Robin Sieger Blog

Have you ever been talking to somebody and you felt they were not listening? I have, as a conference speaker I have had that same experience, but with 400 people rather than just the one. I should add it was many years ago, at a dinner where the service had been awful, and the management had placated the organisers by dishing out wine.

Add to the mix the fact that the customers of the client who was hosting the dinner, had only that afternoon been told by the client that they would have to pay more and get less for the essential service the client provided, you have the audience from hell, from a professional perspective. So when 9.30pm came around and they were clearing the plates from the first course, I knew I was at least an hour and a half away from presenting.

I got more and more nervous, my thoughts were about the ordeal I had to face in the knowledge that it was inappropriate to have thoughts of "I want to be anywhere else but here". Finally at twenty minutes to midnight, I was announced, the head of marketing for this company came over to me and said, "Whatever happens we will hold you responsible." And gave me the look I am sure many priests give condemned men as they walk up the steps of the gallows.

As I stood up to speak, I told myself "Do your best". Now should Hollywood ever decide to make a biopic of my life, it would be tempting to rewrite this scene, showing me tongue tied and nervous, standing up to a disinterested and in parts hostile crowd. Then through humour, eloquence, and a blood and guts speech of Oscar winning proportions, I turn the audience around (eh…to do what I haven’t figured out yet).

The client is crying tears of gratitude, the audience carry me shoulder high through the town which they later name after me. As I said that is the film version. In reality they were for the most part quiet, some continue to talk, it was a long 20 minutes. What made it easy for me, was telling myself to do my best, in what were difficult circumstances.

In the final analysis that is all we can do, our best. Sadly so often we don’t though, we go at half pace, we play at it, we allow ourselves to believe we gave 100% when we gave less than 20%. It would have been easy for me to get up, go through much of the talk mechanically, and hope it worked.

The goals and successes you seek, are going to be realised much more quickly when you give your all. Giving your all is no guarantee of success, never has been, but not giving your all is a guarantee of failure.

So should you have been in the audience at a motor industry dinner in Scotland many years ago, when the evening appeared to implode, and a very sober speaker got up at 23.40 in the evening, that was me, and I want you to know I gave it all I had.

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