In the last month, my volunteering role with IIBA UK has put me “on stage” a number of times as host, presenter, or facilitator. I’m an introvert at heart and – while I’m not shy – I do find that presenting, interacting with crowds, or being in the spotlight can be both nerve-wracking and pretty exhausting!
In this post, I’ll talk about the times I’ve found myself in front of an audience recently (both virtually and face-to-face), how I’ve felt about it, and what I’ve taken away from the experience.
Introducing speakers on storytelling and presentation skills
Wesleyan Assurance in Birmingham provided the stage for the first of these events. My role was essentially to act as host and compere for the evening. Although our speakers Simon and Rachel were doing the “heavy lifting” for the evening, I’d not run a face-to-face event for about three months, and was feeling a little rusty!
Our speakers for the evening were talking about presentational and performance skills, and about crafting more engaging stories. I definitely felt that the audience would be dissecting my own public speaking! I also felt the responsibility of ensuring the event as a whole was a success. Thankfully, our team of speakers and fellow volunteers had worked really hard to plan the event in advance, so on the night the biggest worry was whether we could track down where our pizza order had got to!
Insights from the speaker presentations at this event were really useful for me in the events that followed!
Facilitating creative thinking
At our Bristol event in BT’s shiny new offices, I was again acting as host – and felt far more comfortable this time around. In addition to leading the evening, I was taking on a facilitation role leading a group exercise in creative thinking. We used an ideation technique where an ideal future is imagined and described by each group. My role was to ask questions prompting further exploration, and to prompt the group to get creative in articulating their ideas.
I enjoy facilitating group activities, and this was my first time since the pandemic doing this face-to-face. I’d spent a fair amount of time preparing how I would explain the exercise to each group, and in thinking about the kinds of questions and prompts I might use. I felt really well prepared, and this meant I was fully “in the zone” for the exercise.
This event was another great team effort. While I was accountable for the event’s success, I felt really comfortable that we’d planned effectively, and was able to focus on enjoying the content of the event itself.
Presenting a talk on process modelling
Last week, I was presenting a talk online to nearly 150 people about one of my areas of expertise: process modelling using BPMN. I’d been asked to do this previously to a small group of BAs in one organisation. As this went very well, I decided to attempt presenting the subject to a wider audience.
Speaking for 45 minutes while the audience silently watches can feel very strange! You don’t have verbal or visual clues to tell you how you’re being received. It’s just you, the camera, and your slide deck!
My expertise in the topic, and my preparation in building the presentation, meant that I wasn’t spending time worrying about what I was going to say. I was actually able to put into practice some of the tips I’d taken away from the Birmingham event on managing the physiological aspects of public speaking. Warming up my voice, taking deep breaths, and slowing down my delivery were all really useful in ensuring my presenting was confident, unhurried, and clear.
At the end of the session, I took questions from the audience. I was quite surprised at just how technical the questions were. Thankfully, my knowledge of BPMN – and experience in using it in practice – helped me offer useful answers! I received some really good feedback from attendees, and this has really boosted my confidence and appetite from doing similar events in the future.
Leading discussion of a new topic
Last Friday saw me hosting IIBA UK’s regular Brown Bag drop-in discussion session. I’ve been doing this every week for a long time now, and have got pretty comfortable facilitating the chat between attendees. I’ve learned how to shepherd the conversation with questions, how to ensure people are able to participate and be heard, and when to steer the discussion in a new direction. Over time, I’ve got to know a number of regular attendees, and get an understanding of where they work, what they know about, and what they’re interested in.
This session’s theme – business architecture – was one in which I had limited expertise! I knew this would attract a larger-than-normal number of attendees, and I was worried beforehand that everyone would be expecting me to be able to answer all their questions! I spent a lot of time before the event reading up on the topic, noting possible questions or sub-topics, and finding useful knowledge resources I could share with participants.
Thankfully, we had some people will real experience working in business architecture in attendance! I was also able to use my knowledge of some of the attendees to tap into their experiences, or to introduce new angles to the conversation.
What have I learned?
I’ve found this last month to be exciting, energising, and inspiring. I’m looking forward to future events and finding more opportunities to interact with the BA community. While I’m not actively seeking to stand in the spotlight, I’m feeling much more comfortable in front of an audience!
These are my key takeaways from my recent experiences “on stage”:
- Preparation – ensuring you’ve done your research, spending time brainstorming ideas, and generally controlling the things that can be controlled, are crucial to avoiding a panic on stage! The more time I put in to thinking about what I was going to do or say, the more I could be “present” in the moment and engaging with the the audience and the topic at hand.
- Relax – thinking about how your body is getting itself stressed – and then applying simple countermeasures such as breathing deeply – can help you effectively tackle anxiety or stage-fright. Presenting is much easier if you’re heart rate isn’t going through the roof!
- Celebrate successes – it’s been great to get nice feedback from each of these events. Taking time to think about what’s gone well, and to share successes with the world, is really important for maintaining the energy and inspiration for future opportunities.