Episode 34

What is S.H.I.P.? She Has Infinite Potential

In this week's episode of Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking, Kirsten and Kellie talk about a new group of nine women that Kirsten is a member of, a panel whose mission is to promote women in tech. Find out which of the nine Greek Muses Kellie thinks Kirsten is.

Key take-aways:

  • Everyone experiences imposter syndrome, even people who are experts  
  • Online connections are genuine even if they’re different from those built in person
  • Your audience is cheering for you and wants you to succeed

Rourke Training’s webpage: https://www.rourketraining.com/

Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking page: https://ongoing-mastery.captivate.fm/

RSS feed: https://feeds.captivate.fm/ongoing-mastery/

Read a transcript of this episode: https://share.descript.com/view/TNIGe57RR8i

For the video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/ngrSkEf72Ik

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstenrourke/


Looking for a kick-ass speaking group? Use our affiliate link to join Innovation Women: https://bit.ly/innovationwomen

Transcript
Kirsten:

Hello everyone and welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

Kirsten:

Presenting & Speaking the podcast and also we are professionals today.

Kirsten:

We are having a day and it's just lovely.

Kirsten:

And we, we are you to join us.

Kirsten:

Hey, I'm Kirsten Rourke, CEO, and Founder of Rourke Training.

Kirsten:

And this is Kellie

Kellie:

Donovan-Condron, writer, producer,

Kirsten:

and herder of cats.

Kirsten:

Awesome.

Kirsten:

So what are we talking about today?

Kirsten:

Kellie

Kirsten:

. Kellie: Well, I hear you

Kirsten:

wanted to know more about it.

Kirsten:

. Awesome.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

I am a board of new ship.

Kirsten:

I am part of a mentorship sponsorship.

Kirsten:

All the ships.

Kirsten:

All the ships.

Kirsten:

So S.H.I.P.

Kirsten:

is, She Has Infinite Potential and it is a lovely, lovely group of eight women.

Kirsten:

So nine total with me that I met through Innovation Women.

Kirsten:

Which is a visibility speaker bureau that you and I are both part of and Yep.

Kirsten:

For the listeners and the watchers, it's a group that really focuses on trying

Kirsten:

to get more women on more stages and just supporting speakers of all kinds.

Kirsten:

So there's men and there's women in there, but the goal is to

Kirsten:

kind of increase the visibility.

Kirsten:

And then S.H.I.P.

Kirsten:

is specifically trying to target our areas.

Kirsten:

So we've formed panels where we can go at conferences and do group panels based.

Kirsten:

Our combined interests and we're doing the Women in Tech Global Conference.

Kirsten:

We got in, go us.

Kirsten:

That's okay.

Kirsten:

That's so great.

Kirsten:

And we've been doing lives on LinkedIn and are combining our, our expertise.

Kirsten:

It's awesome because we have a really diverse group and

Kirsten:

everybody's really committed to.

Kirsten:

Helping and being useful and being helpful and not, you know, it doesn't

Kirsten:

have that icky sort of salesy pitch feel that sometimes these things do.

Kirsten:

No.

Kirsten:

So it's really, really

Kellie:

nice.

Kellie:

It's definitely service

Kirsten:

oriented.

Kirsten:

It is very much service oriented.

Kirsten:

So you actually have watched a few of ours, including the one that didn't

Kirsten:

quite work and then restart it, . So what is your experience of S.H.I.P.

Kellie:

So I like, I've listened to two different weekly webinars, and I like

Kellie:

that they're not always on the same day and time, but there's a pattern.

Kellie:

So one of the days is shortly before my class, so I can't always get to

Kellie:

it because I have students in my office or I'm still prepping for

Kellie:

the class that's about to start.

Kellie:

but I know it's there, but I don't miss all of them because there's

Kellie:

the every other week timing.

Kellie:

Mm-hmm.

Kellie:

. So I appreciate that about the scheduling, and I think that's a great way to try

Kellie:

to include as many people as possible.

Kellie:

And I like that the topics are universal in terms of their importance

Kellie:

to the audience they want to serve, but small enough to handle

Kellie:

in a 20, 30 minute chunk, right?

Kellie:

That this isn't a 90 minute commitment.

Kellie:

All the time to solve all of women in tech problems every week, all of things.

Kellie:

I, I appreciate that they are . I appreciate that they're positioned

Kellie:

as a series of conversations that are going to be ongoing on a set of.

Kellie:

Core topics that will continue to be interesting and crop up in

Kellie:

new ways for people, or here's a different take from a different field.

Kellie:

I know Malia, for example, is an engineer, so she's gonna have a little bit of a

Kellie:

different take on something than Kristen, who's a ghost writer, copywriter person

Kellie:

to you who comes from learning and.

