A Tale of Two Mixers: Part 1

I have a not-so-secret life that involves festival planning. The festival I plan for is driven largely by theme camps, or collectives who gift some kind of thing or experience, that each contribute to the nature of the event. The event itself is established on the principles of accountability, self-expression, and cooperation.

I had the lovely opportunity of hosting a mixer for Theme Camp leads last Friday. I'd say it went fairly well. My Key Performance Indicator was the number of Post-It notes that were issued that evening.

I can't claim all claim full credit for the awesomeness that ensued. A friend, who seems to be a pretty accomplished guy, had given this snippet of advice:

"Part A:  First, have everyone brainstorm / identify all the things that people liked, that went well, that was successful and things that we want to do again next year.  Keep people in this process and if they have "yeah buts" and " i didn't like that" have them make a note of that for next part.  This starts off on a positive note, creates energy and avoids dealing with downers right at the outset of a meeting, which can derail the whole fucking thing.  Keep these on one sheet of paper."

The first hour was spent mingling as attendees trickled into my home. By the time we had a full house, I stood on top of a cooler and announced these not-quite-verbatim directions:

"So you may have noticed all these categories listed out throughout our space here -- I'm going to give you all Post-It notes, and I want you to write the positive and successful aspects of your camp related to the categories you see."

...and just like that people started brainstorming and talking to each other about what went well with their respective camps.

Fear of Public Speaking (FOPS)

The hardest class I took in college was Public Speaking.

My father would laugh when I told him about my struggles. He said most people used that class to bump up their GPA.

I was terrified every time I was put on the spot to deliver a speech. Thankfully, I had a really awesome teacher who taught me to reach deep inside for the confidence required for oratory presentations. If it weren't for "Madam Duke" (as I adoringly referred to her), I'd be far behind professionally and socially. 

I'm still not where I want to be in terms of squelching my FOPS, but I am still surrounded with very strong influences who push me to exude the same confidence that Madam Duke imparted on me years ago.

Just last week, my intonation was scrutinized, and I was thankful for the reminder to Always Be Improving, a direct link to confidence -- and the ultimate cure for FOPS. 

How do YOU prepare for speaking publicly?