The Day In Which I Spoke In Front of 200 People

I've mentioned my work situation and how busy I've been. Well, that all came to a close last Wednesday. Still busy, but the ginormous main thing of it all happened Wednesday. Big announcement. Highly important. I dealt with most all of the communications efforts for this thang.

So, about ten minutes before a company-wide presentation is being made, it has come to our attention that there is no moderator. By the time I'm found, I'm told that I will need to do it. Uh. Crap. Me is not a public speaker as I will skipsy all over my words or start to babble with some weird fillers. No way. I cannot remember the last time I spoke to a room with more than six or seven people. 200? No.

I was thinking I might just go hide somewhere, like the bathroom, but I knew I would be found. And, well, that just wouldn't be professional of me, now would it? My whole time in front of everyone might last a couple of minutes max. Basically, doing an introduction was what I was going to be doing. These types of things I can mess up so easily, and not to mention, it was going to be recorded. There is nothing in the world that freaks me out more.

Then, if you've seen the movie Bridget Jones, then you will know what I am talking about. In the movie, she does an introduction for an author and has a nickname for him. Instead of Fitzherbert as his last name, her head is telling her "Titspervert". Or something like that because it's been a while since I have seen the movie. In any case, I was a bundle of nerves for the entire five minutes of knowing about this and possibly stuttering in front of everyone or turning beet red or screwing up someone's name.

Technical issues came up right before this whole thing was supposed to take place. I was told to ask the audience - my co-workers - to simmer down. Now we are looking at twice I am going to have to get up in front everyone. Have mercy.

In order to get everyone's attention, I start waving my hands in the air. I was good and ready to start jumping up and down or doing a cartwheel or something when one nice man did one of those ear piercing whistles. Or, maybe he just yelled. I cannot remember. I could feel my beating heart throughout my entire body (as this happens everytime I have to do some sort of public speaking). And then something inside me clicked:

"Good afternoon, everybody. For those who don't know me, my name is Jenna and I am [insert title here] at [insert company here]. As you know we have a very exciting announcement that we want to give you full details on. We are having a bit of technical difficulties, and it will take just a few minutes to fix. If everyone can keep the noise level down, we would appreciate it and will begin the presentation in just a few moments."

Then stares. Then maybe crickets. Maybe a "free bird" somewhere out there in the audience. I don't know. Then people smiled. And started talking again. Whatever. I should have used the words "simmer down". No, I shouldn't have. I was clearly a professional, right? Anyway, did you see those words that came out of my mouth? No way. How did that happen?

Anyway, what seemed like an eternity later, our head honcho walks in the room, and I'm pointed at to get this show on the road. Thank gawd. So up I go in front of everyone again, and here is what I say:

"Good afternoon, everyone. Jenna from [department] here again. Before we begin the presentation, there are just a few things I need to let you know. For those on the conference call [I won't bore you with all the details/instructions here]....

...Okay, so I know that I'm not the one you want to hear from today, right? That would be [head honchos name]. So without further adieu, here he is, the man of the hour - [head honcho]."

There was clapping. Not for me, sillies. But before the clapping, at the part where I say I am not the one they want to hear from, there was some laughter. Did moi make a little jokey there? I guess. Sort of. I did not rehearse any of this since I only had five minutes of lead time. I was given four little itty bitty bullets to make sure that I covered and those were the instruction-related portion of the spiel. I ad-libbed the entire thing, hoping and telling myself to attempt to look professional and not come off as an idiot and PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GAWD, do not turn red. Mission: accomplished.

What I really want to say here is that I really, truly just hit a major career milestone. Not with my little announcement there, but the whole thing that surrounded it. I learned something through all of this, and when I thought that I just couldn't take any more of this work, the end result was truly amazing. Never in my life have I had so many executives and the like come up to me and tell me what a fine job I did, with talking in front of everyone and with everything I did for this thing to happen. It took so much out of me. So much...indeed. And, perhaps you will completely understand when I tell you that this whole thing...well, it was a bit like being engaged again and having one month to plan an entire wedding. And then the wedding happens, and the day after you are left with "What in the world do I do now?"

That's it, exactly.

I'm not really one to boast about myself much, but it has been a long time where I've done something that I am truly proud of. I am so proud of this because it was a personal accomplishment, something I never thought I would be a part of, and I made it through in one piece with more kudos than I ever could have imagined. If I must say - Go, me!