I am just back from speaking in Seattle. I was speaking in a room that held 400 people and I was nervous. I was not nervous because of the speaking or the fact that most people would rather die than speak. No- I was nervous because in Seattle I am a relative unknown. Yes, I had a television show (Bugs & Blooms) on HGTV ages ago but who would remember that? I had a book published in the United States in 2012 but has anyone there heard of “No Nonsense Vegetable Gardening”? I wasn’t sure.

“This is my 3rd day and 6th seminar at this year’s show. And this was the most interesting, most fun and most informative of the bunch. Donna I will be back for your seminars in the future. Thanks for sharing!”

My husband popped down to the venue a few hours before I spoke. He wasn’t spying exactly but inquiring minds wanted to know- How many people could I really expect at the talk? I had been going to excellent talks at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show for three days but I didn’t go there on the day of my talk. Instead, I was fussing in my room: adding new slides, deleting old ones and generally preparing even though I was fully prepared.

“I loved it when Donna showed moving pictures of real people”

So I sent hubby down to spy. How many people were at the other talks? How was it going? He took hours to come back to the room with his top secret report. I guess he got caught up looking at sheds and greenhouses and other “guy” stuff. The news he brought was grim. There were only 20 people at the talk he had popped in on. The speaker was young but she had a book with a big publisher so presumably she was top notch.

“I loved it when Donna talked about soil”

I started to rationalize what I would do if there were only 20 people at my talk? How would I interact with them? What would I say that was different? I know from Toastmasters that you never ever apologize so I wasn’t going to do that.

Eventually it was my turn. I went early to get a feel for the room. I started chatting with people in the front row as they arrived and sat down. Janet Endsley, the manager,  gave me a brilliant introduction. I opened my eyes, yes really opened them and looked out into a room with at least 300 people.

I spoke and laughed with the crowd. I asked them to give me feedback and I even provided the audience with my own feedback sheet so I could improve in the future.

“I loved Donna’s sense of humour… beautiful Canadian accent … beautiful slides … pictures of grandchildren … all the personal stories… jokes… growing philosophy…”

I was worried about speaking in Seattle but I found out people are the same everywhere. They want good concrete information swathed in personal stories based on lessons learned. I loved you Seattle and I am so happy you loved me.