The Eye of the Tiger

I've spent 11 years of my careers at one of the leading sales effectiveness consulting companies in the world; a small company with a big impact in its marketplace and a highly-skilled team of which I am proud to be a part.  For most of my career,  I have been involved in development of customized training programs for our clients, but about a year ago, I moved into a specialized sales support role.

This week was my company's second national sales meeting of the year, and I came to it feeling like I needed to prove myself.  In our previous national sales meeting, in Boca Raton in January, I had been responsible for a portion of the meeting that, to put it mildly, was not well-received. I had written a series of training activities for our own sales force that very accurately mirrored their real-life client situations, but were judged to be very similar in focus to previous years' activities and not a good use of time.

At this Summers' meeting, I was asked to co-deliver a presentation introducing four new solutions. Although I have built credibility through my client and internal work, I felt like it was important for me to make a good presentation, especially with our new CEO; my new supervisor; a previous supervisor who has been a trusted mentor to me for many years; and of course our whole sales force present.

My problem?  Although I collaborate extensively with clients over the phone and less frequently in person but enough to be very confident, but I had somehow never had to deliver a PowerPoint presentation to a live audience, despite being almost 40 years old and having worked in the sales performance consulting world for 11 years with a 5-year "break" in the middle of that in knowledge management and sales support at a very large management and technology consulting firm, and I was definitely feeling out of my comfort zone.

I had a 9:00am presentation, the second of the day, and so I opened with a few jokes -- wrapped within a brief introduction of myself and my career for the newer executives and sales reps -- to warm up the room and diffuse some of my own nervousness.  I'll be honest, I brought the house down.  As I moved into the informative portion of presentation, I could definitely feel some nervousness returning, but I think I did well enough and I got a lot of positive feedback.  It's definitely something that I'm happy to have gotten through, and it will be less scary next time, but I know there's some for improvement:

1. I prepared my speakers' notes well in advance, but I wish that I had taken some time to practice in front of the room I would be presenting in.  I'm not sure if that would have been possible this time or not.

2. I need to make my slides less wordy, so that I can look to them to briefly remind myself of my place if I need to, but not have to either "wing it" in how I summarize or look at my notes (which I had on my Kindle) as much as I did.

3.  I had my speakers notes on my Kindle, as mentioned above, thinking I'd look a little cooler up there with a tablet rather than printed notes.  I think old-school note cards would have been a better option than either.

A friend gave me some delivery skills pointers that I think will help me do a better job next time in calming down my body language to both appear and help myself feel less nervous, but I think it was really good for a first timer.  The positive is that I felt exactly like I did when I was a 24 or 25 year-old junior consultant on needs assessment calls with clients.  This is now a situation where I'm completely comfortable and confident, and I know I can get there in my presentation skills as well.

And, last but not least, running.  I've not done well at getting enough miles in the July and August heat, but now that summer is winding down, it's time to get serious again.  I had a very good four-miler on Saturday, and I ran 3 miles on Tuesday morning (on the hotel gym treadmill due to pouring rain) and three miles yesterday with a coworker in downtown Philadelphia, heading from our Center City hotel down the Ben Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum and back.

Of course we ran up the Art Museum steps.  Adrian!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaadrian!

First Date

A little over 16 years ago, I got turned down for a date.

Since this is Earn Your Donuts, and I've got a long, rambling story for every occasion, there's obviously a lot more to it than that. The point isn't that I got turned down, it's that I asked at all.

In a previous episode, I admitted that my random placement on Founders B-2, resulting from a non-selection of "no preference" regarding dorm placement, had played a huge part in making my life what is today. Most of my closest friends are my college friends or people that I met through them. I met my wife through one of them, and took a job in Philly after graduation, which led to the job I have now, to be closer to her.

But luck will only get a guy so far. This is the rest of our story -- my half of it, anyway.

It was the icy winter of 1996. I lived with a bunch of antisocial jerks who were my best friends, my classes were easy, life was basically good. My track record in meeting girls -- women, I mean! -- was not good. I had one date in high school. Not girlfriend -- date. My longest relationship -- if it even qualifies -- was two weeks.

Confidence levels were low, but I decided just not to worry about it. Hang out. Play video games. Lose at sports. Study really, really hard. Enjoy college life.

But then I met her. I met her at a college dance in the Annenberg Center on a Friday night. She was talking one of my friends who introduced us. Her name was Chris (it still is, actually). She was with a friend from home, who was visiting that weekend, and the four of us went wandering around frozen Etown till about 2am. The next night, after a comedian, same thing.

We hung out a couple of times. I wanted to ask her out. I think I even may have tried to imply it. But I was terrified. I did ask her ask to the Valentine's Dance. But that's not a date! I mean, maybe it's a group date, but not really a date. She turned me down, anyway.

Luckily, it wasn't because she thought I was weird or creepy, but because she had a forensics tournament that night. Unluckily, that meant I had to work up the nerve to ask again!

The chance presented itself a little over a week later. The men of Founders B-2 had just returned from another double-digit loss on the intramural basketball court, and I had a "Writing & Language" paper due at 8am the next morning that I had to start.

Meanwhile, Chris, who lived in Schlosser, on the other side of campus, had chosen that night to study for a history test in our side lounge with Kim, a mutual friend who also lived on B-2. Studying in the B-2 guys' side lounge meant that you weren't studying at all. (There was a girls' side lounge -- the floor was co-ed with a guys' side and a girls' side -- that was virtually silent at all times, but our side lounge was mostly a venue for Nintendo and loud, nonsensical discussions.)

This was the perfect chance to go talk to her. But I had no guts. And I had a paper to write. Without the rather threatening intervention from Loic, our exchange student from France, I may have missed out on love. Basically, Loic was twice my size and he yelled at me until I asked her out.

But, I did ask. And luckily for me, she said yes. Our first date was 16 years ago today at Mookies, which no longer exists. Luckily, the site of Mookies is now occupied by TJ Rockwell's, a restaurant well-known to any Elizabethtown College graduate. Tonight, like we have been almost every February 28 since we moved to Central PA, we'll be at Rockwell's, celebrating that memorable evening 16 years ago.

(Schlosser Residence Hall Main Lounge, February 28, 1996)