I am not an outgoing person. It doesn’t come easy to me to just strike up a conversation.
Rick, the other guy here at SpeakOnCruises, no problemo.
I guess I don’t like people I don’t know coming up to me and just doing small talk. Maybe I don’t even like small talk. Not sure.
What I am sure about is that when I am on a cruise ship in guest lecturer capacity I have to be different.
I have to change. I put away my introvert suit and wear my extrovert one.
I don’t try to be someone I am not. But I do have to work at being something I am not.
When I am on a cruise ship at the invitation of the ship, I am a crew member. I put on my ‘friendly’ hat. It’s work for me, but I work it.
When I am in the room before I go on stage, I look for people, even couples who are standing off to one side, looking shy, feeling out of place and I go to them. I initiate the conversation. I say something first.
I had a student in Japan who was small and timid by nature. One day due to circumstances he had to change that. It was incredible. Yesterday he never said a word. Today he was gregarious, outgoing and became the most effective sales person you’d likely ever meet. Just because he had to.
Related: More of the 17 Skills
There’s more to being a speaker than just speaking. There’s working the audience before, during and after the talk. To do that well, you, me, the speaker has to be a starter in the conversation.
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