The whistleblower
November 19th, 2008 by hbourneSome of the young people I’ve seen this week have been surprised at their ability to do public speaking - after being asked to do so at Enterprise Week events. One of the Prime Minister’s Global Fellows spoke in front of 400+ people on Monday (at Chain Reaction) and the confidence it gave her was amazing, I know she’ll go onto better things in the future as a result. I said to her that talking about something you’re passionate about makes it easier to talk with confidence in front of others.
So, yesterday, when I was running a speednetworking session to a much smaller number of people (at the launch of the Daily Mail Enterprising Young Brits) than she had to contend with I should have been fine. Hmmmm. My first mistake was to not stand behind the microphone. My second mistake was to not look at my notes which I would have put on the lecturn in front of me had I stood in the right place. Luckily for me what I did next happened to help Alistair Darling out so I’m hoping that’s what people remember. What did I do? Well I blew a whistle. Quite loudly. And by then I was in front of the microphone.
At the time Alistair Darling was up on the open mezzanine floor above us recording a clip for the BBC 1 o’clock news in response to Cameron’s announcement on public spending. As I blew the whistle to start a speednetworking session he’d just been asked a tricky question so when he came down to do his speech (yes I was the Chancellor’s warm-up act) he said he was rather relieved when the whistle blew and got away without answering the question. He even suggested that as a new fan of speednetworking he’d be more than happy if they happened around the country when ever he was asked something tricky. Certainly one to remember if I decide to change jobs.
Today I’m off sick - the fury of the last few weeks preparing for this week has finally caught up with me. The only silver lining is that I can become a voyeur of the week for a change. I just watched our big cheese Harry on Working Lunch, together with Jamie Murray-Wells of Glassesdirect. They were both very proficient at public speaking but I’m guessing even they were nervous beforehand. I think the only way to tackle these things is to not worry if you embarrass yourself slightly - you remember much more than anyone else will and people are normally more sympathetic than you think. And you friends and family will respect you for giving it a go. So, thought of the day from me is to get out there and try some public speaking. What’s the worst that could happen?!
ps don’t ask Ratner that question, it might put you off!
pps check out more public speaking on Sky News at 3.30pm today (Martha Lane-Fox who is also on Working Lunch tomorow) and London Tonight bulletins later this evening.
Best go - I think my energy quota for the day is on minus.
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