Proceed with Confidence: Presenting at All Hands

Hi RevCity Community and Proceed with Confidence friends! In the spirit of Michelle Poler’s amazing keynote speech about facing her fears at Breakthrough 2022, I wanted to share my own story about recently facing a huge fear – presenting to a large group of my peers.  I’m sure I’m the only one not super cozy with this, right?

To be honest, I spent a big part of my life terrified of almost everything. If you know me now that might be hard to believe. As an extrovert, I wanted to be seen. But add in anxiety, overthinking, and constant fear of what your peers think of you, and it’s a recipe for staying anonymous, but also hating sitting on the sidelines. Fear of being judged kept me from taking chances. I’ve had to present many times, but I always tried to have a colleague co-present or at least author the material. People can’t laugh at my content if it’s not my content, right?

Recently one of our amazing customers came up with a great idea to reward their top monthly BDR with 6sense swag. Their team has really bought into the contest and it’s driven fun and healthy competition! Word got around, and I was asked to present the customer story at our upcoming All Hands meeting. Over 1,000 people listening to me and my own content that I had to write. Not a big deal.

I lost sleep. I chewed fingernails. I had a legit anxiety attack. I was terrified. But I knew this was something I needed to do, and that I COULD do it. I’d like to say there was a magic trick, but truth is I just decided I wasn’t going to let my fear beat me. I worked hard. I had my colleagues review my content a bunch of times. I practiced, practiced, practiced until I felt ready, then I practiced more. I played out the presentation in my head. I didn’t realize at the time, but for maybe the first time, I was moving away from that “what’s the worst that can happen?” mindset.

If I can pump my own tires for a second, I crushed the presentation. Zoom chat was lit up with compliments and attaboys, not only from my team but from colleagues I hadn’t even met. No jeers, no laughing at my content, my voice, my face. I even got a callout from our CMO and CEO…absolutely a career first. The format I presented is now the template for regular customer spotlights. It’s done wonders for my confidence and has led to signing up for more scary spotlight moments. Hopefully I’ll even be on All Hands again soon.

I can’t say taking one shot will magically solve any fear, life isn’t a Disney movie. But if anything, know that you’re braver than you think when you simply decide that your fear will not keep you on the bench. So…sign up to speak in public. Go hang gliding. Charm a snake (just kidding). To quote our friend Michelle, “what’s the BEST that can happen?”