I had an incredible day yesterday MC-ing Run The World, Australia’s biggest conference for female entrepreneurs.
We had 400 attendees come along to connect with each other and be inspired by the 8 speakers, who were all top Australian women entrepreneurs.
It was my job to get the audience excited, introduce the speakers, moderate Q&A and keep the event flowing nicely.
During the breaks, a number of attendees came up to ask me about my work. One of them said:
“I hear you helped Sheryl [the event founder] with media training. It’s something I need. So, is that something that you do? Media training?”
Media training? I’d worked with Sheryl on her pitching and public speaking. What was media training anyway? And in that split second, I remembered Sheryl mentioning how my training had helped her with a couple of TV appearances. That’s what she must have meant by ‘media’.
So I replied: “Yes! Of course I do media training!”
“Ok awesome,” she said. “I definitely need your help. I’ll be in touch this week!”
I learned two things from this experience.
Firstly, I learned how important it is to understand the different types of language that people use to describe things. I had never thought of what I do as ‘media training’, but you could argue it’s very similar to ‘speaking training’, depending on the context, right?
Second, it was a good reminder that we need to be aware of our blind spots. There are always things we’re good at, or value we provide, that we aren’t aware of. We may think we’re good at a certain thing, but it might hold a different value to someone else.
I thought the value I offered was helping people be more confident and effective when speaking to a group, in meetings or at networking events. I hadn’t realised that value could also be transferred to media appearances.
So it always pays to have an open mind. If people compliment you on something you something you weren’t aware of, or perhaps make suggestions as to other ways you could apply your skills, pay attention. These are clues as to the different types of value you can offer.
Something to think about for your Sunday 🙂
