Talks 2.0 - Lesson learned
Photo credit: Nelson Reis. That’s me on the right.
Yesterday I did a short 15-minute talk about the motivation of being an entrepreneur at the Talks 2.0 event in Porto, Portugal, for an audience of 350 students and young professionals.
In a line-up of 9 speakers I was second. And that made me nervous as hell: the audience was tough, clapping was strictly formal. The welcome notes were all cold, formal and some times even political - and almost all the speakers had either a suit or a blazer on.
I also quickly realized that almost all of the speakers were entrepreneurs with experience in raising capital - which is sort of a different league for me and my humble experience of growing slowly and in a financially sustainable way (or at lesat that’s what I try to do).
Here’s why I was nervous: I had prepared 15 minutes with an hippie, almost esoteric approach on the motivations, spreading of opportunities and transparency in the way I try to choose my paths. I had prepared a speech where I would make clear that
- I have no rules - everyone has it’s own reasons and motivations to be an entrepreneur and build something
- Lies attract liers, honesty attracts honest people
- We are free to build our own context, build our own luck
- We are like farmers, spreading opportunities like seeds
- You should be true to yourself, to who you are
- The motivation to build a company should be true to who you are
- The company should be true to itself and those who work there
- The more transparent your company is, the easier you’ll attract people and clients that like it for what it really is - and for what it does best
- And so on… (audio will - I hope - be available soon)
While the first speaker was up there and sharing his ideas about success and failure at his business, I kept thinking if I shouldn’t change what I had planned. Maybe I should be more practical. Talk about numbers, rules, business experience, how to treat your clients, etc. And be formal. Hell, if I could I’d geven run to the next store and get a blazer.
I took five minutes to get the answer to that: don’t change a thing. And suddenly it was as clear as water: just apply what your speech praises, be true to yourself and what you are. I gave the speech just as intended. And it went REALLY well - not just for me.
Never I had gotten so positive feedback (both through twitter and at the coffee break) from so many people. What really hit me was this one guy that came up to me and asked: “How did you do that - what is the trick to be so convincing and transparent, and transmit a message so well on the stage?”. You know the answer: be true to yourself and to what you are.
Sidenotes: Excellent organization. Both young and experienced, mostly inspiring speakers. Full house for a saturday afternoon. A shame I couldn’t make it to the networking dinner.
