Standing among grate-ness
Today I stood amongst greatness. With seven other social entrepreneurs I pitched to an auditorium of a couple of hundred, as well as a panel of judges. It was the Social Traders Pitch Fest, and what a buzz!
Huge congratulations to Eric Agyeman from PVBS Clothing for his winning pitch. PVBS sell fabulous, swanky, end-of-school jackets to fund education programs in Ghana and Cambodia (as well as a bunch of other cool clothing). Tell your Year 6 and Year 12 school fundraising committees and your corporate gift purchasers: these are world-changing jackets you can wear with pride (and they look awesome too!)
I have done a lot of public speaking. Notwithstanding that, I do get nervous. When my nerves are at their worst I feel like I'm speaking with a parrot in my mouth. I can then shift up a gear and my leg starts to shake. I have discovered that spitting feathers while dancing is rarely a good way to convince anyone of anything.
Now, I like talking about Dinner on the Table. A lot. I'm proud to say I stood still and managed to leave the parrot at home. Three judges would now like their dinner cooked for them. Success, I'd say.
I'm a little less proud of my difficulty with grate-ness. I love high heeled shoes... well, I love shoes generally, but particularly those with heels. I rarely consider practicality when it comes to footwear. And so at first I did not consider the ever-so-stylish floor grates in Federation Square. I spent quite some time considering them when I was on my hands and knees trying to yank my empty shoe out of a hole in the floor. Unfortunately, a large group of teenage boys, there on a school excursion, spent some time considering me, considering the floor. I hopped away as quickly as I could.