I was asked to conduct batches of talk to company’s employees. Each session was about 3 hours. Back of my mind said ‘No’, but my mouth said YES.

I underprepared. I felt anxious. My stomach hurt. My heart pumped hard. I had to think fast as clock’s ticking.

The first session was conducted by the VP. So I went to the session. I listened to her speech carefully, took notes and tried to memorize every word that came out.

Back home I continued to memorize and practiced. Next morning 10am, I presented to over 30 people. It was not great and I felt terrible.

But I still continued to conduct the following sessions. By the forth one, I started feeling comfortable to speak in front of audience.

This experience gave me confidence to do more talks. The biggest that i had was at Busan Marine Convention with more than 700 audience.

My lessons:

1. “If somebody offers you an opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say YES ; then learn how to do it later” -Richard Branson

2. People don’t care much as you do. If it’s not great, more likely they will forget about it. So don’t overthink. Just do better next time.

3. Practice and Be Confident. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will?