Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be the person at the front of the room, teaching a session?
I've always wondered whether instructors and coaches felt nervous when presenting, or if they were somehow immune to the fear of public speaking.
Well - last week, I got to find out for myself when I delivered a 2-hour course on copywriting to an online group of more than 20 small business owners. Now, I can tell you from first-hand experience that the facilitator is likely always the most nervous person in the room!
I have been passionate about education for most of my life and have always wanted to share my love of writing with the world - so when the Team Work Cooperative (a division of Nova Scotia Works) reached out to me s to ask if I'd be interested in developing and facilitating an online course in copywriting for local small business owners, I was beyond excited!
I got to work right away on preparing the content for the session. I included all of the basics of copywriting that a business owner should know: basic frameworks, the importance of tone & brand voice, tips for editing, and of course my best writing advice.
I practiced the session a million times (shoutout to my hubby who patiently attended my copywriting course about 50 times) and prepared a detailed course workbook to help participants practice what they learned during the session. I showed up on course day feeling both confident and terrified all at once.
For the first few minutes of the course, I felt so nervous and uptight that I thought for sure the group could tell. I eventually found my groove and settled into the delivery of the content that I had so carefully curated in the months leading up to the session.
After the first few slides of content were delivered, the questions started rolling in and I could tell that the participants were truly interested and invested in the information I was sharing with them. The questions being asked were intelligent, insightful, and proved to me that my content was relevant and interesting to them as small business owners.
By the end of the session, I was feeling on top of the world. There was never a moment where I felt like the group was bored or uninterested and the feedback I received at the end of the session (which ended EXACTLY on time, by the way!) was excellent. The attendees knew I was nervous and they were so kind with their closing comments during the session wrap-up. The absolute icing on the cake for me was when my contact at Nova Scotia Works received an email from one of the participants that said:
“Most awesome workshop yet. Perfect presentation. Andrea rocks.”
Becoming the instructor was an eye-opening experience for me both as a business owner and as an individual. It helped me gain insight into my own target audience while building my confidence as a presenter. Now that it's over, I'm both relieved and excited to do it again.
It turns out that writing words that make waves, really can have a lasting ripple effect.
Wishing you joy & success!
Andrea