The thought of public speaking has always been something that has terrified me. As a photographer, I feel comfortable behind my cameras and directing groups of people up to 300 or 400, this doesn’t phase me — all part of my job taking control to deliver the end results.
However put me in front of a small group of people to speak, let alone on a stage, and ask me to do a presentation for 45 minutes for any number of people fills me with fear, well let’s say it use to.
On Burn’s night 2019 this was all set to change, let me tell you how…
I took my friend Helen out on Burns night 2019 which happened to be a Friday for a Whiskey Tasting hour at the local pub, it’s her favourite tipple. I wanted to hear about the cruise she had been on over Christmas and just why she loved her work as a cruise ship speaker so much. Helen is a smiley, capable, creative and engaging lady and perfectly at home in front of an audience, she has been a speaker and entertainer onboard a number of different cruise ships for over eight years and she wanted me to experience this for myself, she knew I was exploring different adventures to further my career and to grow as a person. My runaway curiosity wanted to learn more and more. I wanted to experience this for myself and I wanted to overcome my fear of public speaking, and if anyone was going to help me I knew Helen could. The feeling of terror in this context is the fuel I needed to see this through, it sounded relatively straight forward!
Little did I know the journey would be long and extremely intense, Helen didn’t want me to be an average speaker she wanted me to rise to the challenge and impress. Part of Helen’s many skills is teaching and getting results, a hard taskmaster with the intention of getting results. Help!
As our Burns night evening progressed we ended up at a local village hall taking part in a Burns Night Supper, with tickets sold on the door for passes by such as us. With a table to ourselves and lots of ideas to play with, Helen helped me put together a few exciting titles in between mouth fulls of haggis, tatties and neeps. Titles such as ‘Behind the Lens at the British Grand Prix 2018’, about some of my commissions, and an introductory email to her agent to entice her to want to know more about me. The email was sent the next day and a reply from her agent arrived first thing on Monday morning saying, “You sound very interesting, please forward a 5-minute showreel of one of your presentations.”
Let’s fast forward to the end of April 2019 when I was preparing for my interview with Helen’s agent Sara. Sara liked what she saw in my brief showreel and wanted to see me in person to see if I had what it takes to educate, entertain and captivate an audience of discerning cruise ship passengers with high expectations.
My preparation for this 45-minute presentation took seven weeks of intense work, to assemble and practice. Little did I realise that having a selection of unique behind the scenes photographs from the 2018 British Grand Prix from when I was working with the Williams Martini team would be enough to almost push me over the edge. I thought a nice presentation of my photography and hearing about my experience would be enough to impress Helen, but no, Helen didn’t want to have ‘a nice time looking at my pictures’ she wanted to learn about the history of the Williams Team, the Grand Prix — where did it all begin, what is the story — ‘we need a beginning, a middle and an end’ she exclaimed… now, this was filling me with true fear!
With no time to waste and the interview date looming, I then had to research and learn all this new information and tie it in with my photographs in the correct order, and obtain historical images to use too! Once I had assembled this information I recruited other friends and family to listen over and over again to my presentation so I could improve and learn it off by heart in time for the interview, so it would roll off my tongue as if I had known it all along!! Ekk!
My hard work, determination, naivety and enthusiasm paid off when all three interviewers expressed their delight, they loved my presentation and signed me up there and then. They explained I would need a variety of different talks about different topics for the various cruise lines and to meet the expectations of their passengers. Speakers are usually booked in good time with at least six months to prepare. This all sounded great and very doable until…
I received an email from Sara mid-January 2020 saying the cruise I had pitched for in early December wanted me on board as a speaker. I had forgotten I even pitched for it over the busy festive period.
The cruise, from Barbados to Cyprus stopping at 10 ports over three-weeks sounded very exciting, from 5th - 25th March! However, with only six weeks notice I now had to prepare seven different talks with the destinations in mind to entertain the passenger on the sea days. I reminded myself just why I wanted to do this;
I get to see some beautiful parts of the world without having to arrive at numerous airports and all the hassle that goes with it.
I get to meet new people.
Public speaking has terrified me so I’ll get to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ a mantra that has served me well in the past.
I love a challenge and I’m not ready to hang up my cameras and retire just yet.
With the checklist ticked I then went on to write and assemble my presentations and practice them too. A quick thank you to my friends and family who had to endure this (so grateful)!
Fast forward to the cruise itself, called Atlantic Sunsets…
My final list of talks as below with a few photographs too.
I was one of three speakers and my presentations took place at 3 pm, only on the sea days. I would spend a few hours during the mornings of my talks preparing and would also sit in as an audience member in one of the other speaker’s talks that took place at 12.15 pm to prepare me and to learn how others present, neither of the other two speakers was displaying any fear or anxiety and I learnt I shouldn’t either. I learnt to separate from the fear of speaking and presenting as it wasn’t allowing me to think and connect to the work I had prepared. I couldn’t afford to mess it up at the last hurdle.
My seventh talk on the last day took place at 12.15 pm to allow for the choir to perform in the afternoon as we were set to disembark in Southampton on 19th March due to all the closure of all seven European ports we were scheduled to visit.
When I left the UK on March 5th on a flight to Barbados little did I know (or anyone onboard for that matter) how the world I would return to was set to change so significantly.
Coronavirus had taken a grip and all European ports had closed meaning we had no option other than to return to the UK. With 12 consecutive sea days, plenty of food and entertainment, we all returned in good health and pleased to be back on terra firma. We were driven via coaches to the airports we had originally flown from and were due to return to from our final destination in Cyprus.
This is a list of the talks I gave, I’d like to thank anyone onboard who may be reading this for your good wishes and words of encouragement, it really helped to have your appreciation and feedback too.
‘The Way Photography Has Shaped My Life’ - the story of how photography has played a significant role in my outlook.
‘Barbados Explained’ - a visual walk into this beautiful Caribbean island.
‘Getty Images - Photos that Rock the World’ - the history of the Getty Images Library, the world’s largest archive of photographs to educate and inspire you.
‘My Cyprus Story’ - a photographic journey into the culture and influence of my heritage.
‘The British Grand Prix 2018’ - behind the scenes on the pre-race days through my lens.
‘Marvellous Malta’ - a photographic journey into this mesmerising island.
‘Discover Cyprus’ - a deeper look into the history of Cyprus, it’s culture and traditions.
Do you have an event or school or college program that you would like me to speak at? I’m happy to share my experiences about my development and career so others can benefit. Please do get in touch if this is something you would like to discuss or find out more about. My email address is; stella@smscreativephotography.co.uk
I’ll be back next month with a variety of photographs taken whilst visiting the Caribbean ports of Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and Antigua.
Thank you for reading.
Stella
To read other previous blogs these can be found on the ‘Featured’ blogs below by using the arrows on the right to scroll through the past 30 blogs.
