Staged Fight

I got onto the stage. Groggy from lack of sleep, a necessity from an early morning wake for need of travel, with one too many cups of tea to prop me awake. Unprepared, unrehearsed and unaffected.

The only words I had in my head over and over were my first ones. Short, brief sentences. Nay, phrases. Short phrases attract attention.

As I said my lines, formerly equally forlorn and drowsy eyes were no more and now on me.

Soon I realized that I'd forgotten to smile. I was scaring the audience. I instantly smiled and introduced myself, "Let me introduce myself. I'm..." and see one lady in the audience instantly relaxing in relief. Good.

When you speak in front of a crowd, you wield a mighty power over the audience. You can make them smile, cry and/or nod, perhaps all at the same time, with mere simple lines and gestures. Many people don't realize this power, and many of them don't use it.

By not seriously rehearsing, I was as usual ad-libbing my lines. And yes, I fumbled. Once, I lost my train of thought in the middle of the sentence: I merely gestured with both hands in a vertical circular motion saying, "Sorry, lost for words" and started again. Simple.

On hindsight, by not practising (reading sentences from your powerpoint slides is a serious crime!), I effectively was different and refreshing.

And that was all that was really needed.