Kirsten at Adobe Learning Summit

Kirsten: 00:00:09

Hello everyone.

Kirsten: 00:00:10

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking, the

Kirsten: 00:00:13

Early, Early Morning Edition.

Kirsten: 00:00:16

I'm Kirsten Rourke.

Kellie: 00:00:17

Why is it the Early Morning Edition?

Kirsten: 00:00:18

Because I'm in Nevada instead of in Massachusetts,

Kirsten: 00:00:22

and I'm flying to Houston

Kellie: 00:00:24

Why are you

Kirsten: 00:00:24

in two hours.

Kellie: 00:00:26

Why are you in Nevada, Kirsten?

Kellie: 00:00:28

Do tell.

Kirsten: 00:00:29

So the Adobe Learning Summit is, right, is an event that is back

Kirsten: 00:00:35

now, and I got to see my original speaker family, which is awesome.

Kirsten: 00:00:40

I get to see Dr.

Kirsten: 00:00:41

Allen Partridge and Pooja, who I spoke with, like, a hundred

Kirsten: 00:00:45

years ago, and then all my buds.

Kirsten: 00:00:48

And it, oh God, it was wonderful and it's really good attendees.

Kirsten: 00:00:54

It, you know, it's in the, it's in the Mirage and so, you know,

Kirsten: 00:00:58

Vegas, you get to see some stuff.

Kirsten: 00:01:00

I did attempt to play roulette briefly, and then I attempted to play blackjack

Kirsten: 00:01:06

briefly, and I got schooled very nicely by a, a man who was trying to

Kirsten: 00:01:12

help me not make an ass of myself.

Kellie: 00:01:14

Kirsten: 00:01:15

And, so that didn't work and I lost a small amount of money and then

Kirsten: 00:01:19

went to bed, so all good .

Kellie: 00:01:21

That, that seems like a wise choice to, to quit while

Kellie: 00:01:25

you're not too far behind.

Kirsten: 00:01:26

Yeah.

Kirsten: 00:01:27

I, I take out a small amount of money and I go until I lose it, which sometimes

Kirsten: 00:01:30

takes an hour, sometimes takes two.

Kirsten: 00:01:32

This time it took 17 minutes.

Kellie: 00:01:34

Yay.

Kellie: 00:01:34

A new record.

Kirsten: 00:01:36

But, but last night I went out with most of my friends

Kirsten: 00:01:39

and about five of them couldn't be there, but the rest could be there.

Kirsten: 00:01:43

And we went to a lovely restaurant, which was a higher price point than I

Kirsten: 00:01:48

realized it would be, so I feel a little weird about that, but it was still

Kirsten: 00:01:51

fabulous and I got to have amazing food and sit with wonderful people, and we

Kirsten: 00:01:54

talked for hours and it was wonderful.

Kirsten: 00:01:57

So, so the conference is, Adobe's eLearning Summit, so it's basically,

Kirsten: 00:02:04

it's Captivate, it's all the other Adobe related eLearning products.

Kirsten: 00:02:09

And we had key, you know, there was two keynotes.

Kirsten: 00:02:12

I saw one of them.

Kirsten: 00:02:14

And, kind of that's how it's going.

Kirsten: 00:02:16

Obviously you can tell by my voice that I'm a little, I'm a little

Kirsten: 00:02:20

sleepy, but I took some advice from our dearly beloved Bobbie of Innovation

Kirsten: 00:02:26

Women, and I got Throat Coat tea.

Kellie: 00:02:29

Yes.

Kirsten: 00:02:30

Because yesterday or the day before, all the days run together

Kirsten: 00:02:33

now one of, one of my speaker buddies was having a rough throat.

Kirsten: 00:02:37

And so I said, "Oh, you need Throat Coat tea.

Kirsten: 00:02:40

Bobbie says it's the best.

Kirsten: 00:02:41

I will go find some."

Kellie: 00:02:43

Oh

Kirsten: 00:02:43

So I went on a mission and I

Kellie: 00:02:45

Kirsten: 00:02:45

ended up Door Dashing Throat Coat Tea to the Hotel.

Kellie: 00:02:48

Kirsten: 00:02:50

And I had two boxes and I was so proud of myself.

Kirsten: 00:02:52

And I went back and I'm handing it to all the speakers and I'm

Kirsten: 00:02:54

like, "You must have this, you must have this, you must have this.

Kirsten: 00:02:56

Here, you have to have some."

Kirsten: 00:02:57

And it was just, I was moming, so it was fun.

Kellie: 00:03:00

Note to event organizers include Throat Coat tea in your speaker goody bag.

Kirsten: 00:03:07

Yes.

