Sometimes you just know at what point you discovered you need to take action to do something better! In terms of getting up in front of an audience to speak this point was at the US Employee Relocation Council Symposium in Los Angeles in October 1997.

At that time I managed the new  international mobility division of an established, successful relocation company here in Edinburgh. The opportunity had arisen for us to provide a speaker and my boss put me forward . I recall I was on holiday when he did this  and so by the time I had come back it was a done deal. I had to have some pictures taken for the promotional brochure and make some travel arrangements. This trip I was to travel with my colleague Kristin, a lovely lady and US citizen who had never been to the West Coast.

I was to be part of a panel talking about aspects of international relocations and I was to cover work permits.  The symposium at that time focused on mobility in the US and the international stuff was still a bit out of the ordinary. 

We arrived in LA - had a good night’s sleep, headed out to network …and then the jetlag hit me. I knew that if I took a nap I would sleep for hours so, as we had a free afternoon before the proper start of the event, we headed to Santa Monica beach. We left just enough time to get back and go to dinner. We were there for 3 whole days. On day 2 I had to give in  and go for a nap as I literally could not keep my eyes open after lunch.  I was raring to go late into the night which is the complete opposite to how I am at home though. I was due to speak after lunch on day 3  - just when I would be at my tiredest. Arrgh.

I had not met my fellow panelists before arriving in LA  but after a quick meeting we decided that we were good to go .

So the big moment arrived I had spoken to audiences before but never at an event of this scale. About 50 or so turned up for this one.  Much of what actually happened is a blur now but I know that each speaker had their own take on their remit and we were not joined up. The topic was really dry. The audience were restless. And it felt as flat as a pancake. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was done.

A couple of weeks later I received a tape of the session - and the audience feedback. I listened to the tape and cringed. My content was awful and it was clear to me - and it must have been to the audience - that I thought so.  I also sounded really tired ( which of course I was).

The feedback I got reflected this though I have to say that the style was not particularly helpful. The comments were more about how the respondent felt about the issue - work permits - and my accent.

One drilled into my brain went on the lines of “Cameron [note ; not Jackie] speaks with a thick accent - she needs to slow down and speak clearly for her audience”. That was  turning point for me. I had broken so many rules on effective public speaking.  No wonder my audience was unimpressed.

  1. I could have found out more about my audience and tailored the content which  was new to many of them.
  2. If I had rehearsed my speech I could have made changes . I had the opportunity to try it out on Kristin which would have highlighted changes I could make.
  3. Speaking too fast is common for many people speaking in public - in this case it was even more important to slow down as my accent got in the way too
  4. Speaking to the others on the panel before I travelled and then meeting them could have helped  with my discomfort on where my part fitted with theirs.
  5. We all delivered our presentations sitting down - can’t remember why we did that!

I was delighted - and a bit surprised - to be invited to speak at the 2000 symposium in Washington DC and that went really well. I suspect that - apart from being far more professional about it - the fact that I had all but lost my voice got me a sympathy vote!