I just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas, I hope you have some time with friends and family, and have a safe and happy holiday. I am away for a week to see my Dad, and some of my family down in Wellington. I will be back in time for the new year, and I am looking forward to getting the courses completed and uploaded here before I start work again in the second week of January. 🎄🎅 🍻

Tomorrow morning (my time) I am being interviewed for a podcast - From Page to Stage, which is for authors who want to promote their book. When it is published I will share it here, but these things may not publish for weeks... But it made me think: -Are podcasts something you want to know more about? My friend Steve Brossman is THE expert in this area and I am sure I can do an interview for the community if it is something you are interested in. I have a podcast. But it isn't the traditional sort, I don't have guests, and we didn't start it to help a business or to make money, we did it for fun! (I know, weird right?!). The Chris and Sam Podcast has been going for around 11 years, with 559 weekly episodes. I don't usually 'advertise' it, because it is for fun, and it certainly isn't for everyone. But it does mean I have some experience in the podcast world. In addition to TCASP, I have been interviewed on other podcasts, maybe a dozen times? I have also been a speaker on many virtual summits. So if any of this is interesting, let me know what you are curious about, and I will see what I can organise for you.

The podcast interview I mentioned has dropped already. If you want to check it out, pour a coffee, relax and enjoy... 😉

Picture this: You are on the stage. The room is silent as they listen to you in rapt attention. You are not anxious because you have rehearsed for this so much you were getting sick of it. But now the moment is here. There are nerves, you can feel the electricity of them running through you, but it makes you feel alive. You know your talk so well you can almost go through it backwards, but this means you don't have to worry about it at this moment, you are fully present with your audience, with the subtle cues they are giving you as you go through. You can adlib, in order to increase the impact of what you are saying, and to meet the feedback of your audience. This is the benefit of being totally present in the moment. Time telescopes. You feel like you are on that stage for an eternity, yet it feels it is over in the blink of an eye. As you accept the standing ovation and walk from the stage you understand what people mean when they say 'walking on air' of 'my feet didn't touch the ground', as you feel like you float from the stage. Already excited to do it all again. This is an experience I have had several times. It is an experience I feel everyone should have at least once in their lives, and I have been fortunate enough to help many people to experience it too. That is why I do what I do. It is why I volunteered for TEDxRuakura to coach speakers for free, and it is why after a decade of doing this I am still doing it for speaking clients, business clients and other events.