My Worst Public Speaking Moment 😬

You know that recurring nightmare you have about public speaking, where you get on stage and the worst thing imaginable happens?

Maybe it’s forgetting your lines, or being naked on stage, not having a voice…

That nightmare you have? Well, that actually happened to me in real life a few years ago.

I scored my biggest speaking gig to date. I got the chance to speak in front of hundreds of entrepreneurs about how to legally protect their online businesses at one of the biggest conferences in our industry.

But I didn’t lose my voice or forget my lines — it was worse than that.

How I Dealt With My Worst Public Speaking Moment

So here’s how it went down:

Me and my friend were frantically searching for the room where I was set to give a talk, but we thought we couldn’t find it because one of the biggest fitness stars you’ve all heard of was currently teaching a very sweaty, very stinky class in the room the conference organizers told me I was set to be in.

“That can’t be my room,” I said, “[superstar fitness lady] is teaching in there right now!”

Turns out – it was the right room. And superstar fitness lady wrapped up just in time for me to walk into a hot, steamy, wet, sweaty, disgusting room with no chairs, no projector, and…. no time to set anything up.

Perfect! It wasn’t like I was nervous or anything. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Luckily I’d brought a friend with me, and we sprang into action.

She recruited people in the room to set up the chairs (there’s nothing like having your attendees have to set up your chairs for you), while I frantically tried to get my presentation setup on my MacBook.

Can you imagine talking to 100s of entrepreneurs about LEGAL stuff for over an hour….while the room smells like B.O.? I’m shocked anyone stayed 🤣

In the end, the talk went great. It’s been a few years and I still get sales from it.

But that talk — and the dozens of frantic DMs and emails I’ve gotten since then from you — taught me something really important when it comes to speaking in your business:

You’ve got to be prepared for anything to happen both before, during and after your talk.

You’ve got to have the right speaker contract that protects your intellectual property, says what happens if the event gets cancelled, and so much more.

And the day of — make sure no one’s teaching a sweaty fitness class in your room right before you speak.

But there’s actually a lot you need to know about legally protecting yourself, your content, your intellectual property and how/whether you get paid from speaking gigs — which is why I recorded this week’s new On Your Terms™️ podcast episode for you on how to legally protect your speaking gigs.

🎙 Listen to Episode 71 “Legal Tips for Speaking Engagements” of On Your Terms™️ here!👇

PS. You want to make sure you legally protect your business, your content and your IP when speaking on stage, podcasts & online. This week, I’m teaching you exactly how to do just that on On Your Terms™️. Listen on my website, Spotify, or Apple now.