I was a substitute at a BNI meeting the other day. One of the members, Tony Meier, was going on vacation and asked if I could represent him at the meeting. I was looking forward to the meeting since I had been a member of the group for two years and had not been able to attend for quite a while.

I got to the meeting early and saw quite a few familiar faces. It was fun catching up with the members who were in the group when I left. I also met some of the new members.

The commercials

As part of the meeting each attendee stands up and gives a 30 second commercial about their business. I was prepared to give a commercial for Tony and one for myself. I had done it many times before during the two years I was an active member.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how nervous I became as my turn got closer. The butterflies in the stomach started churning and I could feel my pulse in my stomach.

Butterflies are a bad thing

After this relatively short period of absence from the group my comfort level had changed dramatically. Standing up and speaking in front of a crowd has never been my strong point. When I first joined the group and had to stand up and do my commercial I was very nervous. Those nerves lasted a while until I got to know the group and had some practice with my commercial. By the time I left the group I was much more comfortable giving my commercial even to groups I was attending for the first time.

I’ve continued attending other networking functions since leaving the group, but few of them require giving a commercial of any length. When I returned to the BNI group I didn’t think I would be so nervous during the commercials.

Keep up on it

In reality most things require regular practice to not lose a comfort level or “edge” whether it’s a sport, cooking, photography, or public speaking. The more you do something, the easier it becomes. You learn to work through the issues and the tough challenges and they become part of your experience. Stop doing something for a while and those experiences fade and you have to relearn them. They may not take as long to learn the second time around, but you are bound to make a few of the same mistakes along the way.

While I still feel comfortable at the other networking events I attend, I obviously need to get out a little more and exercise the public speaking role. It’s not the funnest thing I can think of, but becoming more comfortable speaking to people can have big benefits when trying to run a small business.

Miscellaneous bni, commercial, speaking, speech