MJ's little flock

[RoyalChick]

I love that idea. Unfortunately I was not really in demand for my expertise (except in the broadest sense of experience and situational awareness) so I didn't get to give talks sharing what I knew, I had to respond to situations, explain things to people, take questions live on pretty much anything under the sun, calm people down etc..
All very stressful!

Oh don't be sad @Ribh - I have left all that behind me now! Someone else has to cope with all the madness. If I never have to be up on stage again it will be too soon. Though I admit that towards the end I had done it so often I was much better and sort of got the 'buzz' that some people get out of that stuff.
Weirdly, according to the audience, I am quite compelling in that format. Usually I am only good at things I enjoy!

 

[Ribh]

Oh don't be sad @Ribh - I have left all that behind me now! Someone else has to cope with all the madness. If I never have to be up on stage again it will be too soon. Though I admit that towards the end I had done it so often I was much better and sort of got the 'buzz' that some people get out of that stuff.
Weirdly, according to the audience, I am quite compelling in that format. Usually I am only good at things I enjoy!

I quite enjoy public speaking. Weird I know but you can feed off a good audience. I do quite a bit of preaching & I always joke God trained me in theatre. All those dorky acting skills are really handy.

 

[BY Bob]

The other weird thing is when you build reputation for X then people only see the reputation and ask you to speak not Y or Z which are vaguely familiar, but H which is a bajillion miles outside your field and which has experts of its own who'd no doubt give a fantastic talk! Then you try to point at those experts and the answer is no we want you to do it. What the...???

My thoughts exactly!

 

[BY Bob]

I find it fascinating that experts are required to perform their expertise so often instead of either building it further or applying it.

We need to start a movement of publishing our best talks. People can buy a ticket to watch the talk then we can go out to a nice long dinner in a speed dating format so everyone gets to have a word with the expert.

I love it!

 

[BY Bob]

I love that idea. Unfortunately I was not really in demand for my expertise (except in the broadest sense of experience and situational awareness) so I didn't get to give talks sharing what I knew, I had to respond to situations, explain things to people, take questions live on pretty much anything under the sun, calm people down etc..
All very stressful!

Knowing you, I beleive that you were very good at it!

 

[RoyalChick]

I quite enjoy public speaking. Weird I know but you can feed off a good audience. I do quite a bit of preaching & I always joke God trained me in theatre. All those dorky acting skills are really handy.

I can totally see that. There is also a weird power thing about being able to command an audience. So I have definitely experienced the high of doiing it - but for me it is not worth the lead-in anxiety even with all my multitude of coping strategies.
Did you know that if someone hugs you before you go on stage, endorphins are released and you will feel calmer and more confident? I think it works. Well pre-Covid of course.

 

[Ribh]

I can totally see that. There is also a weird power thing about being able to command an audience. So I have definitely experienced the high of doiing it - but for me it is not worth the lead-in anxiety even with all my multitude of coping strategies.
Did you know that if someone hugs you before you go on stage, endorphins are released and you will feel calmer and more confident? I think it works. Well pre-Covid of course.

No I didn't but I usually get prayed for with hands laid on so I guess that works along the same lines.

 

[RoyalChick]

No I didn't but I usually get prayed for with hands laid on so I guess that works along the same lines.

Yes!

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm going to suggest the dinner with an expert format for fundraising at work. It just might take.

ETA Oh. I just searched dinner with an expert and it turns out it's already a thing! And there I was, congratulating myself on my brilliant fundraising idea

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm going to suggest the dinner with an expert format for fundraising at work. It just might take.

ETA Oh. I just searched dinner with an expert and it turns out it's already a thing! And there I was, congratulating myself on my brilliant fundraising idea

Still brilliant. I love it.
A friend of mine used to be part of a group - different idea but also good - they met once a quarter or something like that. Maybe it was more.
Each time they met for dinner one of them was assigned (they took turns) to thoroughly research a topic they knew nothing about. I mean really research. Sometimes they interviewed professors etc. and at the dinner they had to give a presentation and explain what they had learned and what life questions it raised.
They were all smart folk with expertise of their own and she said it was fascinating to go reasonably in depth into something they may have never thought about before.
She also said when she was the person to prepare it was pretty nerve wracking because the group would really expect a high level of knowledge and prep.
I thought it was an interesting idea.