I had the honor and privilege to present the motivational talk at the CyberSec AHM meeting at Infosys today. ~400+ listeners across various Infosys DCs. Mindboggling. This was indeed one of the best stages I got to share my story and my views.
It’s been a while since I delivered the motivational talk on “How to achieve your impossible dream”. In which I share my journey and derive 3 points as a takeaway for the audience. This was my 16th talk so I was very relaxed, dare I say even overconfident about my material. Over the years, speaking on the same points can be tiresome. So I thought of adding a few additional pointers based on the pandemic experience. That idea excited me. I reworked the key sections of my script. Now that new elements were added, just a day before the event, I wondered, if that was the smart thing to change the well-practiced script.
The nervousness kicked in. The only way to handle this was to practice this new script, to be comfortable with it. I practiced and practiced but thoughts such as “Is it good enough? Could I do any better?” kept me awake throughout the night.
I have a routine. 1 hr. before the actual talk time, I drop everything. I focus on being calm. I put on my headphones and listen to happy music or a podcast by Mr. Harsha Bhogle. This ensures I am distracted from all the worrisome thoughts. That’s exactly what I was doing before today’s talk as well. Just then. Ping. The CyberSec HR pinged me and asked if I could join the Webex link a little earlier than planned. I took a sip of water, removed my headphones, and said “Sure”.
I usually record myself when I am delivering my talk to identify areas for improvement. This time too, I did the same. While I reviewed my recording post the talk, I found many areas for improvement still I couldn’t help but smile as I was very satisfied with this talk.
As the writers like readers to read, the stage performers like the audience to engage. Post my talk, the good people of the CyberSec unit, had many thoughtful questions for me. I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with them and tried my best to answer each question.
The positive feedback I received over the Webex chat was overwhelming. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I loved it as I read and re-read the chat feedback from the audience. Many of the audience members also reached out to me personally to thank me and appreciate me.
I was humbled by this feedback and their encouragement. This has been an absolute privilege and an incredible experience.
Thank you to the HR team of Infosys, Cybersec unit, and thank you Infosys.
P.S – A few of the folks from the audience asked me, what is the one thing I do to improve my communication skills? My answer to that is – I read each day a few pages from a book, out loud. Simple.