Hey all

I had to do an On The Spot 17 & 18 Jul and I was so looking forward to it, I was working with new slides and spent the time to get the content under my belt. It was a full group of 10 and the only additional pressure I was under was the timing of the course.

Then….. DISASTER DAY!!

Lunch time came on Day 1 and I called Grant… then Gill….with a desperate plea for HELP! I’m causing some SERIOUS DAMAGE to Avo’s reputation here, who cares about my own, after today I’m NEVER going to be asked to train for AVO again!! I so wanted to cry and leave the building BUT I had to be all grown up and remain, after all it seriously could not get worse right??…

To top it off how could this go so wrong on a course where you have to walk the talk on presentation skills!!!

Well between end day 1 and beginning day 2 I spoke to Vanessa & Grant, confessed how I so wished I had contracted some contagious tropical disease which would mean that I would not be able to continue the course….

But day 2 was a new day & I was simply going to pretend that yesterday NEVER HAPPENED just so that I would be able to get through day 2

Fortunately we got the technology right , I managed to salvage some shreds of credibility with the delegates while watching their videos one on one & I “gave it horns” ( took Vanessa’s advice) on the morning of day 2. For the FIRST TIME in my training life I did not look at the delegate feedback reports!! Not even a peep, I did not want what was left of my self esteem shattered, or else I would not be able to train the two new courses I had the following week.

So this week Monday, I met with Grant to debrief the Disaster Day. I did have a few days to get back into adult space and I was now ready to face the music. Eventhough my child protested how unfair technology had been to me!

To my absolute delight and total SURPRISE these were some of the comments from the delegates:

“Rochell was really really really awesome, Fantastic in a different league, seriously impressed”

“It was an ecstatic experience”

“The presenation was awesome, everything was fabulous”

“Rochell is excellent (with a hand drawn heart and all!)”

“Very impressive”

GOSH!!! Were these guys in the same room as I was in? Were they high on some drug or was I? How did this happen:

1) Thank you God for heeding my SOS
2) Like we say to the delegates, we never come across as badly as we think we do, I was in a nightmarish hell which they apparently were not aware of
3) I lived the Avo principle of transparency as in no cover up stories and using all the mistakes as examples
4) I never would have survived if I hadn’t KNOWN my material as in backwards, how else do you flip chart everything up until Dynamic Delivery
5) My safety net at AVO with particular thanks to Gill, Grant, & Vanessa

RESILIENCE!!