Imagine you are sitting comfortably in an audience, witnessing an event unfold before your eyes and the speaker asks someone from the audience to volunteer. Do you get nervous? What if the speaker chooses you to come up on stage? Does that scare you, a little bit if not more? Do you try to hide, rather disappear in the crowd? Well, my answer to all these questions is a big YES! Impromptu stage appearances make me jumpy. And guess what? As life would have it, I was pushed out of my comfort zone. Now I know why people stress on stepping out of your comfort zone. It changes you, it changes you for good.
A while ago I was in Delhi attending Adobe For All India Summit, 2019. It was the last segment of the event. The crowd looked tired and ready to call it a day. We were waiting for the speaker to come on stage. And when she did, the crowd beamed with new found energy. There are good speakers and then there are people who stick with you long after their talk. For me, Dr Louise Mahler was one of them. I was in awe of the person who so effortlessly shared her observations and tips on improving body language on stage with her ever so delightful humour.
I was about to take a video of her on stage for the 100th time when she made her way in the crowd and stopped right next to me. She asked me to go up on the stage and say, “Hi Everybody!’ with open arms, just the way she did moments ago. I was full of different kinds of emotions, nervous, happy, excited. Everything was just flowing smoothly. At least on the outside. On the inside, a volcano of emotions was ready to burst out. When I stepped up on the stage and uttered those two words with all the confidence I could muster in a state of nervousness, I felt empowered. I felt like I owned the stage and the audience was cheering for me. I had never before addressed a crowd so big, alone on a stage on a whim. Even though my heart was thumping loud enough to turn me deaf, the elation was much bigger. I was happy like never before. I had crossed the bridge to the other side of my comfort zone. The volcano had erupted and to my surprise it only spread one thing, pure bliss.
Soaking in the transformation as I was taking my seat back in the audience, Dr Louise showed us a better way to address the audience and as destiny would have it I got another chance to experience the thrill all over again. Only this time it was even more exhilarating. Apparently, running to the stage, turning towards the audience and taking a pause before addressing the audience creates a powerful impact. How do I know? Because I did exactly that and the impact has been imprinted on my brain ever since. And this time when the two words rolled over my tongue I knew I had ‘Empowered my Voice’.
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