Kellie:

. Yeah, so I like that diversity of people coming to the core set of topics in short,

Kellie:

manageable chunks on a regular schedule.

Kirsten:

Cool.

Kirsten:

Yeah, I'm, the thing I like most, I like two things most about it.

Kirsten:

One is Malia is sort of our captain of our ship and she's the leader and

Kirsten:

has been kind of doing the intros and all that, and she's got this wonder.

Kirsten:

Energy and it's really lovely to be in a webinar where it's like, hi

Kirsten:

everyone, I'm Malia dun dun, you know?

Kirsten:

And she's like right there.

Kirsten:

And you're like, okay, I can have a nice energizing 15, 20 minutes.

Kirsten:

Cool.

Kirsten:

And so, yeah, I like that.

Kirsten:

Because you know, for what we do, we spend a lot of time with our clients

Kirsten:

trying to help them get that energy.

Kirsten:

and broadcast that because it's a hard technique to learn, and so it's

Kirsten:

really lovely to see it done Well.

Kirsten:

The other thing that I like is that I got a feedback conversation with

Kirsten:

a friend of mine who's an expert in learning and development named Joe

Kirsten:

Ganci, and he's been attending and said, well, I just wanted to send you a note.

Kirsten:

I know, you know, I'm not a woman, but I found this really valuable

Kirsten:

and I'm like, you don't have to be a woman to watch or listen.

Kirsten:

It's all good.

Kirsten:

And he said that he really found the talks useful and especially we were talking Wow.

Kirsten:

A little bit about imposter syndrome.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And we had a lovely conversation because he and I talked

Kirsten:

about our shared everybody.

Kirsten:

I don't know anybody that hasn't suffered from imposter syndrome, like

Kirsten:

doesn't have that in the back of their.

Kirsten:

But I was really surprised.

Kirsten:

You don't, you don't have imposter syndrome.

Kirsten:

I'm guilty.

Kellie:

No,

Kirsten:

I'm guilty.

Kirsten:

I was raising my hand.

Kirsten:

I'm guilty.

Kirsten:

Oh, you're guilty.

Kirsten:

Okay.

Kirsten:

Okay.

Kirsten:

I wa I was gonna say, I'm like really because I, you

Kellie:

know me well enough, you know I have

Kirsten:

imposter syndrome.

Kirsten:

I've, I've seen you feel Yeah, no, I think everybody does and yeah.

Kirsten:

I'm gonna mute my mic for a quick second.

Kirsten:

. Okay.

Kirsten:

My kid just is like, yeah, I got that.

Kirsten:

You're live on a podcast and it's great.

Kirsten:

Hi, welcome.

Kirsten:

The joy of doing internet.

Kirsten:

So the thing that really struck me about it is that that session, which I mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

, I watched, I wasn't in spawning conversation with my friend who, yeah.

Kirsten:

I used to be a fan of, and I'm still a fan of, but now we're actually friends.

Kirsten:

And when he said, yeah, this is really something I, I struggle with.

Kirsten:

I was like, but everyone knows you.

Kirsten:

You're, you're the e-learning Joe, like you're famous in our industry.

Kirsten:

And he looked at me and.

Kirsten:

What, like he didn't even recognize the degree to which it's

Kirsten:

like, no, dude, you're an icon.

Kirsten:

Like you're actually, you're one of the names.

Kirsten:

So it's really interesting to me that no matter what your background is, no

Kirsten:

matter what level you've attained in life, no matter how, you know, maybe

Kirsten:

other people see you, you still have that head dialogue and that trauma

Kirsten:

or that discussion or whatever it is.

Kirsten:

In my case, it's the mean girl from high school.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

and.

Kirsten:

. It's just interesting to see that that's kind of a universal

Kirsten:

connection point for everybody.

Kirsten:

Yeah, and I wouldn't have, honestly, wouldn't have called that.

Kirsten:

My question to you is this, and we're gonna go into a slightly different area.

Kirsten:

Do you think that one of the reasons why people are being more upfront about

Kirsten:

their insecurities and their feelings is because the Global Pandemic had everybody

Kirsten:

locked down for a year and a half?

Kirsten:

Do you think that's why we see more of it?

Kirsten:

What do you think?

Kellie:

Yes.

Kellie:

And so, okay.

Kellie:

I think obviously to answer the question directly, yes, I do think the pandemic

Kellie:

so thoroughly overtook all of our usual ways of doing whatever it was that we

Kellie:

had to reinvent everything and that.

