I am pretty much an introvert - I'm not super assertive or outgoing, and do much better in one-on-one and small group settings. So of course, public speaking is not something I gravitate towards but over the years Marty has made me give at least one presentation at our swim clinics so I have gotten a bit more comfortable doing it. The subject matter is also something I know quite a lot about so that makes it a bit easier.
I have been on a committee at work for the past 6 months that has put together training for a new reporting system that was just released. When asked recently by our lead if I would be willing to be the facilitator at the non-finance training classes, my response was something like, "Well, I don't really like speaking in front of large groups of people so would rather not, but if you can't find anyone else to do it, I can do it."
And that's how I got signed up for 4 different sessions. Cue anxiety.
This meant I actually had to put forth an effort in my appearance and look nice (I actually blew my hair dry and put on eyeshadow!) since I was getting up in front of groups of 15-20 people to train everyone on this new system. I gave 3 different sessions this week and felt pretty good about the first two. Today was a doozy - big class, lots of random questions I really couldn't answer, kept tripping over words, etc.
At the break, another girl on my team looked at me with sympathy and said, "You've got a really tough group." Sigh.
Afterwards people said I did a good job but they may have been trying to make me feel better and make sure I didn't bail on the session I'm signed up to facilitate next week. Meanwhile, my real job goes on in the background and people are starting to wonder where the heck I am.
I came home and got a tempo run in - some good stretching beforehand warded off the hip pain so that was a welcome relief today. It seems I never know if it's going to hurt or not.
And because blogs are always more interesting with a picture, here's one from the 8K we did last weekend in DC. I had a leprechaun tattoo on my cheek that said 'Kiss Me I'm Irish'
Thursday, March 18, 2010
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