gis a hug – tears streaming down his cheeks – surfing

as i sent my slide deck over to the lady at fintech wales the file was too big to email, and i had to ‘we transfer’ the extra large package over.

71 slides.

for a five minute talk.

too many?

nah.

fintech wales are a pretty cool business, looking to make wales the place to start up, scale up and accelerate and innovate fintech businesses, and i had been invited to have a five minute speaking slot at their march networking event.

how do you make an impact in five minutes?

is it even possible to make an impact in five minutes?

i have been doing a veery in depth speaking course recently to improve myself, and have been learning lots of new skills, including connecting to humans quicker, and working on a neurological level rather than surface level where i had been living far 62 years.

deep stuff, but i am loving it, and for this talk i changed my ending, and introduced a new concept.

the lovely sophia at fintech received my deck, and wrote back suggesting it was too big for them to insert into their master deck, and if i was adamant i needed so many slides, i would have to run my presentation off my own laptop, swapping over from theirs mid presentation?

i was.

and i would.

i arrived early, and had been there two days prior to recce the room, i am very meticulous in my preparation for this stuff, i like to be as ready as possible, some would say anal.

“hi sophia” i greeted my fintech contact, who i had never met before, and i announced i was coming in for a hug, to avoid any awkwardness.

she showed me the stage and i found myself a table to sit at.

the time and other speakers sped by, and before i knew it i was being introduced, and welcomed to the stage.

a quick laptop change and we were off to the races.

i asked a question and for a show of hands, and i started to surf.

surfing on the energy in the room.

sometimes it just happens.

it all just clicks.

they laughed.

(at the right times)

and when pathos was introduced they were with me, arms intertwined with mine, on this journey i was taking them on.

my new ending was introduced, and the response was awesome.

i left the stage, and the hosts wrapped up the event.

i sipped my water and noticed a chap approaching my table, and as we spoke, he started to get emotional, choking on his words, tears starting to stream down his cheeks.

he was trying to apologise for breaking down.

i announced i was going in for my second hug of the day, and eventually he said he didn’t know why he was crying, just that my talk had moved him.

emotional stuff this public speaking mullarkey.

therein followed a stream of folk, one by one saying similar stuff, it felt like i had unlocked something, and the energy was really immense.

sophia appeared at my table, and i apologised for the 71 slides, and hopefully i didn’t run over too much, and told her of the gent who had gotten emotional, to which she replied that she had been in tears during the talk.

my goal isn’t to make people cry, but i guess the story must be powerful if it evokes such emotion, and that’s gotta be good right?

and i think my speaking course is making me better every talk, which is very much my goal.

with this in mind, louise who works with us is doing a talk today for 280 people at a spring lunch for the concrete society, and as a team we have crafted her talk with some amazing storytelling, and it is extremely emotive, and i can’t wait to see how it goes, i’m predicting a remarkable response, and will share with you the story, and how it went down next week.

good luck lou.

blue skies,

jeff

c