Angela McCourt 0:00
Let's get ready for some serious shift. This is a podcast shifting Inside Out hosted by your quantum shifter Angela McCourt, we are diving into ways to empower and enable a quantum shift. Inspiring topics hacks and guest speakers take us on a journey around authenticity, challenging status quo, personal power and living a purpose filled life.

Do you have a fear of public speaking, I'm not just meaning getting up on a stage or presenting to a group of people but even just sharing your ideas in a forum where there's more than just a couple of people. The fear of public speaking is actually one of the biggest fears in society. So about 90% of Americans have all felt a fear of public speaking at one time or another. why I'm so excited to have today's guest on Andrea minor is going to go through her journey of overcoming the fear of public speaking. This is a really interesting journey that started back when she was seven years old. And also I love the fact that she gives you a lot of really kind of behind the scenes tips on what makes a good speaker and what is real about how we all show up together, instead of looking at really good speakers as they're different than us. And so she has some really great tips and we go through this great conversation about just all of our faux pas as well as all of the learnings and how she stepped into being a great speaker. She's taken one of her biggest fears and has actually made it her biggest strength. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. As you listen. You can find me on LinkedIn at Angie belts McCourt, Instagram at Angie underscore McCourt or Twitter at McCourt, Angie. So without further ado, let's hear from Andrea.

Andrea, welcome to shifting inside out. I am so grateful to have you on this episode. To get started. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself.

Andrea Miner 2:15
So I'm Andrea miner. I am currently the director of Channel Sales for Everbridge. Andrew started there about a year ago, worked for Tech Data before that, so excited to be doing something new in the vendor community. I have a daughter, she's 30 and live in Phoenix. I have two grandkids one is five one is two, and my daughter is pregnant with her third. So a girl on the way August 10. So we're really excited about that.

Angela McCourt 2:46
Oh, that's exciting. Oh, I cannot believe your youngest granddaughter is two already. That's gone by fast. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, so that was a really great well rounded introduction. I appreciate it. I do have a few quick round questions just so the listeners can get to know you a little better. The first one is what is your morning ritual. So

Andrea Miner 3:10
every morning, I get up at 430. So early riser, my dad was the same way my brother gets up early. We're all like that. So I get up at 430. I like to sit and center and I usually read some sort of inspirational reading I journal every morning to get my thoughts together, set intentions for the day so that I can start out with doing something intentional focus. I know what I want to get done for the day and how I want the day to go and how I want to show up in the world that day. So I Yeah, every morning get up do that.

Angela McCourt 3:44
That is beautiful. I love it. Thank you for that. How do you renew your energy,

Andrea Miner 3:49
I have to come back to my center. So I do really simple things. I watched the sunset. So there's a there's a wildlife preserve here by my house about a mile from here and I'll go there and walk. There's bunnies and birds and it's just so it's so simple. And it's the sunsets the same every night and at the same time. It's not it's different every night. So it just brings me back to the beauty of the world and how how simple it how things stay the same and yet they don't. And that's our place in the world to be that way too. Yeah.

Angela McCourt 4:27
That's so amazing. I love it. What is your guilty pleasure?

Andrea Miner 4:32
Um, gosh, I binge watch NetFlix. I mean, I know a lot of people do that. But I seriously binge watch NetFlix. So I've even had I've had to rewatch things like blacklist and phones I'm watching Jane the Virgin for the third time right now because I watched so much of it. I just run out of things to watch. So

Angela McCourt 4:57
that's kind of like when Seinfeld was like rerunning. Every year on the syndicated programs or whatever, and like I think I've seen every Seinfeld episode like five times, like there's a there is a peep. I'm not the only one who went through that back when before Netflix. So I mean, I could totally understand you run out of stuff you want to watch on Netflix, you're gonna go back and watch the things you wanted to enjoy. But I

Andrea Miner 5:18
think you see it differently. The second and third time, on different things. So definitely a guilty pleasure, huge time waster, and yet.

Angela McCourt 5:31
That's great. I love it, too. Okay, so I am very excited to have you on this episode. And I think there's a great topic that you have been very public on bringing to the forefront. And it's something that impacts I think it's upwards of like 90% of the population. And that is a fear of public speaking. And women are the channel which you can share a little more detail on this, you really kind of that was the first place that you really brought this out in a public forum, about your journey and about, you know, overcoming the fear of public speaking, and then you wrote a blog on it. And now you're here, and I really am excited for you to share it with our listeners, if 90% of the population has struggled with this, then I guarantee it their listeners who will be impacted by your share. So if you can share your journey on overcoming the fear of public speaking, and then anything that you want to share with the listeners would be really awesome. Yeah,

Andrea Miner 6:28
so I just want to just want to start out with the takeaway from everything that I'm about to say. And that's, we look at the outside of people, and we see the outside experience, and we don't see that inner journey of what it took for them to get where they are. So we tend to think that we can't possibly do that, because we don't look like them, or we're not, we're not presenting like them. And what I can tell you is that thing that you're afraid of they're afraid to, and the only difference is they did it anyway. And you can do it anyway to the being afraid of something doesn't mean that you cannot or should not do it. And I was stuck in that space for a long time around public speaking because I thought that because I was afraid I just wasn't my thing. And I should avoid, I should avoid it. And what I learned was Liz, so when I was seven, as young as seven, I was terrified of public speaking, even at such a young age. So that simple, that simple project where we're asked to do show and tell. And we're asked to just just bring in something from your you know, your life and talk about it. I got up in front of the class, and I just started to cry, I couldn't even speak so I could I don't even remember what I brought, I'm sure it was a stuffed animal or something really simple to talk about. And I couldn't do it. So I just sat down and I cried, I was so terrified. And I spent most of school like that, where I just avoided any sort of speaking in front of the class. And in high school, I actually dropped a class because we had to do a presentation and the teacher wouldn't let me get out of it. So I just dropped the class. And most of the time, they would let me do some sort of extracurricular activity. But I mean, you can see I'm jumping through hoops to avoid doing this because nobody could have been more afraid of this than I was. And the thing that changed was,

I really wanted to major in business in college, and there was a presentation in every class, there was no way to avoid it. And I didn't like the way I felt. I didn't like that I felt so scared about doing this. So I decided I'm just gonna have to figure this out. So I just started looking into what do people do, and I would practice in practice and practice. And what I found is that the more I did it, the less afraid that I was. And if too much time went by, I would start to get really scared again. So I would just make sure that I was constantly doing presentations. And then when I got into business, it I mean, I was required to do presentations for customers. And I would just practice so much that I had done it so many times that I just wasn't scared anymore. And it was really the aversion to feeling fear that made me good at it. And people would say, Oh, you look so comfortable. And I wasn't it was just that I was so afraid. So, um, as I got as I got more into business, and I started working with senior leaders, CEOs, and I saw what they did to prepare, and what most people see and what I had seen up until that point was CEOs they get on stage they're very confident they answer questions they don't have they don't pause about questions. They just seem so natural about it, but I worked very closely with three CEOs when I was in investor relations, and what I found is, you know, one of them who I thought was one of the most natural speakers I'd ever seen. When we would drive to an event he would ask, he would have us ask questions. And then he would answer the questions he would we would write his speech for him, he would practice in front of us. He wasn't afraid to practice and to show that he didn't know anything. And he said, the trick is to be so well prepared that they think you weren't. So that was his thing. I mean, he put so much work into it that it looked natural. So everyone, everyone has their process, even these CEOs. And I put this in, I put this in the blog that I wrote, I wrote specifically about Elvis Presley. And it's funny because I just watched his movie this weekend, there's a movie about his life that came out. So I was just reminded of this. But a lot of performers including Elvis Presley, have terrible stage fright. Christina Aguilera has talked about it, Britney Spears has it. And Elvis was terrified even when he was a seasoned performer. So even when he was, you know, had hundreds of performances, I saw it in a documentary him just having a panic attack. And the thing that struck me about it was not only was this man that we are, we cannot, I'm surely that's what he was made to do. He was so great at it, that he's having a panic attack, but no one around him was concerned. So you can tell that this was just a part of his process, just what he did every time before we perform. So they were like, No, this is just all this, he's panicking, he'll get out there and be fine. And then the next scene is him being amazing. I mean, being Elvis. So we all have that thing we do behind closed doors. And that and that's what I was saying in the beginning is that's really the difference is choosing to be afraid, and to not let it deter you from doing what you want to do. And just choosing to just do it anyway. And we all can make that choice. Anyone, anyone can make that choice. So that's what I had to do with public speaking was just to embrace that. It is, in fact terrifying. And we just we get we get to do it anyway. We can do it anyway, even though we're afraid.

