The Thrill of Being Alive on Stage

I was excited to be invited by UW Madison Annual Business Best Practices and Emerging Technologies Conference to give a keynote on AI in HR and a hands-on workshop on GenAI. Little did I know I'd also end up being the closing keynote speaker on the Future of Work talking about my forthcoming book with hours of notice because the scheduled speaker fell ill. All 3 sessions plus teaching my MBA students meant I was talking for almost 8 hours in a 24 hour window.

Fortunately I didn't completely lose my voice, and the feedback has been positive so far. The next day, I woke up feeling the happiest I've felt for months.

Many people can't imagine doing public speaking for a living and I certainly didn't set out to become one. I recently had an aha moment - speaking on stage is when I feel alive because it is when I can truly be myself. That might seem counterintuitive as speaking sounds like a performative activity to some. To me, I have had to cover more parts of me in a traditional corporate role than being on stage as a speaker. I felt FREE on these stages.

When I used to volunteer my time to speak at conference as a corporate executive, I was happy to share my knowledge, but now that it's my full time role that I've created for myself, I treat every engagement with a completely different level of care and passion.

After coaching clients on public speaking the past year, I realized it's more than the craft of speaking that gets people on (the right) stages. It is also the networking skills and personal branding that enabled me to expand my speaking business to multiple continents within a year. I've been working on a Thought Leadership program and will be hosting an in-person 3-hour Masterclass next Monday, Oct 7th in Chicago. (Respond to this email if you'd like an invite - I read all of your replies myself!)

If you are just interested in meeting people in the community, I'm hosting an exclusive data meet up on Wednesday, Oct 9 evening, Data & Champagne, a vendor-free, pitch-free, speaker-free, facilitated round table discussions over wine/sandwiches/dessert about data, AI, and storytelling for data & tech professionals. United Airlines, Dell, Kraft Heinz and McDonald's data teams have been confirmed. Let me know if you're interested in a free VIP ticket!

Ps. If what I share about being a speaker resonates, please let me know in a reply!

With gratitude,

Serena