Kirsten: 00:03:07

And I want to give a special shout out to Carasoft and specifically, Anna

Kirsten: 00:03:13

Flynn, who is, I mean, the Carasoft team were four kick ass wonderful people,

Kirsten: 00:03:19

and Anna is a buddy of mine that I've known for years now, and they were

Kirsten: 00:03:23

coming in to help Adobe run the event.

Kirsten: 00:03:25

And they're very, very good at running events, so they ended up covering

Kirsten: 00:03:29

a little more than was intended and doing a lot of filling in and patching,

Kirsten: 00:03:34

because it was back after the pandemic, first time, kind of rough, you know.

Kirsten: 00:03:39

So, so they did an awesome, awesome, awesome job.

Kirsten: 00:03:42

And the Adobe people are huge hearted, wonderful folks who you know, were

Kirsten: 00:03:47

just like, "Okay, what can we do?

Kirsten: 00:03:48

What can we put on?"

Kirsten: 00:03:49

And so it was, you know, it was good to be back.

Kellie: 00:03:52

Well, I want to know, what did you talk about?

Kellie: 00:03:54

You're not there just as an attendee.

Kellie: 00:03:57

You're there as a speaker.

Kirsten: 00:03:58

That's true.

Kirsten: 00:03:59

So I had a specific session on taking a storyboard to a finished project

Kirsten: 00:04:05

in Adobe Captivate in an hour.

Kirsten: 00:04:08

And, so I did that session and ended up, because of technical issues, I, our

Kirsten: 00:04:15

thing is pivot in the moment, right?

Kirsten: 00:04:16

So within, so I started off with my normal thing.

Kirsten: 00:04:20

I put on music, so I was rocking the Pentatonix, and I was up in front of

Kirsten: 00:04:24

the room doing my little dancing around being a goofball so that people knew what

Kirsten: 00:04:28

they were getting, because it was nine o'clock in the morning and it's Vegas.

Kirsten: 00:04:31

So I'm like, "Okay, come on, come on in," and I got a full room.

Kirsten: 00:04:33

And then started out, and there was enough issues with the version and

Kirsten: 00:04:38

the exercise files and things that I, within, you know, 15 minutes was

Kirsten: 00:04:43

like, "Okay, so we're shifting a little and I'm doing this," and I just

Kirsten: 00:04:46

morphed the class into something else.

Kirsten: 00:04:48

And I did part of it as a demo and then showed them what needed to be,

Kirsten: 00:04:52

you know, I needed to show them.

Kirsten: 00:04:53

And then in the Q&A, I did a full "Bring it.

Kirsten: 00:04:57

What do you want to know about Captivate?"

Kirsten: 00:04:58

And so I went into all bells and whistles and little stuff, and I showed

Kirsten: 00:05:02

them how to customize the workspace and bring panels to another monitor,

Kirsten: 00:05:07

and that actually got applause.

Kirsten: 00:05:09

So I was very happy.

Kirsten: 00:05:10

I was

Kellie: 00:05:10

Nice

Kirsten: 00:05:11

very, very happy.

Kirsten: 00:05:11

It was fun.

Kirsten: 00:05:12

There's also a, upcoming software, an, the next iteration of

Kirsten: 00:05:19

Captivate is called Project Charm.

Kirsten: 00:05:21

And for now, Captivate itself is going to remain, it's going

Kirsten: 00:05:24

to become Classic Captivate.

Kirsten: 00:05:25

It's gonna exist for a while.

Kellie: 00:05:27

Wait, wait

Kirsten: 00:05:27

And Project Charm is, yeah,

Kellie: 00:05:29

Classic Captivate?

Kellie: 00:05:30

Is this like Coke Classic?

Kirsten: 00:05:32

It, it is, it is like Coke Classic.

Kirsten: 00:05:34

It's, it's going to be a little weird.

Kirsten: 00:05:36

So Captivate 2019 is the current version.

Kirsten: 00:05:38

It's probably going to be called Classic Captivate, I'm suspecting, because that's

Kirsten: 00:05:42

how Adobe rolls and that's going to exist.

Kirsten: 00:05:44

And then Project Charm is the new responsive version of Captivate that's

Kirsten: 00:05:49

in sort of a early, early, early beta.

Kirsten: 00:05:52

And so we had a test kitchen of users being able to come in and work with it

Kirsten: 00:05:56

under heavy NDA, so they can't talk about.

Kirsten: 00:05:59

And so they got to experience it and I helped out with that.

Kirsten: 00:06:03

And then my buddy, Allen Partridge, who is the lead evangelist

Kirsten: 00:06:08

and like the, the master of ceremonies and captain wonderful.

Kirsten: 00:06:12

At one point, I kind of went up to him and I'm like, "Okay, I'm done.