Angela McCourt 12:18
Yeah. And then, as you found working, especially working with and seeing behind the scenes, especially the CEO is preparing and practicing. And and you know, sometimes I always find if I over prepare, I do worse. It's not that I'm nervous about it. But I don't do as good of a job with communicating or sharing the message. Like it's like, it's, it was too much in my head, probably. But when you were behind the scenes, you know, practicing with these folks, like where were some of the things that you picked up from them, specifically that seemed to help them in their journey of overcoming and being able to become a natural presenters speak.

Andrea Miner 13:00
I think I think what I saw is that it became a part of who they were and a part of the story that they were telling. So they had to like when we would do one CEO, we went to Cramer mad money. And he was interviewing on Kramer, I mean, so you don't get notes for that kind of thing he didn't have prepared. I mean, those are like rapid fire questions. And Epstein Kramer, I mean, he's, he's intense. So you really have that story has to become a part of you, you have to believe it, you have to be able to, you have to be able to just know what you're talking about. So we sat, we sat all together, there were the PR, the VP of PR was there. And we just had a conversation about our stock and the story about our company. And so it just, it becomes a natural piece. Like when you asked me to introduce myself, it becomes as natural as that, right? We're just able to speak about these things, because they're there. We're just use weave. It is a form of practice. But it's not rote practice where you've written it out and you've stood up, it's just you become natural about talking about this thing. And it has to be very real. There was one. There was one presentation that I did. And it was that it was at a Tech Data event. And it was to the small it was to the SMB, a group of SMB partners, and there were hundreds of them. It was a huge audience on stage with the lights. And I was really sick, and my nose was running. So I had to explain why you know why my nose is running and why I look completely miserable and under these lights and in front of all these people. So what I did as I told the story about going to CVS and seeing the third platform in action, this technology update in action where I interfaced with how the network had to come together to build this customer experience where I could go into the Minute Clinic, and actually address being sick. And I didn't have to see a doctor and how technology is really changing the face of healthcare. So I told that story. And that was just an authentic thing that had happened to me. And I was quoted in three or four industry magazines, because I tied the story in a way that people were able to really understand. But it was only because my nose was running. Sometimes when, when we do that, and we just become our authentic selves. And we let ourselves be ourselves. And we find who we are in the space, things like that happen. And you're you are, you are prepared, but you're also showing up and being yourself. And I've had props it again, in front of hundreds of people on stage with lights, I've had the backdrops fall down. And when you're when you're just really being there and being yourself that that sort of thing just doesn't faze you anymore. I did I, I really worked hard, like those CEOs that I had seen preparing, I just worked hard to make this a part of who I am finding, finding myself in this thing that I was so afraid of.

Angela McCourt 16:22
Yeah. And so when you think about obviously, with work, you're doing presentations, I would imagine outside of work, you've done some presentations as well. I always tell people and give them advice, like if you're really, really, really nervous. And you know, you're going to have to start presenting start presenting in front of a crew that you feel comfortable with. But that will also give you feedback. It does is that like an ideal thing or present in your community, like somewhere where you feel very comfortable. Like what would you say about that kind of advice? Yeah. I just wanna make sure I'm doing the right thing.

