Who remembers the day that man walked on the moon?
There are a lot of significant days that some of us will never forget.
But what about a date that changed your life
forever?
One of these days for me is the 23rd of September as it is the day that I got thrown out of a vehicle and broke my back. I’ve been getting around in a wheelchair ever since!
It’s interesting that even 30 years after my accident this date still makes me reflect on life and how it changed for me. I think about the "What if’s" and the "If only’s"...
Don’t get me wrong, I realise
that I have had 30 years of life that I might have missed out on, I could have been killed that day. But it still is a significant date in my life and probably will be for the rest of my life!
Don’t hurt yourself people, there are some dates that you don’t want to remember.
I was recently at a workplace sharing my story and I got chatting
with a couple of people afterwards. They said to me "You tell a really great story" I said "Thanks, I try to deliver my story in the way that I would have listened to it."
He told me that they have regular training days and 90% of the information they get is delivered by PowerPoint and with charts and figures and statistics. He went on to say that as I was telling my story he could relate to it and he felt "engaged."
Ok so you might think I’m being self indulgent here and saying that my story was great, but it made me think about some of the presentations I have sat in on over the
years. Some of them are terrible, delivered by people who don’t really "live or believe" what they are saying.
Just think about it for a minute, if you have to deliver a message or some information is there a way that you would like to receive it? Is there something you can do that will make people remember what you are delivering. Tell a joke or two while relating to your topic.
Even if it’s a serious subject you can still have a bit of fun with it.
Here’s an example...
I share how much I hate getting around in a wheelchair….. But I then say "What’s the worst thing about being in a wheelchair?" People answer "Stairs’ or "Changing a light bulb" but I say "No….. It’s Dog Shit!"
Think about it!
So next time you have to get a message across or deliver some training have a think about some of the things and ways that you can make it interesting and relatable.
Some of you will know that I love my cars, I’ve always been a car enthusiast and have been lucky enough to own some magnificent old cars. My latest purchase in another 1971 HG Holden Kingswood. It has little rust, is straight and drives well. It has a 186 with a trimatic (those of you who know your old Holdens will know what I’m talking about)
Now I work in safety, so it made me think "Am I exposing myself to risk by driving this old girl?"
Modern cars have anti lock brakes, traction control, lane departure warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Pedestrian alert systems and many more active safety systems.
The HG has none of these, so am I risking my safety by driving this vehicle?
These are the locations we will be in during the next couple of months. If you would like someone to visit your workplace please get in touch and we will see if we can do it while we are there. It will save you some travel costs….
I sent a message to the other Safety Speakers late last year and asked them to give me a statement or a sentence about what they enjoy about sharing their stories.