Kirsten: 00:06:16

I, I got nothing else to do."

Kirsten: 00:06:17

And he goes, "Well, I told them to have you facilitate a bunch of stuff."

Kirsten: 00:06:20

And I said, "Nope.

Kirsten: 00:06:22

Nope.

Kirsten: 00:06:22

Nobody reached out," and he turned, he literally turned, reached out, grabbed

Kirsten: 00:06:26

a Adobe person in a black shirt, pulled him over and said, "This is Kirsten.

Kirsten: 00:06:31

She should be facilitating tomorrow.

Kirsten: 00:06:32

Make that," and the guy went, "Oh, okay," and started handing me papers.

Kellie: 00:06:36

Wow.

Kirsten: 00:06:37

And so the next day, I'm facilitating in this

Kirsten: 00:06:40

room, which was a workshop.

Kirsten: 00:06:41

And it was great because it was round tables of, "Okay, here's your case study,

Kirsten: 00:06:46

and you need to sit down and figure out how you're going to hit these objectives.

Kirsten: 00:06:49

And then you got a five minute presentation to give the room

Kirsten: 00:06:51

and the winners win, earn prizes.

Kellie: 00:06:54

Wait,

Kirsten: 00:06:54

And it was fun as hell

Kellie: 00:06:56

Winners earn prizes?

Kirsten: 00:06:57

Winners earn prizes.

Kirsten: 00:06:58

It was awesome.

Kellie: 00:06:59

I want to know what kind of prizes.

Kirsten: 00:07:01

It was a, honestly, I don't, I saw the box, but

Kirsten: 00:07:05

I think it was a drink kit.

Kirsten: 00:07:06

Like it was a little, you know, sort of mixed kit.

Kirsten: 00:07:09

But there was enough for two.

Kirsten: 00:07:11

We had four groups, so two groups got to win.

Kirsten: 00:07:14

And so that was lovely.

Kirsten: 00:07:16

And everybody did really well

Kellie: 00:07:18

Nice

Kirsten: 00:07:19

and I was kind of the hitter to do extra analysis.

Kirsten: 00:07:22

So everybody got to rate everyone else, and then I'm doing deeper

Kirsten: 00:07:25

review to be a tiebreaker, but we didn't need a tiebreaker.

Kirsten: 00:07:29

So at the end I kind of walked up to a couple people and I pointed at one person

Kirsten: 00:07:33

and said, "Are you doing public speaking?"

Kirsten: 00:07:35

And he said, "No."

Kirsten: 00:07:36

I said, "You need to think about that.

Kirsten: 00:07:38

You've got natural gift.

Kirsten: 00:07:40

So you should be doing it."

Kirsten: 00:07:41

And this guy's like, "What?"

Kirsten: 00:07:42

And then everyone at this table is nodding and I'm like, "No, dude,

Kirsten: 00:07:45

seriously, like, you need, look for a Toastmasters or something.

Kirsten: 00:07:49

You should, you should branch into that."

Kirsten: 00:07:50

And then was kind of telling other people like, "Here's what

Kirsten: 00:07:53

you did amazing, by the way.

Kirsten: 00:07:54

This was really creative" and kind of giving people their, their bits

Kirsten: 00:07:58

because what blew my mind about this group, and these are people who came

Kirsten: 00:08:02

back after a long session, so these were the high, these were the, people

Kirsten: 00:08:05

who are really like ready to go.

Kirsten: 00:08:07

But normally for new speakers or people who aren't speakers, you

Kirsten: 00:08:11

get the flush of the face and

Kellie: 00:08:13

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:08:13

you get stammering.

Kirsten: 00:08:14

You get the body language and you get the ums.

Kirsten: 00:08:16

I had a remarkable low number of ums.

Kellie: 00:08:19

Wow.

Kirsten: 00:08:19

Really remarkable, like I was ticking it off on

Kirsten: 00:08:22

a paper going, "Whoa, okay."

Kirsten: 00:08:24

And then I was looking for the body language and I was looking for the

Kirsten: 00:08:27

lack of eye contact and the sweating.

Kirsten: 00:08:29

I didn't see any of it.

Kirsten: 00:08:30

Like

Kellie: 00:08:30

Nice

Kirsten: 00:08:31

there were only, there was only one or two experienced people

Kirsten: 00:08:34

in that room for public speaking, but everybody did a beautiful job.

Kirsten: 00:08:38

And I was just like, "Oh, awesome."

Kirsten: 00:08:40

So I went around kind of going, "Yes, yes, you rock, you rock, you rock."

Kirsten: 00:08:43

Because we want everybody to be able to do this.

Kirsten: 00:08:46

So

Kellie: 00:08:46

That was impressive.

Kirsten: 00:08:48

Yeah, it really was.

Kirsten: 00:08:49

It really was.

Kirsten: 00:08:50

So I was, I was pleased.

Kellie: 00:08:52

Kudos to you for taking the opportunity to do extra and sort

Kellie: 00:08:57

of point out this is what's really succeeding in what you were doing.

Kellie: 00:09:00

That's not the point of the session we're having.

Kirsten: 00:09:02

Yeah.

Kellie: 00:09:02

But I'm going to give you this feedback on top of the point

Kellie: 00:09:05

of what we're doing in the workshop.

Kellie: 00:09:07

I think that's really cool.

Kirsten: 00:09:08

Well, it was, it was lovely because basically I had permission

Kirsten: 00:09:12

to do that, so that was amazing.

Kirsten: 00:09:13

And, and I'm just like, "Ooh, people who could, who could be part of the family.

Kirsten: 00:09:18

Come on in."

Kirsten: 00:09:19

Because at dinner last night, I was saying at one, at several points, I literally,

Kirsten: 00:09:23

and this will work for the video people, but not for the folks who are

Kirsten: 00:09:26

listening to the audio, so just imagine.

Kirsten: 00:09:28

At several moments, my face went into, like, Disney Princess bliss

Kirsten: 00:09:32

of, like, "aaaah," you know,

Kellie: 00:09:35

Kirsten: 00:09:35

because I was like just, I had my drink and my wonderful dinner

Kirsten: 00:09:38

and my people and I was so happy.

Kirsten: 00:09:40

And Josh Cavalier is on the other side of the table looking at me cracking

Kirsten: 00:09:44

up and he's like, "You look happy."

Kirsten: 00:09:45

And I'm like, "I'm with my speaker family.

Kirsten: 00:09:48

I'm so happy."

Kirsten: 00:09:49

Because these are my original speaker friends.

Kirsten: 00:09:52

I may, I've known, I've known these folks forever.

Kirsten: 00:09:55

And so it was just like, "I get to be with my family again," because, as Innovation

Kirsten: 00:10:01

Women, Bobbie Carlton says, "Speakers need speaker friends," well, only speakers

Kirsten: 00:10:05

really understand what speakers do.

Kellie: 00:10:08

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten: 00:10:09

Like, everybody tries to understand, but unless you

Kirsten: 00:10:11

do it, you don't really get it.

Kirsten: 00:10:12

Like, I spoke on Thursday and Wednesday, everyone's saying,

Kirsten: 00:10:17

"Oh, your session's tomorrow."

Kirsten: 00:10:18

And I'm like, "Yeah, okay.

Kirsten: 00:10:19

Yeah, it's, it's, it's gonna be great.

Kirsten: 00:10:20

I'm gonna, you know," and I was totally calm, which was weird.

Kellie: 00:10:23

Kirsten: 00:10:24

And a little part of me was going, "Where's the nerves?

Kirsten: 00:10:26

Where's the nerves?

Kirsten: 00:10:27

What's going on?"

Kirsten: 00:10:28

And people are like, "You ready for tomorrow?"

Kirsten: 00:10:30

I'm like, "Yeah, it's gonna be awesome."

Kirsten: 00:10:31

They're like, "You're nervous?"

Kirsten: 00:10:32

I'm like, "No, it's all good."

Kirsten: 00:10:33

And a few of my speaker friends looked at me and were like, "Hmm.

Kirsten: 00:10:37

Interesting."

Kirsten: 00:10:37

And they didn't say anything.

Kirsten: 00:10:38

And I was kind of a little part of me worried going, "That's not it.

Kirsten: 00:10:42

That's not cool.

Kirsten: 00:10:43

Because you, you have nerves, right?"

Kellie: 00:10:45

Yeah.

Kirsten: 00:10:46

So just like ok.

Kirsten: 00:10:47

Woke up Thursday morning in a dead panic

Kellie: 00:10:49

Kirsten: 00:10:50

and went, "Oh, there you are.

Kirsten: 00:10:53

Hello nerves."

Kellie: 00:10:54

Your nerves were jetlagged.

Kellie: 00:10:56

They hadn't caught up yet.

Kirsten: 00:10:57

Exactly.

Kirsten: 00:10:58

And I woke up at 5:30 on Thursday morning and was like,

Kirsten: 00:11:03

"All right, I'm speaking today.

Kirsten: 00:11:04

Okay.

Kirsten: 00:11:05

Okay."

Kirsten: 00:11:05

And I was pumped, right.

Kirsten: 00:11:08

So when I get into the room, I'm like, I have enough energy that my

Kirsten: 00:11:12

hands are starting to shake, right,

Kellie: 00:11:13

Oh

Kirsten: 00:11:13

because that's kind of what happens.

Kirsten: 00:11:15

So I put on my music and I start dancing, and I'm doing my thing because

Kirsten: 00:11:19

I can't just stand there quietly.

Kellie: 00:11:21

No

Kirsten: 00:11:21

"Welcome to the room.

Kirsten: 00:11:22

Please come in and sit down."

Kirsten: 00:11:24

No, I mean, ugh.

Kirsten: 00:11:26

No, you can't do that.

Kirsten: 00:11:27

So, I'm like, "Come on in.

Kirsten: 00:11:29

Party's fine.

Kirsten: 00:11:30

Yeah, let's go."

Kirsten: 00:11:31

And I put up on the slide, I'm your cruise director, so I said, "Yes.

Kirsten: 00:11:34

We will be doing shuffle board on the Lido deck.

Kirsten: 00:11:37

Everyone please bring your drinks because the bartender is not so good,"

Kellie: 00:11:40

Kirsten: 00:11:40

and you know, just starting the party.

Kirsten: 00:11:43

And it was, it was fun.

Kirsten: 00:11:45

It was fun.

Kirsten: 00:11:45

I love, I love doing this and I got to do several things and sit in on

Kirsten: 00:11:49

people's sessions and see my other, you know, see my buddies work.

Kirsten: 00:11:52

I, I saw the keynote and I cannot help but be me about it.

Kirsten: 00:11:58

I started taking notes on

Kellie: 00:12:00

Kirsten: 00:12:00

what I would change.

Kirsten: 00:12:01

Like, I was like, "This is good.

Kirsten: 00:12:03

This is good.

Kirsten: 00:12:04

Keep that slide, ditch that.

Kirsten: 00:12:05

No Uhuh, don't do that,"

Kellie: 00:12:07

Kirsten: 00:12:07

and I could not help it.

Kirsten: 00:12:09

And so at one point, we're doing a cocktail hour and one of my,

Kirsten: 00:12:15

one of my dear friends from Adobe said, "So what did you think?"

Kirsten: 00:12:17

And I said, "Well, I, I, I think she did really well.

Kirsten: 00:12:20

I would give her 20 minutes of coaching."

Kirsten: 00:12:22

And he went, "Really?

Kirsten: 00:12:24

On what?"

Kirsten: 00:12:24

And I'm like, "She needs to breathe.

Kirsten: 00:12:25

She needs to breathe."

Kirsten: 00:12:26

Because she came out at 11, she came out

Kellie: 00:12:28

Oh!

Kirsten: 00:12:28

At energy full tilt and she stayed at 10.5 the entire time.

Kellie: 00:12:33

Oh, okay.

Kirsten: 00:12:33

And I was like, "No, no, you need to stop, breathe, let the

Kirsten: 00:12:38

energy go down, then bring back up.

Kirsten: 00:12:39

You need to wave.

Kirsten: 00:12:40

It needs to be waves, not, .

Kellie: 00:12:44

Yup.

Kirsten: 00:12:44

And he goes, "Well people were really enjoying it."

Kirsten: 00:12:46

I said, "Yes.

Kirsten: 00:12:47

And it also made some of us tired."

Kirsten: 00:12:49

And he went, "Really?"

Kirsten: 00:12:50

And I'm like, "I am extra picky.

Kirsten: 00:12:52

Please understand.

Kirsten: 00:12:53

I am not the normal, so do not go by me.

Kirsten: 00:12:56

But yeah, I would give her 20 minutes of very specific coaching

Kirsten: 00:12:59

and like, "This was awesome.

Kirsten: 00:13:01

That was awesome.

Kirsten: 00:13:01

That was amazing.

Kirsten: 00:13:02

And breathe."

Kellie: 00:13:04

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:13:05

"Honey, just stop.

Kirsten: 00:13:07

Literally let two minutes of, you know, not two minutes,

Kirsten: 00:13:10

two seconds of silence happen.

Kirsten: 00:13:11

It will not kill you.

Kirsten: 00:13:13

.

Kellie: 00:13:14

Yeah.

Kirsten: 00:13:14

And then come back in, because the audience needs it.

Kellie: 00:13:18

Absolutely.

Kirsten: 00:13:18

The audience needs it as much as you do."

Kirsten: 00:13:19

And she was wonderful.

Kirsten: 00:13:20

She's, she's gorgeous, she's super fit, she's got energy, she's charismatic.

Kirsten: 00:13:25

Like, you know, she had the good stories.

Kirsten: 00:13:27

Like she, she nailed so much of it.

Kirsten: 00:13:29

So it was just funny because, you know, people were like, "What did you think?"

