Stories, learnings and reflection #11/ That Horrible First Seminar

Thank you @zulbahri for inviting me to this contest by @alexanderpeace. I invite @josepha @senehasa and @enamul17

to participate in

 
I understand about the stories that inspire us to be better people. I remember how my seminar manager helped me mold into a good orator during my first professional speech at a seminar.

As I was reading this contest post, each of the words I read reminded me of my seminar address I delivered at my first conference, where hundreds of the C.E.Os and a large number of chief engineers of various top companies and other prominent invitees were present.

Source

This was during the beginning of my career as a territory sales engineer in a multinational in collaboration with Germany and Switzerland, manufacturing welding equipment and special electrodes. I had just returned from doing my onsite training in a distant country and was assigned a territory consisting of two big Indian states.

The company decided to hold a seminar inviting all the distributors, dealers, and customers, mainly the big industrial houses of that particular region where I was appointed. We were booked in one of the best five-star hotels in the city where I was posted, so I was supposed to take care of bookings, etc., too.

Then the seminar day came, and it brought with it the responsibility and anxiety that was taking over on my nerves. Our general manager, along with other managers, including the seminar manager, had already arrived and was staying in the same hotel where the conference was scheduled.

The stage was set. The seminar hall was overcrowded with almost 1200 top-notch people from various industries in the area. The drinks and snacks were served regularly to the invitees as my seniors spoke one after the other and took their place.

I was the junior-most at that time, and my number to speak was at the end, but trust me, my legs were shaking when my name was announced by the seminar manager.

I approached the mic but could not even speak the opening address. By the way, I knew more than half of the crowd, as I had been meeting them during my visits to their companies for business-related meetings for over the last six months, but I could not even look at them.

I guess my seminar manager understood my situation and came to my rescue. He said, "Can you wait for a while? It's time for lunch, so your address would be after lunch."

I knew what he meant! He wanted to give me time, so I said, "I will finish my address in two minutes."

My seminar manager nodded and stood beside me, which gave me the support that I needed at that point. I managed to deliver my 6-7 minute 'speech. Despite having spent the last few days rehearsing and revising the entire speech, I can't recall what I said.

If you ask me now, I know nothing about how I did it at that time, but I realized I was done with the job only when I heard the loud cheering and clapping from the crowd. I was like, was this cheering for me and my speech? I have delivered thousands of speeches in different meetings and seminars since then but would always be grateful to my seminar manager because that changed my life.