Bitten By THE BUG

Ladybird: William Warby

That would be The Presentation Bug.

I'm totally hooked on giving workshops, presentations, seminars, you name it. And I've got one coming up in less than 48 hours!

Your Hidden Potential:
Discover Talents You Never Knew You Had

I am finding that presenting career information is a thrilling experience for me; even better than acting, believe it or not. (In case you are new here, I was a professional actress and singer for over a dozen years.)

One might think that being an actor, in costume, on stage, in front of hundreds of people may sound much more exciting than being a career coach, in business attire, in front of less than 50.  But in actuality, it's not. It's just different. And the rewards are far greater than I'd ever imagined.

For example, at the end of a theatre performance my feedback came in the form of applause, often followed by a backstage visit when someone would pat me on the back and graciously tell me, "Great job out there!" Which, of course, I really appreciated.

However, I get this kind of feedback after my workshops:

"Thank you, Katie, for this insight. I knew I was capable of doing so much more than what I'm doing now. I just needed to figure out why and what I'm missing."

It's truly music to my ears. It makes me wonder, could it be that I just might be making a difference in someone's life?!  Because if that's the case, I can't get a better reward than that.



Okay, But... Thrilling??!!

Via Flickr

The personal rewards still don't account for the excitement factor.  Because how, you may ask, is presenting information about human potential and natural talent as exhilarating as say, an elaborate stage performance in front of a packed house? The answer is this:

It's all about the verbs.

As I describe in my workshop, a person's talent-in the form of verbs- is truly at the heart of every career. And when you think about the similar, transferrable talents going from the theatre world to the career coaching world, you realize that they're quite a few.  The venue is different, and the content is different, but the basic function is the same: I am sharing an experience with an audience. Only in workshops, the shared experience is even more of an interactive, two-way street.

Via Flickr

I like how the spotlight shines less on me and more on the participants. We exchange information, wherein I offer up a new language for why they like or don't like certain activities. They, in turn, share with me interesting and varied examples from their own lives. This real time exchange gives me an adrenaline rush similar to a great performance.


Plus, I really get a kick out of the fact that I'm offering information to people who can use this knowledge immediately, in their everyday lives.  I derive pleasure from giving people a really solid deliverable, such as steps to becoming more energized, more engaged with life, more appreciative of their own resources. Human potential, I've discovered, is something I'm even more passionate about than acting and the theatre.

Yes, I'll admit that being bitten by the acting bug when I was younger was pretty darn exciting, but I'll take The Presentation Bug bite any day.

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