the blog

So, it happened. I finally delivered the Big Speech at INBOUND, the one I’d been working on for what seemed like forever and bringing you along with me through my process and struggles. Then, Boom! the event was here and it was the moment of truth.

So, how’d it go, you wonder?

Great! Just great! (Here is a video of the presentation I recorded. Quality is not great, but you’ll get the idea.)

The people were as engaged as any group would be after having just seen former First Lady Michelle Obama deliver her big speech on the main-stage.  I’d thought that would make me more nervous and truth to tell, it did during the lead-up. But then, once I was in the room, and the people began filing in and I saw how happy and energized everyone was, it ultimately made my job easier. I just had to keep them that way and my meticulous planning did exactly that.

Still, as I confided in my previous posts (here, here, here, and here), since it was a new topic, it was untested. I didn’t know whether my stories would resonate, whether they’d laugh in the right places, or whether I’d be able to convert them.

I didn’t know whether I’d pass my own, high-stakes “waiting-in-line” test.

So I’m thrilled to report it all worked out. At the same time, I learned a few things. Here they are:

1. The next time I follow a famous person, I’ll remember how they warmed up the audience for me and I’ll be grateful instead of worried.
2. My writing and ideas for content for a big speech were validated. After so many years of experience, I generally know what people will like and what they won’t, what will make them laugh and what will make them think, but again, untested is untested, so time to exhale.
3. They won’t always laugh in places I might expect and that’s due to the nature of the audience. The more different types of audiences I have under my belt, the better I’ll be able to judge.
4. Keeping things short is my biggest frustration and took the most time during the endless preparation process. I was still cutting until about 2 hours prior and I generally don’t advise that. But they actually had it set up so speakers could make last minute revisions, so I was glad I took advantage of it.
5. Based on the response, I was the only one who missed the things I cut and I will save them for a longer talk.
6. My slides were awesome because I had them designed by a pro. They were extremely visual with very little text. I got a lot of compliments on them.
7. I used a variety of media. So not only images, but props, GIFs and videos, too. There was very little text.
8. I wore a cool new outfit and wore stylish, but comfortable shoes. (for the PA Conference, I wore ridiculous shoes, which I’m returning.)

Oh, and through a giveaway they could receive by texting a keyword to a code, I captured about 60% of the over approximately 1100 people who saw me. Not a bad conversion rate.

Practice + Experience (really does) = Spontaneity.

Now I have a hot, new, well-received topic I can bring elsewhere confident people will enjoy it and get the outcomes they came for.

And I am confident you can, too.