
Three Lessons I’ve Learnt in Public Speaking from Over Half of My Life
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I’ve been doing public speaking in some form or fashion for almost 20 years. But when you do the math you’ll find this is absolutely true. See, I started doing public speaking back in 2004 right after I turned 16 years old. Today it is 2022, I’m 34 and I’m still finding myself speaking to some degree to a wide variety of audiences.
It amazes me to think that I started out locally, speaking in my local church by delivering talks to youth groups around the City of Sunderland, with the main one being my own group. Later in time, I eventually began to start out in preaching. While this is a Salesforce blog I do feel this is important to highlight, this is because without this I might have laid the foundational groundwork I use in how I deliver my talks to the Trailblazer community. Preaching gave me a foundational ability to be able to speak for as long or as little as needed, and to make the most out of the time I had allotted to me. This is a skill I use whenever I do a talk at a Salesforce event. I’ve had times when I’ve had to deliver a presentation at one event in 25 minutes, and at another I’ve had to deliver the same session in 40 minutes or more.
In this post, I want to briefly share 5 lessons I’ve learnt over those 18 years. My aim is that it will encourage you in your journey in public speaking. Maybe, it will encourage you to get into it if you haven’t done so already. I do hope however, that I don’t put you off from taking the leap and doing it.
So with that being said, shall we get into the lessons I’ve learnt then?
#1: You Don’t Have to Be an Extrovert to Do This!
I know this one may not be a huge surprise now! But you don’t have to be an extrovert to do public speaking. Honestly, I’m not an extrovert to any real degree. Event to this day I find it insanely difficult to go and make the first move and say hi. I also find it very difficult to be on a stage and speak to large numbers of people. And I’ve spoken to groups ranging from a 2–3 people and 2–3 hundred people. No matter the size, I still find it hard to do. However, I also know that I have something I can say, and my faith in God inspires me to do what I can to help people. And in the amazing Trailblazer Community I’m in, I can help people by being open, available and sharing the knowledge I’ve accumulated over my 6 years in the ecosystem. So while I might be an introvert at heart, I can still share my voice and help people.
So while you don’t have to be an extrovert to do this, as an introvert you will maybe find that you need to take some additional steps to help you out.
Here’s some additional tips that might help you out:
- Find a group of close friends who can champion you along the way.
- Make sure to take time to get some air and get away from all the noise.
- Try to become confident in the skills you have … you’re not an imposter.
- Be available for 1-on-1 conversations, this is probably where you thrive.
#2: You Don’t Need to Know It All to Have a Voice
Imposter syndrome is something we all struggle with, even within the Salesforce ecosystem. I have a number of people who I would consider to be friends in the Trailblazer Community, but yet still at times feel as if I’m nowhere as cool or good as they are for our community. I often feel like I’m an imposter, and while on one hand I know I shouldn’t feel like that, on the other hand I still do. I offer this preamble to highlight a key point. One of the biggest parts of struggling with imposter syndrome is dealing with the nagging voice in our heads that says “but I don’t know everything”. This is the monkey on many of our backs. But here’s the thing with this, nobody in the Salesforce ecosystem knows everything about the platform. Salesforce is simply too big in this day and age to do that. What we can do though, is know a lot our areas of specialism. For me these areas of specialism would be Flow, Nonprofits, Admin Skills and more generally, Salesforce Admin.
When it comes to public speaking, let this be a bit of an encouragement. Most of the talks I do now are about things I’m currently building up a good base of knowledge in, or topics that I have already learnt a lot about. As a public speaker, you get to submit talks on the subjects you’re interested in, so while you might not know everything … you sure can talk a lot about what you do already know about and are passionate about. That’s good!
#3: It’s OK to Make Mistakes Along the Way
One of the other big things I see in people looking to get into public speaking is a concern about making mistakes. While it’s true that is a twinge of embarrassment we feel when we make mistakes in a talk or demo, the reality is it’s going to happen at some point. You will never go through your life as a public speaker without making mistakes in your sessions at some point along the way. So what is the key to getting past them and moving on? The answer is remarkably simple, and it’s to not dwell on the mistakes, to pick yourself up and move on. Granted this can be slightly difficult in a live demo, however, the key here is to have a back-up demo (if possible) and use that in your session. Outside of the obvious of having a back up demo, the key to moving on past your mistakes I feel is to acknowledge them very lightly, and then just move on. Don’t spend too long dwelling on your mistakes, the more you dwell on them, the more time it will take from your session, and the more it will affect your confidence in the talk you’re delivering. So remember, we all make mistakes, when you do it, move on from it and continue with your talk.
Closing Comments
So in brief, that’s the three lessons I’ve learnt from public speaking over the last 18 years. While it may not be anything too revolutionary, hopefully these lessons are something that can help inspire you to maybe consider putting yourself out there as a public speaker. It really is something that can be so rewarding to yourself as both a knowledge and confidence builder, as well as being helpful to many others around you. So why not put yourself out there, and look for opportunities to speak. I hope this has been helpful, and if I can help in any way on your journey, please do reach out to me, I’ll help where and how I can. Let me know your thoughts on this post in the responses below or in the comments section on social media.
