Broadening my comfort zone
Last month I presented a webinar for Higher Logic titled "Engaging NEW Members with Old Ideas". But this isn't about the webinar content itself as much as the process. I had been contacted by Lauren Wolfe, who sits with me on the AOTF board and the Young Association Executives Committee, about submitting a proposal. I did so without really thinking about it; I felt confident about my knowledge of membership and association communications, and thought I could add a new perspective and fresh ideas to the topic. But as the time came closer, I realized what I was getting myself in to. "What am I doing?", I thought. "I'm not an expert on anything."
The idea that, at 28 years old, I would be presenting content to my peer group was intimidating. I have no fear of public speaking, and if you put me on a stage I'll do karaoke in front of any crowd. I've presented to my membership at various meetings without so much as batting an eyelash. So why was I so intimidated by addressing my peers?
It got worse when I found out that it had been approved for CAE credit. I'm not even a CAE (yet)! These people theoretically know so much more than me! And then I was told that the final count was over 450 registrants. Oh, and people I've worked for in the past were registered to be on the call. JUST GREAT.
But that day, I just... stopped stressing about it. Because I knew it wouldn't achieve anything. I had written a presentation I was proud of, practiced it in my head and out loud, worked on my timing, and felt comfortable that I could answer any question that came my way. And you know what? I did just fine. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Being a young association professional can be scary, but I'm so, so glad that I took this risk and put myself out there. We all have to. "Young" doesn't have to mean "inexperienced", and we need to break that stereotype.
What has been the scariest professional experience of your career thus far?
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Comments
The scariest experience of my professional career so far was a similar situation. I was 34 years old and had been working for my association at the time for just about a year. I, too, was asked to speak at an event. At the time, other than TAing in grad school, I had done very little public speaking, but I agreed. Shortly after, I received the agenda for the 2-day event, and discovered that I'd been scheduled to produce the content for 1 1/2 of those days. After a freakout, I put my head down and made it happen (no, I did not deliver it all myself, thus learning an important lesson in delegating as well as public speaking). It was hard and terrifying, but not backing out benefited me in numerous ways, not least of which was that I've never been scared to speak in public again.
Posted by: Elizabeth Engel | March 25, 2011 12:25 PM