An Introvert doing Public Speaking

Jennifer Nowicki is the founder of Cultivate Taste Tea, a certified tea specialist, and a nationally recognized speaker. She has presented at events such as the NW Tea Festival, San Jose Tea Festival, and St. Norbert College. Her topics range from tea brewing, professional cupping, and global tea cultures to wellness, stress reduction, and mindful entrepreneurship. Jennifer blends deep knowledge with warmth, making each talk educational and inspiring. 

All true, yet I still fell awkward doing it, especially when people are all staring at me, ok listening to what I have to say. I do prefer when I do pairings and cuppings because it is interactive and I forget I am the one mainly speaking.  Yet, I have done quite a bit of public speaking. I know I have been on panels beforehand, but forgot to list them in a bio for public speaking events. I do not mind panels either because people are not just focused on me or only for a little bit. I am not sure how this comes across when I am speaking, but I do know I tend to speak quickly when I am the only person talking and people are focused on me. My defense mechanism to get off stage as soon as possbile. True irony I am well aware of. This is something I am working on because I now the information I have is informative (I get told this all the time from people who are genuine in complimenting me). I also know when aswering questions people really see my knowledge shine through and get compliments when I answer questions. Maybe I should add speaking about people who are introverts who dislikes public speaking, lol. Maybe re-word that to sound better :-)

I have even done pitch contests, but I think my awkwardness shows through and they may think I am not confident in my idea versus disliking public speaking. My first pitch I was doing well, at first, then went completely blank on stage. Now that is completely awkward and I still am plugging away!

I am also fine with smaller groups, yet I have been pushing myself to do larger ones. I think the largest was about 300 people, so still very small, but I hope in the future I will be able to do several thousands of people without an issue!