Today I gave a keynote speech at the 25th anniversary of the “What’s Up Down South” Economic Development Conference, Southern Utah’s largest business gathering each year. Normally the conference is held in beautiful St. George but because of COVID this year the conference was held online.
You know it’s said that public speaking is the number one fear for a lot of people, but for me I’m fine to public speak…it’s private speaking that terrifies me! Private speaking is where you sit in a room alone and speak into an HD camera (which was obviously invented by someone not old enough to have wrinkles yet) and all you get to see is your own face looking back at you on your screen…I find that far more terrifying than a live audience!
Knowing how much harder it is to speak at these online conferences I can only imagine how much harder it is for those responsible to organize and coordinate these online events with keynote speakers, multiple break out speakers, live Q&A, a thousand plus attendees, and making sure the tech all works perfectly and the transitions all turn out smooth….no stress at all in that!!! I have to say to the organizers of today’s event – GREAT JOB! You pulled it off beautifully and I hope you all get some much needed relaxation and rest because you all deserve it!
When those organizers first approached me to invite me to speak at their conference I realized I’d spoken at this same conference 12 years ago in 2009. It’s crazy to think back on all that’s changed over the course of those 12 years: My kids went from being little kids to grown adults with little kids of their own. I went from being a newlywed to becoming a Grandmother. My company went from growing like crazy to getting successfully sold. And I went from working 20 hour days as an entrepreneur to working 20 hour days as an angel investor and philanthropist…yikes – typing that last sentence just helped me realize that my 20 hour days obviously missed the memo on changing over the last 12 years which means I’ve got some serious catching up to do!!!
What’s Up is that it’s good to look back at life to figure what missed the memo about changing in your life. It’s obvious that what’s up for me is the need to slow down. Now you get to figure out what’s up for you 🙂
~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )