How proud am I?

Here's a confession:

Every time a client of mine (especially one who's not fond of public speaking) leaves the "nest" of our work together to "fly solo" I hold my breath. Despite the fact that I've been at this for years now, and have yet to have a client so much as falter, I still wait eagerly to hear from them "how it went". Our work together isn't finished until I get the post presentation report.

Enter Eric Russack, senior VP for Guess? Jewelery International. Eric and I worked together on a presentation he was giving at the annual Guess conference of more than a thousand people, on a big stage, with all kinds of fanfare, hoopla, etc. AND this would be Eric's first time in front of this group. AND public speaking is not on Eric's "favorite things" list. Anywhere. At all.

The good news is that we started about 3 months before the scheduled presentation date. More good news is that Eric worked tirelessly on devloping the content, and then practicing it (OUT LOUD, ahem). Still, despite my assurances that he was totally prepared with a compelling message, he was not at all sure he was going to like the experience any better than he ever had in the past. And then he presented.

He sent me a text message letting me know it had gone well. Then we had a more substantive conversation about it when he returned from the conference.

"Next year," he said, "I want to take it to a whole other level. I mean, one of the other presenters was phenomenal, and next year I want to be like her."

THIS from a guy who up til now put public speaking on par with root canals. No kidding. How proud am I? (and look out Guess Conference 2011...)