Kirsten: 00:13:33

And I'm like, "Well, I took notes.

Kirsten: 00:13:34

I'm like,"

Kellie: 00:13:36

"Here they are."

Kirsten: 00:13:37

Here they are.

Kirsten: 00:13:38

Here's my notes, so.

Kellie: 00:13:40

So, I don't think I'm going to ask you what was your favorite moment, because

Kellie: 00:13:44

I think you probably couldn't pick one.

Kirsten: 00:13:46

No.

Kellie: 00:13:47

But I want to ask you, what was the most surprising

Kellie: 00:13:50

about this trip for you?

Kirsten: 00:13:52

I think the most surprising thing was how much it felt like I had seen Josh

Kirsten: 00:14:00

and Debbie and Dawn and Kevin, you know, and, and Damien and I'm, I'm missing

Kirsten: 00:14:06

people's names, like Joe, I'm like, I'm going to drop people's names off.

Kirsten: 00:14:09

And I'm, I apologize, but my God, it felt like I'd seen them last week.

Kellie: 00:14:15

That's wonderful.

Kirsten: 00:14:16

Like, like just within a moment.

Kirsten: 00:14:19

I mean, one of my, one of my dear buddies, Damien, is, is this lovely, lovely man

Kirsten: 00:14:25

and he, when I first met him, he, he's, he's an affectionate, he's a very, he's a

Kirsten: 00:14:30

wonderful kind of theatrical person, but he's not, like, theatrical at my level.

Kirsten: 00:14:34

He's normal person theatrical.

Kirsten: 00:14:36

And so when I met him, he was this very nice, you know,

Kirsten: 00:14:39

sweet upright man from Belgium.

Kirsten: 00:14:41

And Anita introduced me to him and I threw my arms around him and gave

Kirsten: 00:14:45

him a hug because I forgot I had never met him before, like Anita

Kirsten: 00:14:50

introduced him, so he's family, right?

Kirsten: 00:14:51

And the, he, he stood there and he, he stood there with his arms

Kirsten: 00:14:54

pinned and he went, "I'm Belgian.

Kirsten: 00:14:57

I, we don't, I don't know you.

Kirsten: 00:15:00

Um, what's your name?"

Kirsten: 00:15:01

And I, I went, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

Kirsten: 00:15:03

And I backed off and I was like, mortified.

Kirsten: 00:15:06

And he's like, "No, it's fine.

Kirsten: 00:15:07

No, it's fine.

Kirsten: 00:15:07

It's fine."

Kirsten: 00:15:08

And I thought, "Oh my God, I epicly screwed this up."

Kirsten: 00:15:11

And not even half an hour later he's like, going, "Well, do I get another hug?"

Kirsten: 00:15:15

You know, like, he was just lovely.

Kirsten: 00:15:17

He kind of rolled with it and he's like,

Kellie: 00:15:19

Fabulous.

Kirsten: 00:15:19

"I'm not, I, you know, in Belgium we're not quite used to that."

Kirsten: 00:15:22

I'm like, "They're not used to in America either."

Kirsten: 00:15:24

I'm like, "It's not a, it's not, it's not a Brussels thing."

Kirsten: 00:15:28

And then, the next event, and this was, I don't know, 12 years ago, I walked

Kirsten: 00:15:33

in the room, and I see him across the room and he goes, "Where's my hug?"

Kirsten: 00:15:37

And he's done that every event since.

Kirsten: 00:15:39

And I'm like,

Kellie: 00:15:40

Oh, I love that.

Kirsten: 00:15:41

"Yes, That's my buddy, it's my Damian."

Kirsten: 00:15:44

And it was just wonderful.

Kirsten: 00:15:45

So, we were busting his, we were busting his ass this time because

Kirsten: 00:15:49

Anita and I both decided that we would officially dub him the, the

Kirsten: 00:15:53

unofficial boyfriend of the event.

Kirsten: 00:15:54

And he's like,

Kellie: 00:15:55

Kirsten: 00:15:55

"Uh, I have a girlfriend.

Kirsten: 00:15:57

And I would never," I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no.

Kirsten: 00:15:58

We're not talking that.

Kirsten: 00:15:59

You are not being passed around.

Kirsten: 00:16:01

That is not this kind of event."

Kellie: 00:16:02

Oh dear.

Kellie: 00:16:03

Oh, no, no, no, no.

Kirsten: 00:16:04

No, no.

Kirsten: 00:16:04

This is the, this is the unofficial monog, like fully monogamous, has a relationship

Kirsten: 00:16:09

somewhere with an awesome woman.

Kirsten: 00:16:10

His girlfriend's amazing, but we were just busting his chops going, "No,

Kirsten: 00:16:13

you're the official Adobe boyfriend.

