Public Speaking

I am very much an introvert…

and yet I stand on stage and speak to rooms full of people. It’s my favorite thing to do in the world.

Weird, ain’t it?

I stumbled into public speaking in 1989. I was the production manager of a science fiction convention in St. Louis, Missouri. On Friday night we had a banquet with entertainment for 500 guests. Everything was going fine until a group of people, lead by the stage manager, came up to me.

The stage manager said, “The MC for tonight backed out at the last minute. We need you to do it”. Every eye in the group turned to me.

You know that effect they use in movies where the camera zooms in on the character’s face while the background reseeds? That’s how I felt.

The MC for tonight backed out at the last minute. We need you to do it.

The stage manager handed me a script, a long knitted scarf, and a wide brimmed hat and said, “You’re supposed to be The Doctor,” she said. “All you need to do is read the script to introduce each skit. It starts in 15 minutes.”

There’s nothing like finding out if you can do something because you have to do it right now.

I put on the hat and scarf and started nervously reading the script. At least I wasn’t getting sick. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad…

Actually it was great. I didn’t fumble my lines, the audience laughed in all the right places, and everyone applauded at the end.

And I found an ability I didn’t know I had.

Since then I’ve emceed more conventions and conducted training sessions, business presentations, teleseminars, webinars, and interviews before live and online audiences. And I loved every minute of it.

Today, I focus my speaking on a few select topics of particular interest to me. Maybe they’ll be of interest to you too.

My speech repertoire

Transformational

"The 33% Solution - How to reclaim our forgotten abilities and make life work"

What if you discovered an ability you never knew you had that made you 33% better at life?

In this 30 – 60 minute talk I explore the possibility that we’ve been overlooking, and in many cases unconsciously misusing, one third of our capabilities as we go about trying to make life work.

Inspirational

"Humanity’s favorite story - A New Hope for troubled times."

We’ve been telling each other stories for a very long time. Probably for as long as we’ve been able to talk. But there’s one story in particular we keep telling ourselves over and over.

It’s in our nursery rhymes and fairy tales, fiction and fantasy, comedy and drama. In books and tv shows and plays and movies, our favorite story is everywhere. And, fortunately, it always turns out the same.

Motivational

"Life is too LONG to work a job you hate!"

It sounds obvious, but think about it. If you’re in a job or career you that’s not a good fit, or that you downright hate, how long are you going to keep at it? Careers these days can last 40, 50, even 60 years.

That’s a long time.

In this talk I make the case for right livelihood as not just a good idea, but as an absolute necessity.

Adam Nettles - Human Being In progress

Human Being In Progress