Kidspot Voices of 2014: Sydney Masterclass

A few weeks back I was asked to speak at the Kidspot Voices of 2014 Masterclass - cue public speaking panic attack. I was to join a panel talking about using Facebook as a blogging tool and my first instinct was to delete the email and pretend I never saw it. Instead in a rare moment of courage I decided to face my fear and say yes. The surprising thing? I actually enjoyed it.

Now no story like this would be complete without a ridiculous incident to go along with it and this is exactly what happened the morning of my talk. I had prepared notes and had a stress free morning to calm my nerves. I was ready to look this fear head on and share my knowledge. I was ready to go for it - and that's when things started to go downhill. It started out slowly when the iron wouldn't heat up which was frustrating as I had a silk shirt to wear that was in desperate need of some help. Then the iron stopped working altogether, it broke. Not to worry, I ran upstairs, turned on the shower and steamed my clothes so they were wrinkle free. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to get ready. My bag was packed and I was jumping out of the shower rushing to finish up as the iron incident had made me run behind schedule and I was very close to being late, a poor habit of mine. 

My hair was soaking wet but I knew I could dry it quickly, that is until I realised the hair drying wasn't working. In fact nothing in the apartment was working as the power was out. I tried the fuse box, that didn't work and anyone with a fringe knows that without a hair dryer a straight fringe is nearly impossible. If this was any normal day I wouldn't have cared but in 20 minutes I was expected to present in front of 100 strangers and a slicked back, sopping wet bun wasn't exactly the look i was going for. I thought I might cry and then in a panic i just grabbed the hair dryer and jumped in the car. I ended up drying my hair in the bathroom of the event venue - which was filled with ladies giving me strange looks - but luckily all worked out within a minute to spare. Just as my fringe was perfectly straight I was able to dash into the room, grab my name badge and have about 2 seconds to breath before heading up to speak.

The hair incident made me laugh and was a lucky distraction as it took my mind off any fear and turns out was a pretty good story to tell afterwards. The rest of the weekend was a breeze with lots of lounging around the house and savouring a simple weekend at home.