For my midweek post this week I thought I’d have another go at one of the prompts in the Writer’s Workshop, which is managed by John Holton. He sets out the choices for us here, and I’ve decided to go with #5 – to write about my first experience of speaking in public. Strictly to tell, this wasn’t my first such experience, but I’m discounting the ones from school and uni sessions, which to my mind didn’t count: they weren’t really on a large enough scale.
This story dates back to when I was in my mid twenties, and working for a large nationalised industry in the UK which was beginning to understand the importance of marketing its products. Traditionally the effort had always been aimed at commercial customers, and we operated a large salesforce that covered the whole UK. But the importance of consumers was also beginning to be recognised, and we had gone in for it in a big way. I was acting head of consumer marketing, thanks to my MBA (which suggested that I knew something about it) and to the previous head having left the organisation and not yet being replaced, when it came round time for the annual sales conference. This was a big event: we took over a large hotel near the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, and the presentations were all-singing all-dancing affairs, complete with pre-written speeches and an autocue: the first time I’d ever seen one.
There were upwards of 500 people in attendance: all of the sales teams from around the country, people from other parts of the organisation, and a number of invited guests. It had been stressed to me by the Director of Marketing how important it was for the message about consumer marketing to be impressed upon the sales people, who were a pretty sceptical bunch at the best of times. I spent a lot of time writing my speech, which was then subject to a lot of scrutiny before it was deemed fit for purpose, but luckily I had quite a few radio and tv ads to play to break up the monotony of my voice. Presenters went up to Birmingham the day before the conference for a run through, to get us used to using the technology and to test out how the speeches worked.
That was when a problem first arose. We had been told that the maximum length for any of the speeches was 20 minutes, and mine came it at just under 35. A phone call to the Director later, and I was cleared to give the whole speech – it was a pet area of his and I knew I was on safe ground. But I got the message “tell him to speak faster” with that approval! After another run through I did just that, and managed to shave an entire minute, or possibly two, off the show. The tech support team were brilliant and Julie, the young woman in charge of the autocue machine, was incredibly patient with me. We all went off for a well earned dinner, followed by a few drinks in the bar.
On to the big day, and I was ‘enjoying’ a mix of nerves and adrenalin rush: I’d never presented to so many people before, with a full show and microphones and everything. Mine was the last presentation of the morning, before a break for lunch and a final post-lunch session with the big boss exhorting us all to redouble our efforts for the next year: the usual guff that big bosses say. Having checked surreptitiously (several times) that my flies were done up, I managed not to trip up going onto the stage and set off on a canter through the fun part of the proceedings. Remembering the instruction to speak quickly, I was rattling through it and then began to wonder if it was just my imagination, or was the autocue speeding up? Bloody hell, I thought, I could explode here! Then it miraculously slowed to a snail’s pace. WTAF? I looked towards the back of the room where the tech support team were sitting, and caught the eye of the lovely Julie. She had a huge beaming grin on her face, and it was only then that I remembered she had taken some (I thought slight) offence at a crack I had made in the bar the previous evening. Oops!
Knowing that she had made her point, she returned the machine to the correct speed for me, and the remainder of the presentation went without a hitch helped, as I said, by the big selection of ads I had at my disposal. Though I was a little nervous at what might happen when I flicked the switch to play the first one: had Julie got at that too? Fortunately she hadn’t, and I really started enjoying the whole experience. The show went down well, and I got a good round of applause. Several of the sales team told me over lunch how much they had enjoyed it, and volunteered their support for some of our future promotional efforts, which I duly took up: the next summer we ran a whole series of events in seaside towns around the country, involving promo girls, and it was only proper that I visited them all to see how things were going, wasn’t it – one of the most enjoyable times in my entire working life!
I made a point of thanking the tech support team for all of their help: it had been a complicated presentation and they played a huge part in making it a success. Julie came over to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and proffered some advice I have never forgotten: “Be careful who you upset.”
I think we all need reminding of that from time to time, don’t we?
Take It Easy 