Kellie:

In part, being more upfront about our feelings, often about being

Kellie:

frazzled, overwhelmed, scared, immediate pandemic response.

Kellie:

But once you're sharing feelings, you're sharing feelings.

Kellie:

And that includes other kinds of feelings in other kinds of areas, not

Kellie:

directly about surviving the pandemic.

Kellie:

Mm-hmm.

Kellie:

. And so I think, yeah, that has been part of the shift, but I

Kellie:

also think, and here's the, and.

Kellie:

That the group of nine people in S.H.I.P.

Kellie:

is a community, and it's a community that has developed out of the

Kellie:

larger Innovation Women community.

Kellie:

And so that feeling of trust and safety and.

Kellie:

The members all know each other to some extent, certainly feel comfortable with

Kellie:

each other, trust each other, yes, to share these kinds of feelings about

Kellie:

professional work where it might feel more vulnerable to share, say, imposter

Kellie:

syndrome in your workplace, because isn't that going to sabotage your success?

Kellie:

And so I think the fact.

Kellie:

S.H.I.P.

Kellie:

and more largely Innovation Women is a community, has created a space, is

Kellie:

holding openness space not just to allow sharing feelings, but to encourage

Kellie:

it, to nurture it, to support it.

Kirsten:

I love that and I'm gonna tell Malia that she needs to take

Kirsten:

that bit and copy it and put it on promos, , cuz that's perfect.

Kirsten:

That's wonderful.

Kirsten:

Yeah, I actually, excellent.

Kirsten:

I, I completely see your point and I agree.

Kirsten:

. I think the thing I'm finding frustrating as somebody who is, you know, a basically

Kirsten:

a coach and a trainer for moving your conversations online or being more dynamic

Kirsten:

and you're speaking, I keep encountering the, well, it's not the same online.

Kirsten:

And it's like, no, but that doesn't mean it's worse, and that doesn't

Kirsten:

mean you're not making genuine connections, and that doesn't mean

Kirsten:

you're not having actual, genuine relationships in a virtual setting.

Kirsten:

I mean, it frustrates me a lot that there's this, yeah.

Kirsten:

only in person, because in person's great.

Kirsten:

But the idea that you can't nurture genuine relationships, not physically

Kirsten:

in the same space is horseshit.

Kirsten:

It just is.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And I'm gonna say that because we've, we've got this podcast tagged

Kirsten:

that, that occasionally we use the Cursy words . So we do, we do.

Kirsten:

And I just, on that note, I'm gonna say this is my favorite

Kirsten:

thing in the history of.

Kirsten:

And yes, it is my last fuck.

Kirsten:

Oh, look, it's on fire.

Kirsten:

I just, mine's right

Kellie:

there on the bookshelf behind me.

Kirsten:

I love it.

Kirsten:

So for, for those watching and listening, I got one of these for

Kirsten:

every member of my team because we all have the same sense of humor, , and

Kirsten:

it's kind of exactly where we are.

Kirsten:

So, Yeah, so let's wrap up talking about S.H.I.P.

Kirsten:

So in in that, we have lives that go out on LinkedIn and we also have a website,

Kirsten:

which is, she has infinite potential.com.

Kirsten:

But I definitely would like listeners and viewers to comment, to let me know

Kirsten:

what, you know, have you been on panels?

Kirsten:

Does that seem, if you're somebody who speaks, does

Kirsten:

seem easier or harder for you?

Kirsten:

How do you feel about that?

Kirsten:

Because it's a different skillset for speakers.

Kirsten:

To be working in a, in a shared environment.

Kirsten:

Thank you, Angel, for joining us today with your barking.

Kirsten:

Thank you.

Kirsten:

That's helpful.

Kirsten:

Angel agrees.

Kirsten:

Angel agrees it's difficult.

Kirsten:

, she's, yes, she's definitely helping out.

Kirsten:

I can hear my, I can hear my teenager wrestling with the dog.

Kirsten:

Trying to keep her quiet.

Kirsten:

This is awesome.

Kirsten:

. That's my little, little aside to everybody.

Kirsten:

This is we are professionals.

Kirsten:

We are professionals.

Kirsten:

Professionals.

Kirsten:

This is how it goes.

Kirsten:

This has been a very special day.

Kirsten:

It's fun.

Kirsten:

I like it.

Kirsten:

I hope everybody enjoys.

Kirsten:

This is a slightly shorter podcast than the others, but I

Kirsten:

hope you find something valuable.

Kirsten:

I hope you come join us every time S.H.I.P.

Kirsten:

does a little webinar.

Kirsten:

There are good action items, so we try to give people something

Kirsten:

they can actually work on.