Kirsten: 00:16:14

We've just, we've decided."

Kirsten: 00:16:15

And he was like, "Hmm, I don't know.

Kirsten: 00:16:19

I have to think about that."

Kirsten: 00:16:20

It was great.

Kellie: 00:16:22

Okay, well

Kirsten: 00:16:23

He's like, he's like determining whether that's gonna be a thing.

Kellie: 00:16:26

Well, the, the unofficial motto of Vegas, what stays in,

Kellie: 00:16:30

happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Kirsten: 00:16:31

Unless you talk about it on a podcast

Kellie: 00:16:33

Unless you talk about it on a podcast, there's that.

Kirsten: 00:16:37

Yeah.

Kellie: 00:16:37

But speaking of podcast, are we going to preview what's coming up or

Kellie: 00:16:42

are we going to save that for next time?

Kirsten: 00:16:44

I think we're going to save everything, except that we

Kirsten: 00:16:46

have some really fun interviews.

Kellie: 00:16:48

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:16:48

and we have a demo of a coaching session and I will be able to

Kirsten: 00:16:53

talk about what I'm doing tomorrow, so.

Kellie: 00:16:56

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten: 00:16:56

It's 7:46 in the morning in Vegas right now.

Kellie: 00:17:00

Wow

Kirsten: 00:17:00

I am going to pack.

Kirsten: 00:17:02

I'm going to head for the airport.

Kirsten: 00:17:03

I'm going to get on a plane and fly to Houston, and then tomorrow I'm

Kirsten: 00:17:06

recording my first ever TEDx and

Kellie: 00:17:10

Yay!

Kirsten: 00:17:10

And when that is, I'm going to, I'm, I'm manifesting the positive, when

Kellie: 00:17:14

Yes

Kirsten: 00:17:15

that's accepted by the TED Board officially and is put up and is

Kirsten: 00:17:18

allowed to be public, then I'm going to be broadcasting that sucker everywhere.

Kirsten: 00:17:22

Like I'm gonna buy

Kellie: 00:17:22

Plaster it

Kirsten: 00:17:23

billboards with video on it.

Kirsten: 00:17:24

Like I'm going to, I'm going to skywriting go to TEDx and watch.

Kellie: 00:17:29

Kirsten: 00:17:30

So I'm going to be sharing it with everybody because that's the thing

Kirsten: 00:17:33

that today, until I pass out in my hotel from just sheer exhaustion, I'm going

Kirsten: 00:17:38

to be running that speech in my head.

Kirsten: 00:17:40

And the poor people on the airplane, because I will be

Kirsten: 00:17:43

doing the "All right step to the right, hands like this, hands in,

Kellie: 00:17:46

Kirsten: 00:17:47

reach out, da da.

Kirsten: 00:17:48

Okay, da da."

Kirsten: 00:17:49

Because I want all of it, right?

Kellie: 00:17:50

Yeah.

Kirsten: 00:17:50

So, I need to make sure my face is doing the right thing.

Kirsten: 00:17:53

My hands are communicating the right way.

Kirsten: 00:17:55

My body is doing the right thing.

Kirsten: 00:17:57

The words are in, you know, get inflected correctly.

Kellie: 00:18:00

Yep.

Kirsten: 00:18:01

Like I'm trying to make sure the whole package is right, and I was

Kirsten: 00:18:04

telling everybody at dinner, well, oh God, that's, I told them more

Kirsten: 00:18:08

than once because I repeat myself,

Kellie: 00:18:10

Kirsten: 00:18:10

that my brain is evil and as you know, I have negative

Kirsten: 00:18:14

self talk and I named her Becky.

Kirsten: 00:18:16

So my Becky in the back of my brain is the mean girl that likes

Kirsten: 00:18:19

to sneak up and say nasty crap.

Kirsten: 00:18:21

So, two days ago Becky spoke up and went, "You know, you're doing

Kirsten: 00:18:26

a TEDx and they're gonna hate you.

Kirsten: 00:18:29

And then everyone will know you're a fraud and no one will hire you for coaching."

Kellie: 00:18:33

Becky!

Kirsten: 00:18:34

And I literally was standing in the bathroom here and it was, so

Kirsten: 00:18:38

this was, yeah, so it's Friday, so two days ago, days run together, I'm

Kirsten: 00:18:42

looking in the mirror and I literally, the poor people in the rooms next to me,

Kirsten: 00:18:45

I'm literally going, "Becky, shut it."

Kellie: 00:18:47

Good for you.

Kirsten: 00:18:49

I'm putting on my makeup.

Kirsten: 00:18:50

I'm like, "Just shut up" and I'm, like, because, oh my brain, just.