Andrea Miner 16:59
Absolutely. I think then, I think I mean, there's lots of opportunities for that, right. I've seen I've seen people in their churches present Bible stories to I mean, I taught Sunday school before I ever did before I ever presented to a group of adults I presented to children. And so yeah, I think that's a it's a great opportunity to, to practice and to feel comfortable in front of people. And, and sometimes it's harder to present in front of people that you actually know, like your family, but I would I the first time I had to present on a stage with lights, I cannot even tell you how terrified I was, I thought I might actually I thought I might actually die that day. And what I did is I set up in my living room and chairs, my dining room chairs as if they were the people. And I set up a platform in my living room and I had my dogs and my family sit on the couch, and I did my presentation three or four times. And it really, really helped. It really did.

Angela McCourt 18:06
Yeah. And then, you know, one of the things that would be I think, great guidance to anyone who's like, Okay, I know I'm gonna have to start doing this, or I am starting to do it. And I'm trying to figure out how to fine tune and improve. Like, what have you found to be the best way to prepare? Is it having bullets? Is it scripting and memorizing, like what is the best, most natural and easiest way to recover from if some fumble happens while you're presenting or speaking?

Andrea Miner 18:39
So what I do is I outline the entire presentation I've timing is so important. And if you're if you start running out of time because you didn't practice enough or if you didn't think through your story, what I've seen happen to people is you can tell when they've lost themselves because they didn't prepare because they start talking about something and then they realize they don't know where they're going. Or they haven't said it out loud. You have to say the presentation out loud you cannot have the first time you hear yourself say it out loud in front of people it will terrify you like the so when you do these big presentations, these big keynote presentations on stage there's a soundcheck and in the soundcheck I always speak because I don't want the first time I hear my booming voice to be when I'm on stage it will it will scare me. So to do it in the soundcheck I've already heard it. I've already gotten over those nerves. I already did it. So I forced myself to do that part of it, which which seems silly, but it's so helpful. But I think outlining it and making sure that the actual story fits in with the time that you have. And then I write it out. Everybody does not do that. A lot of people like to do bullets and I think bullets work just fine but making Sure there's a beginning, a middle and an end. I always practice the beginning and I never take the closing for granted. I, I have at times taken the closing for granted, it's very awkward, because you're sitting there and then I realize I have nothing to say, I don't know what to say. And it's really uncomfortable.

Angela McCourt 20:21
And you didn't necessarily close it out like so people realize that it was okay. Yeah, definitely. That's awesome. Have when you think about presenting with another person, where maybe there's this back and forth my present I did this for? I don't know, it's eight years, I think. I think Sammy was the first year. And then Mike was like, seven years after that with Ignite, which was a partner event that we had. And I always found like, he was so good, he always carried me I felt like he was such a natural speaker. But I always found that to be very stressful, because it was this, you know, he would speak then I would speak. And if I went off whatever script or idea, then either we missed a point that we were trying to get across to the customers, or he wouldn't know where to pick back up like, Have you ever had a co presenting type of arrangement before? What was what was your experience,

Andrea Miner 21:19
I've had both experiences where I've had one, where a co worker, and I did at a an event, we co spoke and coke presented during a session. And it we didn't have time to practice it, because we decided at the last minute that we were going to do it that way. And it went really well. And we ended up being very funny, because we were just because I mean just we had that kind of relationship. So I think that went really well, because we were able to be funny, and we were both very natural. But we also weren't tied to the outcome of the presentation. And we didn't have, we were able to be a little more relaxed about it. But I have had it to where someone will say if the other person is not a comfortable speaker, and they get nervous what I've my experience has been that they will they've spoken over me they get irritable, and I can tell it's because they're, they're nervous, but it's hard to compensate for another person in that space. So there's not really a lot, there's not really a lot that you can do about it. So I mean, the practicing in the practicing beforehand, and developing that rapport is important. But sometimes like you said, you don't get that right. And you just have to really just concentrate on doing your part in that presentation and letting what's happening with the other person go, but that is it can be hard to present with someone else.

