No way I will do public speaking

 ... until now.
Public speaking is one skill everyone should learn and improve. I believe that is part of the personal development (the stuff you do after you have left school).
So, how come? It is not only that speaking is a challenge for me as English is not my first language, so why even public speaking now? Because I want to reach my goals and to do this I have to:

• spread ideas
• express my knowledge
• increase my volume of English vocabulary
• focus on the audience/clients and not on me
• change my attitude

But where does the common fear of public speaking comes from? It even has been shown that people's public speaking anxiety is stronger than fear of death. Very interesting. And it is all about fear of rejection.

Babies cry for and adults die for it = Recognition and Acceptance.

 I am very close to get my thesis accepted (currently working on the response to the examiners). Therefore I need to find a new market where I can provide my services. And to make my name known to the outside world, I have to tell them. And at the beginning this can only be through actual talking.
As mentioned in a previous post, networking events are the perfect location for this. I am loving it and I am learning something new everytime.
Last week I have joined a small public speaking training group in Chermside. Rado, the organizer gave a good overview about how to dress and how to warm up your voice. The guest speaker was Patricia Gibson. She gave a very interesting overview about what is involved in public speaking. Before you dig into the world of public speaking, answer the following questions for yourself:

• Why is it important for you to know how to be more confident and clear in your speaking?
• Why do you think you are not speaking as confidently and clearly as you would like? What is holding you back?
• What will open up for you in your career or life when you are speaking as confidently and clearly as you would like?
• What will yo have to learn to speak as confidently and clearly as you imagine.

Patricia also gave some practical public speaking tips in regards of body language, voice and skills. The fear of public speaking starts in your mind and is shown in your feelings, your behaviour and sadly in your results and this influences again your thoughts. You have to start in your mind.

Capacity of communication is equals to success

Patricia will give a public speaking training in September here in Brisbane. Check out her website: www.TricGibson.com . What's in it for me? All the public speaking tips are good, but mean nothing until you have put them into action. That's why more networking will be on my agenda for the next weeks and month. Also, giving workshops about an area of interest is becoming more and more reality now. I have found a business partner, so we will do it together.... watch the space :)

Join the revolution

You can't Believe in bHIP until You Believe in Yourself – Terry LaCore

Networking - there are rules!

Since I left Uni, I am focusing on meeting other people. This is quite out of my comfort zone, as this means I have to talk to other people about topics I am not familiar with.
I have joined several networking groups and met definitely interesting people. But I also had the opportunity to the the Do's and Don't's at networking events. First I want to thank Jennie Gorman, she is definitely one of the trendsetter here in Brisbane when it comes to professional networking skills. I just met her once or twice, but she is the One!

Do's:

• Be present
• Be interested
• Smile
• Be professional/Be prepared
• Follow Up and Refer

Don't's:

• Give business card without being asked
• Think it is all about you and your business
• Look around when someone is talking to you

This list is just a rough guideline. That are the things I came across in the last couple of weeks. And I surely need to work on myself. Also, every networking event is different, I guess by intention. Some are breakfasts or lunches .. and some are just a come together. Personally I find it difficult to have a meal and network at the same time. On the other side I can understand that is for most people the best time to interrupt their daily work flow.

How to find the networking events? One of the best resources is meetup.com ... just in here Brisbane we have over 200 meetup groups. Surprisingly for me, facebook became a very good resource for events. And yes, you will meet and greet the same persons, but most likely there will always be someone new.

Have fun networking!

Join the revolution

You can't Believe in bHIP until You Believe in Yourself – Terry LaCore

Chemical Free Kids

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have been invited to a very interesting presentation by Dr Sarah Lantz. Dr Edward Kachab .. and herself published a book to provide the information for parents interested in the health of their kids. (see Chemical free kids)

During the presentation it became clear that we are confronted with the following facts:

• People don't want to get out of their comfort zone
• People believe what their parents taught them
• People want to avoid pain and gain pleasure (Marketing strategy)
• People are lazy (I guess that's what we learn in physics as any particle is permanently trying to be in the lowest state of energy)
• People seem to be not interested in what they do to their bodies regarding food, cosmetics, cleaning products etc.   ... is it really so hard to look up in the internet and read some information? 
• People love the immediate effect and they don't see the longterm effect of chemicals in their body, mostly accumulated over time
• Australia is too far behind to ban toxic chemicals, when they are banned in all other western countries. Why?

We need to create more awareness of

• misleading labelling
• what is actually labelled
• tricks used when labelled
• the real toxicity of chemicals (in understandable terms)
• food sold in supermarket doesn't mean it is good for you

And how do we create this awareness?

• Teach the women and you teach a whole family!
• Teach toxicity at Universities and High Schools

After the presentation I got the opportunity to have a chat with Sarah. We discovered plenty of common things.

• The interest and challenges with raw food adventure.
• Why do people don't think like we do :o) (my favourite one!)
• The natural "love" of writing a PhD thesis

 Will definitely have a closer look at Sarah's blog and her book.

Join the revolution

You can't Believe in bHIP until You Believe in Yourself – Terry LaCore

Did you see some motivation?

To get things done most people need motivation. But where can you find motivation? It quickly comes to the question, why am I doing this? What's the point?

Next challenge is to stay motivated. What drives us?

Most likely there is no answer for all of us. Everyone is driven differently, luckily. And you really need to find it yourself, no one can do this for you. Most of the people wait until motivation is given to them and then they wonder why they can't stick to it ... because it is not their own personal purpose or reason to get moving.

Find the reason why you are here. Why have you been given the chance to live here on earth? And don't accept the answer to your first why ... keep digging. You will be surprised.