My First Time Speaking At A Conference Will Be A Great Story

Source: blogs.oracle.com

I remember when I was just a few years into my first big girl marketing job and my boss at the time, a woman only 4 years older than I was, told me that she was going to speak at a major marketing conference.  I remember being amazed - "You're going to speak?"

I couldn't fathom the idea that someone so close to my age would be speaking at a conference, that someone only a few years older than I was had so much credibility and expertise in her skill set that she would be asked to speak at a conference.  I though, "Wow, she must be so brilliant and so well respected that she was invited into this elite group of brilliant people called conference speakers!" 

I remember briefly considering ... "What if I was able to ...?" and immediately discredited the idea in my mind.  Nope, there would be no way that I would be asked to speak at a conference - what would I know that other people would want to?  Or who was I, really?  Someone that people would even want to listen to?  Ridiculous.

How old was I then?  24 or 25 maybe?  

Now I'm 30.  And this year, I'll be speaking at Oracle Openworld.  

It's so weird to write because I still think very similarly to the way I had when I was 24 or 25.  I act virtually the same, I work the same way, I'm still the same person, I've just learned about 5 years worth of more stuff... and helped shape some pretty cool ideas along the way.  

Then there's that 1 idea that I had, a big risk that we took, that really paid off.  And you know what?  I want to tell people about it because I think it could really help them.  And I suppose that's when it hit me:  Speaking at a conference isn't for some exclusive elite group of brilliant folks - it's literally for everyone and anyone with a good idea, and a good story to tell.  And I LOVE telling stories.  

So I guess I shouldn't be worried about what the audience is thinking about who I am, or where I'm from - or anything about me, really.  What I'm going to do, is tell a great story, and hope that others can learn from it.  Really the only thing I'm worried about now is... what in the world to wear on stage.