My First Webinar with the National Stuttering Association
Hi guys! I’m really excited to type today’s blog post. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I hosted my first webinar, Creating Allies in the Workplace, with the National Stuttering Association last week. There’s two reasons this is still surreal to me. One – I never, ever thought that I would have the guts to talk to a live audience about stuttering AND show my stutter. Two – I’m still so giddy about being part of the We Stutter @ Work team of the NSA. It’s a dream come true to join forces with a strong advocacy team and help create content that inspires people to feel confident about their stutter. That’s the whole reason I started this blog!
You can catch it on demand on the NSA’s website here. I encourage everyone to watch it! The formal webinar summary is below:
Being the only person who stutters in a workplace can feel isolating. We may try to cover it up and feel at risk of exposing ourselves if found out. What if you intentionally disclose stuttering at work and cultivate allies? In this webinar, you’ll learn strategies to build allies at work and with external colleagues. You’ll also learn the benefits that come from being authentic and building strong relationships at work.
How it went live was something like this: We had an engaging conversation about stepping past your comfort zone to build relationships with your colleagues that can then be fostered into allies. You can do this by making small talk, initiating group conversations, asking a colleague to lunch, taking advantage of opportunities that interest you, networking, and much more. We then discussed how you define an ally and if you currently have any allies at work. The last segment talked about how to turn relationships into allies, which can be done through being vulnerable and sharing your stutter with that person. Vulnerability connects people and disclosing allows you to stutter openly without feeling embarrassed. Honestly, that’s only a brief recap of the webinar – the live stream had so much good stuff!
The chat box was exploding during the whole webinar with awesome discussion. That’s definitely worth the read too! You can view the transcript here.
Every part of this webinar from planning to execution to follow up was special to me. I really hope I get the chance to host another one soon! My next project is hosting a stuttering themed trivia night for one of the local NSA chapters. I’m so excited!
How’s everyone else doing? It looks like things are slowly opening up, however we still need to exercise caution and follow social distancing guidelines when going out. With that being said, I personally will probably continue to stay home and find activities to keep myself busy for the foreseeable future. I’ve really been enjoying reading the Gal Meets Glam blogs, online shopping, and spending more time outside on our newly refurbished deck.
