Last month I had my first proper speaking engagement. I’ve co-taught a seminar on writing before, and last year I was part of a panel at a conference (and was then asked to pray for and on behalf of all the singles at the conference, which was a bit daunting!). But this was the first time I had prepared a talk on a Bible passage, then stood on a stage all by myself and delivered it.
It was for my church’s women’s day, and was on the topic of ‘Life in all its fullness’, and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole process – the preparation, the revisions (and revisions, and revisions), and then the delivery.
I even included audience participation!
(Image: www.kbcimages.co.uk)
I was not nervous at all. Considering I used to shake all over and talk a million words a minute even when just giving my testimony in my parents’ church, I was really surprised to find I wasn’t anxious at all. Maybe it was down to great praying by my friends, or just increasing confidence with age and experience, or knowing I was well prepared and there was actually nothing to be afraid of – or probably a combination of all three! Whatever it was, I just found it, if not quite enjoyable, at least not unpleasant in any way.
A lot of that was to do with feeling confident in the material. Regular readers will know that I am in the process of writing a book on joyful contentment, and my talk was essentially a very distilled version of some of the ideas I’m covering in that. And the book came out of experience and lots of conversations with other women in my church and friendship group. So this is material I have been living with and thinking about for about 18 months already. That level of familiarity, and the fact that so many people have said “I need that book!” when I’ve told them about it, has given me huge confidence that this is something people are interested in, and that I have something useful to contribute on the topic.
On reflection, that has been the biggest stumbling block for me in the past – does this topic really matter, and have I got anything worth saying about it? I wish I’d realised before that that’s what the (or at least a) root cause of my nervousness was. If I had, I’m sure someone would have been able to help me work out what I had to say that would add value, as presumably the reason I was asked was because people thought it was important and I could contribute something useful.
If you’re nervous about speaking, I think it’s worth digging into why. And if the root is something like that, find someone who can help you understand why you were asked instead of someone else, and what they think you have to contribute – and let me know if that helps!
I considered uploading the whole talk here for you to listen to, but it’s not freely available online (it’s on a password protected site for the women at my church), so I’m not really sure what the etiquette of that is. So here’s a two-minute clip from near the beginning. I was speaking on Philippians 4:4-20:
If you want to hear the rest, you’ll just have to invite me to your women’s conference sometime!
(PS Check out my new ‘Speaking‘ page on this site! I never – ever – thought I’d advertise myself as a speaker! Crazy what God does!)
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Image credit: Kay Bakare
on Mar 18th at 7:37 am
Hooray! Cheering you on!
on Mar 18th at 9:00 am
Thank you, Amy!
on Mar 18th at 1:52 pm
Excellent, I do agree, but I also think it’s mostly your confidence in God has increased, so yes, in the past you were always nervous – who cares about my testimony – but now your relationship with God is so much closer, a) he gives you confidence and b) you have someone you WANT to talk about and tell others how to get closer to. Looking forward to where seeing where God takes you on this journey!
on Mar 18th at 1:55 pm
Thanks mum! Yes, that’s probably true.
on Mar 18th at 6:01 pm
Thanks for sharing! Really helpful! Really enjoyed the sound bite! As you venture into public speaking, please keep blogging. Looking forward to reading your book.
on Mar 18th at 6:04 pm
Thanks so much, Jess. Great to hear from you. Hope you’re doing well. Yes, I’m planning to keep blogging (in the middle of another post right now, in fact!). So many words, so little time!
Thanks for the encouragement.
on Mar 19th at 10:59 am
In this non-binary age would it be possible for me to attend one of your women’s conferences? Men are the least in number in most churches, beyond football and breakfasts we have little in common so we are in sore need of good teachers who can inspire us. Can we tempt you to an Ulster Fry?
on Mar 25th at 2:39 pm
So cool! Good stuff–and great to hear an audio snippet! So grateful to be able to see/hear as you continue to grow and adventure in all of life. Just picture me sitting in the crowd nudging the person next to me, pointing and saying proudly, “that’s my friend up there…” 🙂
on May 23rd at 6:56 pm
Brilliant! Well done! I can relate! If someone told me a year ago I would be an author and coach now, i don’t think i would have believed it either! xx