Round 2 of Now to Next in a nutshell? A ‘small-scale’ event with ultra, big-scale impact that made us all shine.

During an evening of exploration and fun, international communication coach and keynote speaker Jurko van Veenendaal took us on a roller-coaster ride. He let us experience hands on that each of us have the power to share our story powerfully.

Because, let’s face it, who hasn’t ever had that ‘What the f*ck?’ moment? That: ‘Help! What’s going on?’, or ‘Is this the direction I want to be heading?’ or simply those moments when the Fear of Speaking Out hits you bang in the face.

It was why we were particularly grateful to one of the attendees who bravely related her WTF moment when she tripped on stage and fell flat on her back as she was interviewing speakers at a business conference. Jurko invited her on-stage to join him, with as much empathy as well as humor. He explained how sometimes when onstage your inner critic can take over and make you want to flee the stage. Because fear of rejection can literally feel like dying. Instead of fleeing the stage, we of course want to flourish and share our message.

But how to flourish, when fear of rejection can take us into a fight mode or freeze our response? And not only when we’re standing in front of an audience, but also when we want to pitch, enthuse, sell, lead, communicate ….. or simply be ourselves when the pressure is on.

With might be seen as tiny shifts in our behaviour, big changes can be made in our communication. By focusing on your audience and truly connect to them like you would do in a 1-on-1 conversation, the words you speak are able to really create change. Speaking in front of a group can be scary but avoiding eye contact is never the way to go. This is how Jurko effectively explained it is within everybody’s power to really create change through the words we speak.

But first, we need to recognize our inner critic and not allow to take over in a WTF moment. Rather, we should focus on connecting with ourselves: “The stage (or the work floor) is not the place to do tricks, it’s the place where you must be yourself. Only then will you be able to create a direction from a place of connection and authenticity,” Jurko explained.

To top off the evening, Tech to Market’s Nicole Rooijakkers, Tiziana Fazio and Marijke Vreugdenhil each held a keynote speech on their WTF moment. Daring greatly to take the stage where they successfully connected and took us along in their experiences with their authentic and powerful stories.

It was the hands-on proof that we all have the power to shine (and make our audience shine along with is). Jurko’s opening song ‘This little light o’ mine, I’m goin’ let it shine’ resounded in us all as this greatly inspiring evening drew to a close.