Author: Anne Marie Miller

last week, i had a great phone call with mike foster, one of my deadly viper cohorts and soon-to-be co-conference speaker when we both speak at ministry com in september.

something we talked about was, of course, the conference, and i confessed my continued trepidation of public speaking.

let me rephrase that: my continued trepidation of the expectations of public speaking.

it’s not that i’m just scared of it…i know it’s not where i’m naturally gifted, and i’m fine with that. i love communicating, but i am much more effective doing it via ink and paper.

i never planned on becoming any kind of public speaker. and something that is taking a little getting used to is the sense of being thrust (almost literally) from a shy girl behind this blog into a perceived expert in front of people who communicate verbally weekly for a living.

there is a huge difference between speaking to a few thousand people on a blog and a few thousand people from a stage.

for one, right now, i’m not wearing make up.

now, everybody says it’s the content that really matters…but as a casual observer of conference feedback, if someone doesn’t nail their session in an epitome of engaging perfection, for the most part, people seem to care more about their presentation than their actual content.

(as an example, i wasn’t there, but heard that patrick lencioni was fairly awkward and uncomfortable presenting at catalyst last year. not one person told me what he talked about, only that he seemed really scattered in his delivery. that’s all i ever heard.)

people expect that when you’re a good writer, you’re a good speaker. that when you’re bold and confident in your presentation online, you’re bold and confident in person. so let me be the first to smash the crud out of that expectation, at least for me, and say the gap between the two is huge.

so, what i can promise?

i can promise that i’ve been working hard and praying hard for months over the few speaking engagements i have. i can promise that i’m not going to pretend to be as engaging or as eloquent as pete or craig or seth or the millions of other speakers i admire. i can promise that i am just going to be me. quiet and a little awkward, but positive that i’ll be doing my best.

and sweating. probably a lot.

if you have been around for very long, you know I LOVE THE WEATHER. ever since i saw my first tornado when i was five years old, i became obsessed. i would literally sit for hours and just watch the weather channel. no saturday morning cartoons for me. nope. give me mark mancuso anyday.

my love for weather, especially severe scary kinds, hasn’t died. i’ve blogged about a few big storms

here

and

here

and

here

and

here.

imagine my delight when i discovered one of my coworker’s husband, charlie, is a meteorologist on CBS!

and it’s not like he just talks about the weather…he lives and breathes it. we were at a fourth of july party and while the fireworks are going off, i looked down and he’s checking the radar on his phone. and he used the word mesocyclonic in conversation.

which i think is incredibly awesome.

slowly, a few of us pressured tried to get charlie to twitter.

i mean, how amazing would it be to get weather updates in a personal style, straight to my phone from my favorite weather guy? what if there was a tornado and the power was out and i needed to know if it was safe?

well, last night, he bit the bullet and signed up.

so, if you are in nashville and want to have your own personal weather guru on your phone, or if you just love weather, you should follow charlie on twitter!

while you’re clicking around, check out his blog, and his wife, eve’s blog.

what other fun but practical uses can you think of for twitter?