Kirsten: 00:18:57

But there's one thing I want to say to everybody who's listening

Kirsten: 00:18:59

and watching this on video.

Kirsten: 00:19:02

If you are not part of an established speaker community, there's something you

Kirsten: 00:19:05

might not be aware of, which is speakers, at least all the ones I've ever met and

Kirsten: 00:19:09

all the ones that are decent, and with the exception of maybe a few people at the

Kirsten: 00:19:13

very top ranks who are kind of not awesome human beings, but really good presenters,

Kirsten: 00:19:18

speakers don't compete with speakers.

Kellie: 00:19:20

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:19:21

Speakers compete with themselves.

Kellie: 00:19:23

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:19:23

So, you may want someone's gig, like you may kind of go, "Oh, I wish I had

Kirsten: 00:19:28

that," but you're not knocking, you know, you're not knocking them off the perch.

Kirsten: 00:19:31

You're not trying to get their gig.

Kirsten: 00:19:33

You're trying to get your best version of you.

Kellie: 00:19:36

Yeah.

Kirsten: 00:19:36

So the TEDx, for me, Becky was saying, "You have to be the best speaker,

Kirsten: 00:19:42

ever, because you're coaching this stuff.

Kirsten: 00:19:44

So therefore, if people see you and they see you're not the best

Kirsten: 00:19:47

ever, they're not gonna hire you."

Kirsten: 00:19:49

And it's like, "No, I have to be the best version of me."

Kellie: 00:19:53

Yes!

Kirsten: 00:19:53

Now, I can be the best me speaker.

Kirsten: 00:19:56

I cannot be the way, you know, my friends are.

Kellie: 00:20:00

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten: 00:20:00

Like, every one of us at that table has a distinct style,

Kirsten: 00:20:04

has a personality when we present.

Kirsten: 00:20:06

And that is part of what, part of the package.

Kellie: 00:20:08

Absolutely.

Kirsten: 00:20:10

So

Kellie: 00:20:10

Like, you're not everybody's flavor and that's okay.

Kirsten: 00:20:13

Yeah, exactly.

Kirsten: 00:20:15

I mean, Pooja Jaisingh is the, the, she's the, she's the heart

Kirsten: 00:20:19

and soul of, like, our community.

Kirsten: 00:20:21

And she's just this hug on legs.

Kirsten: 00:20:23

Beautiful, beautiful Indian woman and just a sweetheart.

Kirsten: 00:20:26

And she was, used to be the Adobe evangelist for Captivate and

Kirsten: 00:20:29

has, has moved on to, to other things, but she's still part of

Kirsten: 00:20:32

our family and she still speaks.

Kirsten: 00:20:33

And her speaking style is this very warm, sweet, friendly, like I said,

Kirsten: 00:20:40

hug, like she's a hug personified.

Kirsten: 00:20:42

I could never do that.

Kirsten: 00:20:44

I could never, mine is irreverent.

Kirsten: 00:20:45

It's mouthy.

Kellie: 00:20:46

Yeah

Kirsten: 00:20:46

It's sarcastic and

Kellie: 00:20:47

Nooooo

Kirsten: 00:20:48

Yeah, a little.

Kirsten: 00:20:49

And so, you know, you can't.

Kirsten: 00:20:51

Now, the downside to my version is that Josh took pictures of me in my session,

Kirsten: 00:20:55

and every single one of them has me with a different facial expression, none of which

Kirsten: 00:20:59

are really good photos, but they're all funny because I'm expressive as hell, but

Kirsten: 00:21:03

my expressions are all like, Ugh, me, huh?

Kellie: 00:21:06

Kirsten: 00:21:06

You know?

Kirsten: 00:21:08

And so I'm doing all these faces and he's like, "Oh look, you're very expressive."

Kirsten: 00:21:12

I'm like, "Yes, I am."

Kellie: 00:21:14

Yes you are.

Kirsten: 00:21:15

I am that.

Kirsten: 00:21:16

Kellie: 00:21:17

Well, I think on that note, we should let you get to the

Kellie: 00:21:20

airport and on to the next thing.

Kirsten: 00:21:23

Yes.

Kirsten: 00:21:23

Need to pack, so.

Kellie: 00:21:25

Find us in the socials.

Kellie: 00:21:27

Look for us on LinkedIn in the Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking group.

Kirsten: 00:21:32

Yes.

Kellie: 00:21:33

And Kirsten, I think you need to close us out.

Kirsten: 00:21:36

I think, thank you everybody.

Kirsten: 00:21:39

Hugs all around and I'll see you guys after Houston.

Kellie: 00:21:43

Cheers.

Kirsten: 00:21:44

Bye, everybody.