Robyn O'Brien

Last year, I was asked to give a presentation. I was totally intimidated before I took the stage, and the week prior I had wanted to call the group organizing the event and cancel, telling them that my kids needed me, my husband needed me, anything to get me out of having to head out of town to speak before what was going to be the biggest audience I’d seen.  

But I leaned into it.  

Because I have learned over the last several years that when fear hits, that is exactly where you should probably be, because it is leaning into that fear, inspired by love, that you will grow.

And so rather than quit, I practiced. I couldn’t screw up the words, it was my story, we had lived every moment of it. So I set the timer in the kitchen on the microwave oven for 18 minutes – the time I’d been allotted for the talk – and I practiced.

And when the morning of the presentation came, I said a little prayer, “Let my heart speak” and took the stage. And in doing so, let love conquer fear. 

So when I recently read an article about ten tips you can take to be an effective public speaker, I laughed. It was about 365 days too late.  

I got some of it right, some of it wrong, but in the end, I did something. And I invite you to do the same. Dare to find your voice, to change the dialogue, to start a conversation, to believe in your ability to affect change, because what you may realize is that it will inspire others to do the same. 

Since it’s never too late to get started, here is a list of the Top Ten Secrets of Today’s Most Successful Speakers:

1. Research — Prepare carefully by doing your research before you even attempt to write your speech. Who is your audience? What are your “take aways” — the most important things you want them to walk away having learned from you? The more you know about your audience as well as your subject, the more confident you’ll feel when you are in front of them.

2. Make clear notes — Write down your entire speech, then pick out the main areas you’ve covered. Jot them down as bullet-points, words or phrases on 3″ X 5″ cards to prompt you during your speech. Use different colors to separate your points, in case you lose your place or work them into your PowerPoint presentation.

3. Practice thoroughly — Practice giving your talk into a recorder and use a timer to watch your minute marks. Surprisingly, having a recorder running puts pressure on you to know your material. From here, you can graduate to practicing in front of others. Practice using tools such as your PowerPoint clicker or laser pointer.

4. Visit the venue beforehand — Make an advance visit to where you’ll be speaking, even if you can only do this an hour beforehand. Stand exactly where you will be giving your speech to get a feel for the space. Also, ensure you get a sound check beforehand if there is a sound engineer provided for you.

5. Dress to stand out from the audience — If the backdrop is dark on stage, make sure you wear light colors. If the backdrop is light on stage, wear a contrasting color or darker shade. Never wear black on top, although black pants with a light or colored top works well. If you wear a dress, pick one with a belt, so you can clip the wireless mic transmitter to it! (Otherwise, in a pinch, I have clipped my mic pack to my bra strap.)

6. Breathe deeply – Take deep breaths before you go on stage. A minute or so of calm, deep breaths will slow your heart rate, increase your oxygen levels, and ground you nicely to give a calm, confident performance.

7. Think positively — If you’ve rehearsed and prepared adequately, there is no reason not to believe in yourself. Visualize no other outcome but being a raging success. Think how much the audience will like you, and how good you will feel after you’ve done it!

8. Don’t rush — Speak slowly to ensure you don’t trip over your words, and don’t rush to finish points. Ideally, set timings in your speech notes, so you know if you are going too fast or too slowly as you go along. Timing checks in your notes will help you sail along at a comfortable, relaxed speed.

9. Show your passion! — Feed off the passion you have for your subject. This will engage your audience’s attention. Let your voice get louder for some points and softer for others; have some variance in your presentation as far as your sound dynamics.

10. Be yourself and have fun – Audiences may forget what you say, but they will remember what you make them feel. And no one will know that you “messed up” but you. So go for it!

These tips were excerpted from the website of self-made entrepreneur and Inc. 500-ranked CEO Ali Brown who teaches women around the world how to start and grow profitable businesses that make a positive impact. Get her FREE weekly articles and advice at www.AliBrown.com.  

Over the last several years, people have shared inspiring quotes in an effort to lend their support and share their enthusiasm for the work being done to clean up our food supply.  From Michael Jordan to Winston Churchill, the quotes have poured in. And like countless others before me, I have found incredible inspiration in them, citing them on the AllergyKids site, at the front of my book and at its close.  

