Page 37 - Carol LeBeau

Business Matters

A Fire in Upstate New York

By Jack Doxey

A large electronics firm was holding a convention in the calm demeanor, under an extremely stressful situation, was
Adirondack Mountains just outside of New York City. The last instrumental in getting the people out of the building and to
evening of the conference the President of the company was safety. He became, without a doubt, the hero of the town.
giving his keynote speech before approximately 800 partici-
pants. At the same time, in the room immediately behind The story got widespread attention and reporters came
the stage, a fire from the surrounding areas to
had broken out. interview the new town hero.
The custodian on They asked how he remained
duty, Jim Wright, so calm under such a stressful
witnessed the fire situation. Jim replied:
and attempted
to bring it under “I was so preoccupied with
control. His effort helping the people and getting
went for naught the message across that I had
and the fire no time to think about myself
spread quickly. or being scared. My primary
goal was the people and their
He realized that safety”.
he had to get the
people out of the “However, now that I have
auditorium as time to think about the whole
quickly as pos- situation I have become very
sibly. He entered nervous, not about the fire, but
the auditorium that I took over the microphone
and went im- and delivered a mini speech San Diego
mediately to to almost a thousand people. Woman
the podium and I have never given a speech
stopped the key before and as a matter of fact I
note speaker in am terrified of giving speeches 37
the middle of his in front of even a few people
presentation. not to mention 800. I just can’t
He took over believe that I did it. It makes me
the microphone nervous just thinking about it.”
and in the calm- Jim Wright completely lost any
est voice that he self consciousness because he
could muster he was totally engaged in thinking
addressed the about the 800 people in the au-
audience in the dience and getting his message
following manner: across. The audience and the
message became the dominant
“Ladies and gen- thought.
tlemen, we have
a fire in the back Jim unwittingly provided excel-
of the stage. Please don’t become alarmed but to ensure the lent advice to all of us who strive to become better speakers.
safety of all I am asking everyone to follow my instructions. Jim Wright’s advice is simple and straight forward but at the
The people on the left side of the auditorium please proceed same time profound:
in an orderly fashion to the back of the room and go out of
the building and stay out of the building until we give you the From time to time in your professional career, you will be
all clear signal”. He then proceeded to give similar instruc- called upon to present your ideas to an audience. The next
tions to the balance of people in the auditorium. The confer- time you give a speech think about Jim Wright and select a
ence center burned down to the ground. subject that you can get passionate about and truly believe
in. Your self consciousness and ego will fade to the back-
The custodian was singled out as the person who saved the ground when you take the high road of concentrating on your
day for all the people in the center. It was reported that his audience and their needs and expectation and not your own.
Sep/Oct2008