Kirsten:

So I'm gonna follow on that and say, Kellie, what action item would you

Kirsten:

like to give people who watched this or listen to this episode today?

Kellie:

Oh, people who watched or listen to this episode Today, I think

Kellie:

of the theme of we are professionals.

Kellie:

Were joking that we had some tech issues before we get started,

Kellie:

which ultimately was because.

Kellie:

My headphones didn't have a battery.

Kellie:

So I would say the action item is what is the clunkiest part of your

Kellie:

tech setup most likely to fail, and how can you add something to your SOP

Kellie:

to make it smoother ahead of time?

Kellie:

I have something for you, Kirsten, that I've been saving a little

Kellie:

bit, and I'm gonna toss it into the conversation right now.

Kellie:

There are nine women of.

Kellie:

There are nine Greek muses, and the Greek muse of dance is Terpsichore.

Kellie:

So my action item for ship is everybody else on the S.H.I.P.

Kellie:

needs to identify their particular muse a lot, and I don't know who to assign

Kellie:

to which, so I'm not gonna start that.

Kellie:

But you get the easy one because of your dance back.

Kirsten:

Yep.

Kirsten:

And uh, and for those who are listening and watching who know what the SCA is,

Kirsten:

which is a hobby group that Kellie is very active in, and I used to be, I do

Kirsten:

also have an award called a Terpsichore.

Kirsten:

Which is, oh, I didn't know you had that . Yes, I have a Terp.

Kirsten:

I have a Terp, so I'm cracking up.

Kirsten:

I'm like, yes, yes.

Kirsten:

That's fantastic.

Kirsten:

Of those.

Kirsten:

All right, so obviously we're rocking all the geekiness today.

Kirsten:

We're doing stuff, so here's my action item for everybody,

Kirsten:

and it's not a physical action item, it's just a mental one.

Kirsten:

One of the things that really, really throws people is when

Kirsten:

things happen, like the dog barks or the kids walking, or the tech.

Kirsten:

Please understand as really experienced trainers and teacher like Kellie

Kirsten:

is, and speakers that we both are, we can both tell you, and please

Kirsten:

just take it into your heart, that your audience wants you to succeed.

Kirsten:

You are not speaking or teaching or presenting or doing something in an

Kirsten:

environment where people want to see you be uncomfortable or miserable or

Kirsten:

awkward, like they feel that for you.

Kirsten:

So yeah, they understand.

Kirsten:

and if something's going wrong, you can relax.

Kirsten:

They're not, they're not judging you, they're understanding the pain.

Kirsten:

I mean, okay, there will be the one in one in 20 person who

Kirsten:

does judge you, but they're an asshole, so you can ignore them.

Kirsten:

Everybody else

Kellie:

and mostly feels it.

Kellie:

They're laughing with

Kirsten:

you.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Because

Kellie:

somebody goes through this re refuse, not at you.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

So please take my action item as please take internally.

Kirsten:

, you can roll with whatever happens when you're presenting or teaching,

Kirsten:

and especially when you're doing it online like this, it's okay, you know?

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

This is not, I will, I will take an old quote from my former e-Learning life.

Kirsten:

This isn't surgery.

Kirsten:

Nobody's dying.

Kirsten:

Nobody's on fire, nobody's hurt.

Kirsten:

It's okay.

Kirsten:

Like seriously?

Kirsten:

Yep.

Kirsten:

This is not a crisis.

Kirsten:

So just take that and kind of write that on a sticky note for yourself

Kirsten:

please, and leave us comments.

Kirsten:

Come see us on LinkedIn.

Kirsten:

We are in LinkedIn in the Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking group.

Kirsten:

And please follow Kellie and I on LinkedIn and come chat with us.

Kirsten:

We are on all the socials.

Kirsten:

Well.

Kirsten:

Except TikTok, all of them.

Kirsten:

And if you want us on TikTok, you're gonna have to give us some ideas.

Kirsten:

I'm kidding.

Kirsten:

I'm kidding.

Kirsten:

We're not gonna be on TikTok, , so, alright.

Kirsten:

I will.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

I, I, I just realized my social media manager is gonna kill me for that, so.

Kirsten:

Nope.

Kirsten:

Nope.

Kirsten:

Sorry.

Kirsten:

I'm kidding.

Kirsten:

. Sorry, dude.

Kirsten:

Uh, herding cats.

Kirsten:

herding cats.

Kirsten:

herding cats.

Kirsten:

herding cats.

Kirsten:

All right.

Kirsten:

Thank you everyone.

Kirsten:

We've had a very special day.

Kirsten:

I hope you enjoyed this and this gave you some chuckles and we will see you next.

Kirsten:

Bye.

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