And as I reflect on how these words of wisdom have carried me on this journey, through some stages that were so intense that they were physically stripping, to times of compassion, understanding and hope, I am so grateful for the inspiration, strength and courage that they helped provide. 

So here are just a few that have been inspirational. I hope that you find inspiration in them, too:

“Do not look back and ask why, look forward and ask, why not.” 
~ Herbert Becker

“The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”
~Pierre Tielhard de Chardain

“Walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
~ Audrey Hepburn

“The important thing is this: to be able to sacrifice at any moment who we are
for what we could become.”
~Charles duBois

“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” 
~Winston Churchill

“Always remember you have within you, the strength, the patience and the passion
to reach for the stars to change the world.”
~Harriet Tubman

If you have a favorite quote that inspires you, we’d love to hear it so that we can share it with others and even add it to the quotes that we share at AllergyKids. Just shoot us a message here. We’ll let you know when we get it up so that you can know how much you’ve inspired others, too.  

Sometimes, you just have to put it out there.  Lay it all on the table and boldly see what happens.  

That’s a bit how I feel today, heading into a panel on Role Models for Social Media Week in NYC.  We are going to be talking about food trends, the role that the media, chefs, entrepreneurs and bloggers play in dictating those trends and what each and every single one of us can to do create the kind of food system that we know our families are worthy of. 

No subject will be off limits, which means we will be addressing everything from eating disorders to recipes to athletes.  Intimidating, yes.  Exciting, definitely.  And I’ve learned over the last few years just how important it is to really lean into those emotions. All of them. To not shut any of them down but to bravely step into an unknown space and learn, just as the chart below suggests, so that together, we can: Be brave.  Be kind.  Be the change.

Sometimes it feels as if the world we grew up knowing has been thrown into a cuisinart and spun into something new.  And in some ways, it has.  With innovation and technology providing all kinds of never-before-seen solutions, this progress has been both awe-inducing and stomach-churning.  

Pick your headline and decide for yourself which way you want to go: from technology that enables us to connect with each other in ways never imagined to agrichemical ingredients being fed to the animals we eat, innovation is driving rapid change, as seen in these recent headlines:

• Last week Apple customers visited stores on four continents to deliver 250,000 petition signatures demanding better working conditions at factories making iPads and iPhones. (The delivery made news on CNN).  Just this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced immediate factory inspections, showing that the pressure is working
• McDonald’s responded to the 100,000 people (and groups like the Humane Society of the United States) who told the fast food giant to stop sourcing pork from factory farms using inhumane “gestation crates,” (cages so small that pigs can’t move or turn around).McDonald’s told all of its suppliers yesterday to start phasing out the cages — an earthquake for the food industry.

And as this change continues to happen, often at warp-speed, it is important to lend your voice.  If you don’t think that one person matters, think again.  One person can make an enormous difference.  You can affect the change you want to see.  So start where you stand, with what you have, where you are.  Leverage the unique skills and talents that you possess with something that you are passionate about and create the change you want to see in this world of ours.  We’ve only got one shot at this, so be brave, be kind and be the change.

Intense.  It’s the only word to describe today.  

The weekend had been full of revelations about funding ties between non-profits and industry, an issue close to my heart given what I’d learned in the food allergy world back in 2006.  And quite honestly, I began to wonder, given the enormous wealth, vested interests and interplay between industry and non-profits, if we even stood a chance at open and fair science.  

And then I had an email in my inbox from a mother of three battling breast cancer.  Then another from a 25 year old about to enter the army, more from cancer survivors and then one from an EPA scientist worried about the foods that his kids are eating.

His stopped me in my tracks.

And once again, I reflected on the fact that there is so much more that unites us than divides us.  And the common thread that weaves our stories together is the love that we have for those that we care about.  It’s universal.  It’s a rocket fuel. It makes the impossible possible. It gives us permission to lend our talents. 

And it is our collective talents that will create the change we want to see in the world.