Angela McCourt 22:45
Yeah, I always found that I was the one that I felt like I was always letting Mike down. Like I'm trying, I'm practicing. I'm doing my best. But at times, I would be like, Okay, I'm going off script, and I'm talking about this over here. And then I'll just kind of turn to him like to hand off. He's like, okay, and we would go with the flow. But we had here's to practice that write it once a year, but yours to practice it. It is interesting, though, when, when you think about the preparation. It's not just, you know, back to I mean, Christie Kirby came on talked about storytelling, right? And tip nine tips on how to how to actually connect with the audience and be able to get your message across in a way that was in common language in a way that was really relatable. And it's interesting, because that's, that's a whole section of the show. Sure, sure. Who's your audience? What's your message? Right? So I think, when I've found is when I have a new topic that I'm talking about, that's when I'm most nervous to speak, and, or present or whatever, when I'm comfortable. And I'm very passionate about what we're driving what I believe where we're going. That is like so such a natural, almost conversation presentation. And it's, it's, I can definitely sense the difference in my nerves. When I'm doing one or the other, right? What has been your journey around you know, where are you have those newer topics and or you are feeling very comfortable. What's the difference there in how you show up to present and how you prepare even to present

Andrea Miner 24:26
I have had, um, there was a there was a time when I was just starting when I was just starting to do these types of presentations. And I spoke in front of the Americans leadership team. It was the extended leadership team. So there were about 50 people, and there were about 50 people in this group, but it was all it was all of our senior leaders. And I didn't know them, and I was relatively new to the job and one of them. So when I got there, the strategic planner that was running the meeting, said oh, we've cut We've cut your time down, it's going to be 45 minutes instead of the two and a half hours that we talked about. So I had this huge deck. And I had had this plan to have a strategy discussion based on these topics I hadn't planned on presenting what I thought I was doing was driving a conversation. So I was told, you know, two minutes before, that's not what we're doing, you're just going to present these slides. So I didn't have any time to think about it a different strategy. So I had all of these slides, and no story. So I get up there, and I'm doing my best. I know, it's not good. And I'm doing the best that I can. So I'm in the middle of the presentation, one of the senior VPs that I didn't know, one of the slides because I was doing market intelligence at the time. So there were there were there was a lot of data on the slides. And you know, people agree with that data, or they don't, right, a lot of people think they know something different about the story than what's on the slide. So I had a slide up there. And the Senior VP said, who again, I did not know, stood up and said, That slide is bullshit. And I

Angela McCourt 26:04
just, I can guess who this is?

Andrea Miner 26:07
I'm sure you can. So I just, I just started laughing. I just started laughing. And I said, What about it? Do you not like, and I just allowed him to tell me, what do you didn't like about it? And I address that. And then after the presentation, the President and I had a standing call with I've sent a meeting with him. So we met, and he told me my presentation was not good. And it wasn't. And I left for all the reasons that I told you. But you know, you can't say that to the president, right? You just have to nod and be like, Oh, of course, thank you for the feedback. So that was the last time that was ever going to happen to me. I was never not going to be not good again. So after that, I thought more about like what you were saying that Christy was doing? What's the story? Because I thought had I considered the story rather than I was leaving the store to them, because I thought I was leading a discussion. But had I thought about my own story. I could have done that. Even with two minutes notice, right, I could have told the story. So I really just had to think what happened? And how could I have done that differently? Because presentations go like that, right? You don't necessarily. And that's what people don't see when they're watching. They don't see what's going on behind the scenes, they don't see the preparation, the things that we've had to do the decisions we've made in order to stand up there and, and tell the story that we're telling. So that's been that's been a big learning for me is that it doesn't always go the way you think it's gonna go. Some of them are going to be bad like that was that one was bad, nobody except for me, you and your listeners now know why it was bad, but right to the audience, you have a show I do it again, and not let it discourage you because you will not always be good.

