I'm an introvert and I disliked recitation in school and absolutely abhorred doing presentations. I was always behind the scenes when we did our required class shows. You can just imagine how absolutely terrified I was during Speech class. Ugh.
Fast forward to 2012, by this time I had gone around the Philippines to conduct trainings. I still disliked speaking in front of a crowd even though I had managed to speak in front of 3,000+ students for one engagement. I was assigned to introduce a product in Malaysia. They thought since I was the most "social" online, then I was best suited to introduce the product.
The talk was short, just about 20 minutes. I had to convince the crowd of business people to try the platform. Well, I survived and after that I did the same thing over and over again in many countries across the world.
If you ask me, I would still absolutely skip any speaking engagements. I've received invitations even after retirement, but I shy away from them since I get breathless when I have to exert effort to speak loudly. Being in that role before was fun. I learned a lot and I experienced things I never imagined I would. It's one for the books.
#BeKind #StaySafe
