Speak at a conference or event

“About halfway through the talk, my nerves calmed down. I felt so calm that it was weird. I felt like I was simply talking to another engineer next to me. It’s unbelievable how the brain works and how quickly you can get used to the patterns around you. I was in front of a giant screen, in the bright lights, with 100s of people looking at me (plus some unknown number watching the live stream). This calm experience is often called settling in or stage comfort.”

“I was still nervous the day of the talk: I could barely eat breakfast and my talk was the first one after lunch, so I couldn’t stomach lunch either. But I had spent months preparing for this moment and as I was three quarters of the way through my talk, a little voice in my head went: “you’re almost done!” I learned that nerves are normal, that that part of public speaking never really goes away. It’s important to acknowledge them as they come up and sit with them and then let them go.”

“When I arrived at the conference, its scale hit me. All these professionals were mature, intelligent, technical people. Hundreds of people. Most of them were going to watch my talk. It was unbelievable. I came to the main hall and sat down for the keynote. It was the biggest auditorium in the movie theater. There were many volunteers, an MC, and an audio-visual technician controlling the excellent sound system, the giant extra-wide screen, and the bright lights for the stage. There were also video cameras and photographers. Wow, talk about intimidating for a first-time speaker. Were they expecting a TED talk from me?”