Angela McCourt 28:03
Yeah. And you know, too, I think it's interesting, because sometimes I feel like we get bogged down in slide where, and instead of the storytelling, and I've been in meetings where it's been the story, but a lot of slides and a lot of information. And I feel like it becomes the attention gets drawn to that versus the overlying story that's being told. And so it's an interesting shift. I think that's starting to happen where we went through this whole, I would say decade or so I've slide slide, slide slide slides. And now we're shifting to visuals. And we're storytelling more, we're not having or there's a handout that has kind of the data points and stuff on it. So again, it's like, even if you got used to presenting with a bunch of slides, and that's how you told the story. Now it's shifting even further. So storytelling is becoming a much more important skill. But by the way, this is like our natural ability to communicate as humans, like this was the very first way that we were basically handing down information generation after generation after generation for 1000s of years, was through verbal storytelling. So we get sometimes fearful that oh, we're not creative enough, or oh, we can't come up with the story or whatever. What is it? I think it's just a matter of like going deeper to unlock that. What does it mean to the audience? And how can you share that in a way that they all understand, especially if you have a diverse group, who may not have, you know, an understanding of information. So I feel like so much is changing around both speaking events on stage and presentations in general, Jeff Bezos, they don't use slides anymore at Amazon, supposedly, and we started a few years ago, maybe about four years ago. Try not to do that. It was very hard. We're working off one or two slides. Tell the story. And you have a handout in front of you that was kind of like the way we were doing it on my last large team that we were, we were trying to take on the Jeff Bezos style. But it is an interesting shift on top of you already have, you know, possibly some fear anxiety around speaking. And now we're changing the game up. Right now it's moving from at least you had slide where which was the guide. Now you have to prepare in a different way and really spend the time and the preparation on what is the story? How are you connecting to the audience? What is their pain point? So working backwards from that,

Andrea Miner 30:32
to what a lot of people do is we try to do it from the outside in, and we try to figure out what's the expectation? How can I meet this expectation? What do I need to do to show up in a way that people expect me to or to drive the story that people expect me to tell? But I think really what the key is, is, you know, what you talk about, it's really about authenticity. And it's really about figuring out what your part is, and telling that story. And how can you add, how can you as an individual add value and tell the story in a way that is going to be additive, and not the same as the way someone else would say it, we're here to offer a different perspective and to tell people what we bring to the table, not what they expect to hear from us, they already know what they think. So really, we we are sharing our perspective, and when you turn it into more of a story, like you're talking about than a presentation, we are able to add more value. And if we come at it like that, like what I was saying some of the more successful presentations I've done, like the one if you'd have asked me how that presentation when I was sick and my nose was running, and I told the CVS story, if you'd have asked me beforehand how I thought that was gonna go, I would have told you that was going to be one of my worst presentations, because I just did not feel good. And I was only worried about my nose running on stage with all those lights, where there's a big screen where you can magnify and see my nose running. But it turned out to be one of the best presentations I did. And I've never been quoted more by industry or by industry magazines than I was then. So it's, and that was me showing up authentically and saying, Hey, this thing happened. And I just want to tell you why my nose is running. So I think a lot of times when you think about the story and how we can relate what our story is to the message that we're trying to communicate, it makes all of us better as speakers.

