[Rain Man]

A lot of this is practice and exposure.

When I was in my 20s, I was petrified to speak in front of a crowd. Even if it was just a "go around the room and let's all say our names", it was petrifying. Then I got a job where I had to do public presentations all the time, and I realized that it's really not terrifying. The people don't care about you anyway. They just want to hear what you're talking about and you're just a vessel for that. So you just get up there and talk. I've found that it's best to know your material, but to not practice. Talking is much easier than reciting a memorized speech. Now I don't think twice about it, and I'm a pretty strong introvert.

I had a new experience last month that pushed my limits a bit. I had to moderate a focus group live in front of 500+ people. That was a bit concerning because I had no idea what people were going to say, and I had to guide the discussion. But it went very well.

Now, social gatherings are a different animal. I really don't like going to parties where you have to break into social conversations and stand there with a drink in your hand. I pretty much just stand by myself the whole time. I was just at a fundraiser party last week, and I stood there like a doofus the whole time because everyone was broken up into groups of two or three people and they were all these "society people" who know each other and it was loud and there were no other people standing around that I could talk to.

Funny story, though, and I'll share this at the risk of sounding like a snobby wannabe, which is truly not my intent. It's just kind of funny. The event was a small fundraiser for the governor's race, maybe 50 or 60 people. I'm standing there not sure what to do and everybody else seems to know each other and are chattily gabbing. At one point the only other person standing there alone was the governor. So I went over and introduced myself and we had a pleasant conversation. I thought it was really weird that he wasn't surrounded by hangers-on.