November 29, 2021
Recently folks that I respect and trust suggested that I add motivational speaker to my service offerings. What do you think?
The past two and a half days I attended a Start Up Weekend hosted by Navigate Small Business at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in Corner Brook, NL. This weekend is a whirlwind of activity from pitching business ideas on Friday night to launching a business over the weekend. The event wraps up with pitching to a panel of judges on Sunday afternoon. The high quality ideas of the teams and their hard work always impresses me.
Keynote Address
This year, organizers asked me to give a keynote address to participants during our lunch break on Saturday. My start up experience started back in 2017 when I decided to make my first ever pitch. Since then, I was a mentor in 2018, and a pitch coach in 2019. The pandemic cancelled the event in 2020. This year I was once again a pitch coach. The keynote was something new to me. As a result of my own experiences, I decided my speech would be about my own startup weekend memories and my journey to becoming an entrepreneur.
Thankfully, my speech went off without a hitch! Folks laughed when I wanted them to. Unexpectedly, the audience gave me a round of applause during my talk! Likewise, what happened next surprised me. Some members of the audience that I truly and deeply respect gave me a hug. They told me I must become a motivational speaker. Others told me I inspired them. Late on Saturday, a shy, young man, came up to tell me how my speech touched him. He was not even participating in the startup weekend. Rather, he was a volunteer who was sitting with his friends during lunch and heard me speak. A day later, on Sunday, another person came up to me and said, “You touched me yesterday.” She said she did not know my story of how I became an entrepreneur. We only met after I started my business.
Getting paid to talk for a living?
My often family teases me about how much I can talk. My husband always add more time to my expected return time home when I am out. He knows I will inevitably meet someone along the way and stop to talk. I am very confident about public speaking. I should be; it is my job after all!
A natural storyteller with a passion for her heritage, Carole often says she is in her dream job as she gets to talk for a living.
The response from my keynote this weekend is making me pause and reflect. Consequently, I am asking myself, “Is motivational speaker in my future? Should I be adding that to my service offerings at Spicer Facilitation & Learning?”
I would love to hear your thoughts. Please drop me a comment on social media, send me an email, or give me a call. ~ Carole
