I was not yet a public speaker when I found I had agreed to address a crowd of about 1,000 in a very formal setting. The day of the event I prepped about an hour too early and then had time to kill. I was so nervous I could not sit still!

To keep busy I took it upon myself to hand out the welcoming brochures and workshop handouts at the door... there was no such role being perfomred, so I made it up as I went along. And I personally welcomed each one to pick a good seat up close to the front. They were so nice, one on one! Just people!

By the time I had to step to the podium, I was speaking to 1,000 acquaintances, most of whom had smiled and exchnged a nice word with me already. And I got more offers to come speak, as well as a job offer and a ton of contacts.

So... apply this to your setting if you can, in some form, to some extent.

And have fun with it! People like REAL more than PRO. Think back to a pro you respect the most. Real, too, right??

~Susan