Angela McCourt 32:30
Yeah, definitely. I have a quite a few projects where I'm creating and just needing to put a lot of focus to stay on track. And that includes everything from like content and message creation to fine tuning the flow of some of my messaging and work. And when I think of productivity, it's usually around getting tasks done and staying on track with deadlines. Well, my morning cup of coffee can help with that. But it doesn't necessarily tap into patience, creativity and flow. I started drinking these green shots from Magic mind, and I love them. They helped me so much every morning, and I get so creative. I usually drink them before I start my workday. And I'm able to tap into creativity due to nootropics inside that allow you to focus while not being anxious and to enter into flow state easier. nootropics like lion's mane and quarter steps, mushrooms boost your clarity and focus. So you can tap into your creativity and finish your to do list by noon. Seeing how well it worked for me, I really encourage you to try it out as well. If you're having trouble tapping into your creativity, focus and finding clarity in your day. It's a total game changer. I have a 20% off code to share with you guys. It's shifting 20 to zero. To use it, you can go to magic mine.co forward slash shifting, and enter the code shifting 20 at checkout, the best part is that they have a money back guarantee. If you get a subscription, you can get 40% off using shifting 20 For the next 10 days. Okay, now when we think about the preparation, and building up to going on stage, what do you do backstage or before you walk into a presentation What's your ritual look

Andrea Miner 34:27
like? So really, the key is before you ever get to that point where you're walking up on stage, you have to stand up you have to practice the presentation out loud before you ever do that the whole thing you have to have said it the all the whole thing out loud. And the soundcheck is very important. It's incredibly awkward to speak because there's I mean, because there's nobody there It feels very forced and it's very necessary for working out the nerves to actually speak up And, and then backstage. I mean, you're standing there, there's other, there's other people, there's other people back there. I mean, I get up on the stage, you can see it, the thing that's uncomfortable about it is you can see a couple of the people, but with the lights, you can't see everyone. So it's not like in a regular presentation where you can read the room, you you can't a lot of times because you can't, you can't see them. So just just knowing in your mind that that some of these things in the way they're going to be that it is going to feel uncomfortable. And feeling that before you ever get up there, I used to run away from those scary feelings. And then I would feel them while I was doing the presentation, that's not good. To let all those scary feelings in while you're preparing, because they will dissipate if you let them come in before it starts. I think that I think that's an important thing that I learned.

Angela McCourt 35:58
Yeah, definitely, I, I found that I would do a little breathing technique. And it was, you know, maybe three times I would do this before I was ready to write before I was ready to walk up on stage. And what I would do literally was like breathe in through my nose for the count of six, really slowly hold for two, and breathe out of my mouth for eight. So I would go longer extended brands, right. And it always seemed to calm me down, it was like this instant poop all the nerves would just chill. And so that kind of became part of my ritual before I was specially going up on stage because that was usually were more of the nerves would come into play versus just presenting in a room. And it is everybody kind of has their own different, you know, way some people will get in their own mind. And they'll say their speech over and over, you know, in the backs back behind the stage, you know, as you're preparing, and some people will do their breathing some people to find their center, you know, some people will just go, Okay, let me just ground myself because I've got too much energy going on. And what I found the breathing does for me is it gets rid of some of that excess energy. Because if I just go out with that excess energy and start talking, it's a rambled mess, like it's too fast. It's I add too much in instead of sticking to my plan, because I've got all this energy like going crazy in my body, right. So I think for me that that always kind of worked well. With kind of getting getting rid of the excess energies centering and grounding myself back to here's where I'm at. Let me go into this with a clearer mind with a clearer body and you know, go from there.

Andrea Miner 37:38
The other thing I really noticed about it is that it's incredibly exhilarating to connect with an audience like that and to be able to feel the energy and to know that those people expect you to be good, because up there, they expect you to be good, they want you to be good. And I was really surprised that people thought that people thought that I was good, I got so much good feedback and and even Marty Bauerlein once said to me, I hope I look as comfortable on stage as you do. And I thought, oh my gosh, that little seven year old girl that couldn't even get up in front of the class and talk about her stuffed animal was turned into someone were one of the best speakers. I think I think of him as a great speaker would say that to me, like that's a huge evolution and just embracing fear, and just leaning into fear and not letting fear stop you from doing the things that you want to do in life.

