I try not to let this blog be my new Livejournal but today I am completely consumed by the knowledge that I am speaking at Ignite 12 tomorrow. This is a big frickin' deal for me because I have been absolutely terrified of public speaking my entire life. I even had a hard time speaking up in groups large than four.
Just over a year ago I decided I was ready to conquer this fear. I started attending a small Toastmasters group in downtown Seattle. I made a rule for myself that I would speak up at least once per meeting but I managed to out do my expectations by far. I only managed to attend about a half dozen meetings before a change in my work schedule prevented me from attending but I had already done a five minute and a seven minute speech.
My confidence improved dramatically after only a few meetings and I noticed myself speaking up more often in large groups. When an opportunity to help teach a class at my company conference I jumped on it. The class was for a group of about twenty people and I was still terrified but after a few minutes I felt fairly at ease. Tomorrow I'm looking at a group of 500-700 people but I know my subject matter well and while I'm nervous I'm feeling pretty confident that it will go well.
Status: Dibbed
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