Warwick April 2014 "Ain't it funny how time slips away"
01/04/14 15:42
I may think I am good at my job but I know I am not good at public speaking. My limit is talking to five people and as I had a team of ten you can imagine how I found that to be a little stressful. I'm not sure whether this is something one gets better at as you get older or if you do it more often but I've seen no sign of that in my life. I haven't had to do a major presentation for a few years but I have one coming up soon, my leaving speech. I was unsure how to approach this. I've seen many leaving do's during my time at work and usually there is an audience of maybe twenty or so friends and colleagues. Mine is likely to be a little bigger as I have worked there for forty years and know many of the directors and senior personnel. That just makes it worse for me as I want to put on a good show so I leave with respect (and an opportunity to return as a contractor in a few months time). Mess up the leaving speech and that would damage my future employability in this location.
I shared my concerns with my Malaysian friend and she said, "Ask Holy Spirit for help". Now I know that was meant as a serious suggestion by her but I'm not sure it will make any difference. Let's provide a bit more background information here. When I was a boy my parents sent me to the local Sunday School where we learnt about the Bible and Jesus. My Mother taught me to pray every night before bedtime and I had more or less kept that tradition going into adulthood, praying first for my grandparents, then my parents and brother. As time went on my prayers became shorter due to 'family attrition' but every so often there would be a mini-crisis that I felt required specific prayer. An example of this would be when I was to be transferred to a 'dead end' job and two weeks later was able to secure a promotion into what would be my final role in the company. I hadn't thought to pray about my leaving presentation but I wouldn't lose anything by doing so. That evening I asked Holy Spirit for some help.
For my speech I was looking for three things to say that would keep me talking for five minutes. I needed a good intro so I would capture their attention. As I let my mind wander over my career I picked out an incident from my early days that would act as a closure. I thought to myself "It's funny how that happened forty years ago and now has so much relevance today. It's funny how …" In my head I began to recall the words of one of my favourite songs "It's Funny How Time Slips Away" and I realised how appropriate these words would be to open my speech. They had a big advantage in that I wouldn't need to read them from notes, I already knew them by heart. Having now got my starter and ending I only needed one more item and then I remembered I had written a poem about my hobby. Almost everyone knew I was a train enthusiast so what better way than to leave them with a few of my own describing how that impacted my life. With very little effort I now had my presentation and all I needed was the confidence to deliver it.
My leaving day arrived and the "great and the good" gathered round my desk to hear what might be said about me. So did my team members although they were probably fearful of the mess they thought I was about to make of it. My boss said a few words about my career and hobbies, handed over a huge leaving card and a small gift. Then all eyes turned to me as I stood up to speak. What no one present heard as I arose were my quietly spoken words "Now Holy Spirit, give me the confidence to do this one last time". What they heard was "Well hello there, my it's been a long, long time. How'm I doing? Well, I guess I'm doing fine. It's been so long now but it seems like only yesterday. It's funny how time slips away". I looked around at the fifty plus people and realised this was going to be a winning speech, I had them in the palm of my hand. I read my poem which sounded all the better as I had control over the pauses and emotion within it. Then I finished with a tale about "Is it all right if it's wrong?", something I had heard said to my then boss when I started work and now were to be some of the last words spoken by me as I left. (The answer is of course, no, it isn't). I sat down to rapturous applause (which every leaving person gets).
People came up to me to say their goodbyes and congratulate me for my speech. Let us just say that, for many, it was the best leaving speech they had ever heard. I felt that too. Quite amazing, I've never spoken with that much confidence to so many people before in my life. As I pondered on what had just happened I whispered words of thanks to Holy Spirit.
I shared my concerns with my Malaysian friend and she said, "Ask Holy Spirit for help". Now I know that was meant as a serious suggestion by her but I'm not sure it will make any difference. Let's provide a bit more background information here. When I was a boy my parents sent me to the local Sunday School where we learnt about the Bible and Jesus. My Mother taught me to pray every night before bedtime and I had more or less kept that tradition going into adulthood, praying first for my grandparents, then my parents and brother. As time went on my prayers became shorter due to 'family attrition' but every so often there would be a mini-crisis that I felt required specific prayer. An example of this would be when I was to be transferred to a 'dead end' job and two weeks later was able to secure a promotion into what would be my final role in the company. I hadn't thought to pray about my leaving presentation but I wouldn't lose anything by doing so. That evening I asked Holy Spirit for some help.
For my speech I was looking for three things to say that would keep me talking for five minutes. I needed a good intro so I would capture their attention. As I let my mind wander over my career I picked out an incident from my early days that would act as a closure. I thought to myself "It's funny how that happened forty years ago and now has so much relevance today. It's funny how …" In my head I began to recall the words of one of my favourite songs "It's Funny How Time Slips Away" and I realised how appropriate these words would be to open my speech. They had a big advantage in that I wouldn't need to read them from notes, I already knew them by heart. Having now got my starter and ending I only needed one more item and then I remembered I had written a poem about my hobby. Almost everyone knew I was a train enthusiast so what better way than to leave them with a few of my own describing how that impacted my life. With very little effort I now had my presentation and all I needed was the confidence to deliver it.
My leaving day arrived and the "great and the good" gathered round my desk to hear what might be said about me. So did my team members although they were probably fearful of the mess they thought I was about to make of it. My boss said a few words about my career and hobbies, handed over a huge leaving card and a small gift. Then all eyes turned to me as I stood up to speak. What no one present heard as I arose were my quietly spoken words "Now Holy Spirit, give me the confidence to do this one last time". What they heard was "Well hello there, my it's been a long, long time. How'm I doing? Well, I guess I'm doing fine. It's been so long now but it seems like only yesterday. It's funny how time slips away". I looked around at the fifty plus people and realised this was going to be a winning speech, I had them in the palm of my hand. I read my poem which sounded all the better as I had control over the pauses and emotion within it. Then I finished with a tale about "Is it all right if it's wrong?", something I had heard said to my then boss when I started work and now were to be some of the last words spoken by me as I left. (The answer is of course, no, it isn't). I sat down to rapturous applause (which every leaving person gets).
People came up to me to say their goodbyes and congratulate me for my speech. Let us just say that, for many, it was the best leaving speech they had ever heard. I felt that too. Quite amazing, I've never spoken with that much confidence to so many people before in my life. As I pondered on what had just happened I whispered words of thanks to Holy Spirit.