Angela McCourt 38:42
Yeah, definitely. I even think about, you know, people speaking up in general. And I think this fear of public speaking kind of branches out into all these other areas to write, it's not just about giving a speech presentation, it's about having a conversation even where maybe they're, or even in a group where they're holding back, they're not sharing their ideas. They're not, you know, really just saying, You know what, I'm going to put this idea out there, regardless of how it's accepted, or how it makes me look right, because that's usually the fear of humiliation and fear of being rejected. Is is really what kind of comes out in this whole thing. I mean, what are your thoughts on that like taking this down to an individual just sharing ideas? I mean, have you seen that or did you struggle with that too, on your journey?

Andrea Miner 39:33
Yeah, I think absolutely. I think any I what I found for myself is that anytime I embrace fear and I lean into something and do it anyway, it gives me so much confidence. And in in those situations where I have an opinion about something it's it's really enabled me to speak up. And I found that there's a lot of spiritual growth there's there's emotional growth, in in facing our fears. The thing that I I was most afraid of I actually became very good at and that's incredibly empowering. There's nothing better than that. And yeah, the confidence that you got from that, and the ability to be who you are and show up with all your opinions and talk about the things that matter to you at work and, and what you think about the things that you would change and your your ability to be brave in the workplace increases? Absolutely. Hmm.

Angela McCourt 40:28
Oh, I love that. Do you have any final words, because that was a dry Mic drop. But I don't want to cut you off in case you do have something else you'd like to do.

Andrea Miner 40:39
I what I what I really want people to know is that so many times, we look at people and what they're doing, and we think that person is different than us. And what I want to say is they are not you are fully capable of being who you are, no matter how you feel about it. And if you just embrace who you are, lean into it, you can do whatever you want to do, you can be whoever you want to be.

Angela McCourt 41:07
That's awesome. That's beautiful. That's definitely speaking of stage, Andrea, thank you so much. Do you have any shares or call outs that you'd like to make, so whether it's a book, a company, a nonprofit, organization, a product, anything that you would like to share?

Andrea Miner 41:27
Um, so I work for, for Everbridge. As you know, I'm the Channel Sales Director at Everbridge. And what we do at Everbridge is we do mass notifications, where it's we're really as a company focused on making businesses more resilience, keeping people safe, enhancing life making, making life better through through notifications. So it's a it's an important thing that we're doing for the public sector for healthcare, for all kinds of different different industries. So I'm excited to be there to be there originally planned to know about that.

Angela McCourt 42:04
very purposeful. Yes. That's awesome. How about books, you and I used to share books all the time, I would love to hear your newest.

Andrea Miner 42:13
So um, the most impactful book I've I've read lately is called 1000. Thank yous. And what this woman did is she, she said about to count all the ways that she is grateful until she got to 1000 she counted the sunset, she counted the rain job, she counted all the little things that we overlook every day, that if we really stopped to think how amazing the world is, we would count them as things that we're grateful for. So in this book, she writes about what that did for her and how that changed her perspective. And you can see this woman's life perspective shift just by counting the good in life. And it's very possible so 1000 Thank yous and VanCamp amazing book.

Angela McCourt 43:03
You know, it's, it's interesting, because a lot of there's so many books out now. And anytime we get like a referral, it definitely helps us to narrow down where should we go. And that's something I will do because I have not read anything lately around that kind of perspective shifting in a gratitude way. So I think I need a little inspiration there. So thank you.

Andrea Miner 43:23
Gratitude is so powerful, especially especially when we're grateful for the small thing. Yes. And help them that's what brings joy. That's what brings joy that it really does. Yes, yeah,

Angela McCourt 43:35
that's awesome. Thank you, Andrea, for being on the show was definitely very insightful, and hopefully, you know, very helpful to a lot of the listeners who might have also this fear of public speaking. I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to be with us. If you liked this episode, you can tweet at McCourt, Angie and let me know and if you really want to say thank you please leave a review on Apple podcast.