I was sitting next to my Pastor about to give my first ever sermon in front of the congregation and I had an entire butterfly garden enter my stomach.
It was a weird sensation.
I have stood up in front of 150 independent toy store owners – some with far more experience in the industry than me – to give a talk that was totally counter to anything they had ever heard.
I have stood up in a dining hall with 500 kids under the age of ten and got them to not only pay attention but learn a complicated song in under a minute.
I have picked up my guitar in a room full of amazing musicians and led people who had more talent in their left pinkie than I have in my whole body.
Never caused me more than a sickly moth or two.
The truth is, I am one of those people who loves to stand up and talk in front of crowds. Never been an issue or problem. None of those paralyzing fears that so many experience. And I don’t even have to picture anyone naked!
So you can imagine my surprise when a kaleidoscope of monarchs went crazy inside me. The hymns had been sung, the readings were done. All eyes were on me.
I stood at the pulpit, took a deep breath, looked around the sanctuary and realized I was back in my element. The garden closed, the monarchs went to sleep and the sermon went off without a hitch.
Some people find speaking to a group to be horribly distressful. For me it is one of my biggest eustresses. I love it. And according to those who have seen me, apparently I’m pretty good at it.
I just received my evaluation from Montcalm County. I gave two talks to a room of about 50 people, some who were coerced into attending. For each talk the Content was rated 4.75 out of 5 and the Delivery got a perfect 5!
At the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association my Pricing for Profit presentation in 2009 received a perfect 5.00 from the 135 people in that room. More importantly, many of those store owners are still thanking me for the info, telling me stories about how it has transformed their business and grown their profits.
Am I bragging? Sure.
But I do it with a point. I have found something at which I excel. It is something that fits my core values (Having Fun, Helping Others). And I want to do more of it.
I just revamped my Speaker for Hire page at www.PhilsForum.com with descriptions of all the talks I have previously given and would be happy to do again.
If you help organize speakers for your association or group, check out my list of topics and see if there is something there that fits. I promise you four things in every business talk I give.
- You will smile or laugh at least once
- You will learn something that you can apply to your business right away
- You will get professional handouts that remind you of everything I taught
- I will have the highest rated talk per dollar spent of any speaker you hire
Some people think I must not be very good because I do not charge the same rates as other professional speakers. I understand that. They charge what they charge because that is how they make a living. And they are worth every penny. I am worth just as much, too. But I am not doing this for the money. As cliche as it sounds, I do it for the fun. I do it because I know it will help.
Sure, you can simply download all the pdf’s from the Freebies section of my website and get all of my knowledge for free. But it is not quite the same as the live presentation.
Get in touch and tell me your time, date, topic and budget constraints. There is a pretty good chance we can work something out.
-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com