Tom

The early spring sunshine was bright and high in the sky as I laced up my shoes for an afternoon run. As I rounded the pine-tree-clustered first corner, I spotted another runner about 1/4 mile ahead of me. Motivation! I had to catch him.

Catching him wasn’t easy. As I slowly caught up to him I could see the steady, practiced cadence of a life-long runner. Probably 10 years my senior, this guy was not going to slow down. Before I got close enough for him to notice me, I matched his pace for a time–hoping to not be so out-of-breath from my chase when I spoke to him.

“Great day for a run,” I huffed as I pulled up next to him. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked him if I could run with him for a while. (Truth: I was tired!) I stuck out my hand as we ran and introduced myself. He told me his name was Tom.

For the next 20 minutes, Tom and I ran and talked. Tom is an economist for the National Forest Service. Yeah. I know. Who would have thought the Forest Service has economists on the payroll?!!? But Tom was real. A Forest Service Economist.

Tom’s job is about data. Intangible data at that. As an economist, Tom does things like quantify the value of Omstead State Park in Raleigh, NC. Not the value of the land. He looks at the value to the community of having access to the venues, events, and services the park offers.

Tom’s job isn’t limited to domestic parks. He told me that he recently worked to analyze the value of developing a relationship between the Forest Service and the country of Brazil. Brazil!

I was once again surprised by what I learned when I chose to Speak Up!

Manuel

It started early. Even as I showered the morning of my presentation at last month’s conference I could feel the nervousness building. I had to force myself to eat breakfast over a bit of a queasy stomach. I found myself distracted as I wandered from room to room attending the other sessions that morning. My sparse notes are evidence to the fact that I was thinking of other things.

Nervousness always comes. No matter how many presentations I make I think I will always be nervous right before I speak. The key is to have a strategy to deal with the nervousness.

My strategy for dealing with my nervousness at this conference was to attend the session that immediately preceded mine. This would give me a chance to:

1. Find the room well in advance of my time slot
2. Observe the room layout, sound setup, and so on
3. Learn from the way the previous presenter “used” the room

As I watched the previous session, I watched the sound man, dressed from head to toe in black, as he quietly, with few words, did his job. When it was my turn to be mic’ed, he strode toward me and asked, “Are you my next speaker?” I acknowledged my role and followed his instructions as we tested the equipment. After everything was hooked up, he looked up at my title slide emblazoned across the big screen at the front of the room. “Impromptu speaking, huh?” He asked, “Are you a Toastmaster?”

The man’s name was Manuel. He had a strong, smooth voice. He was a Toastmaster. In fact, he was in the process of forming a new club. We chatted for a few minutes about our shared connection through Toastmasters. I gave him a 30-second overview of my talk. I thanked him and began the last-minute preparation for my talk.

As the talk began, I noticed Manuel working the sound equipment. I could tell he was making live adjustments to the sound. When he was done, instead of leaving as he had done for the previous session, he walked to the back of the room and sat down. He granted me the honor of teaching him–Toastmaster to Toastmaster.

Manuel honored me with his words and with his presence. He encouraged me by just being my friend.