Speaking engagement in Dubai.

I never told the full story about my #speaking engagement in Dubai.

I remember the feelings of excitment, nervousness and horror so vividly.

I touched down in Dubai 6 hours before I was scheduled to give my talk on the power of #STEM.

I was extremely excited, but super focused. I practiced 10 times on my ~14 hour flight. (I usually do three run-throughs max) AND I brought a bunch of extra gear for demonstrations.

I arrived at the venue overprepared, but I never could've anticipated what happened next:

There was a scheduling conflict, that was directly no one's fault, which lead to no one knowing when my talk was slated.

This meant that I would have to begin my talk on a trade show floor (see 2nd photo) with 0 #audience members.

I'd have to REEL IN passersby by shouting, or just being engaging. Also, I was in a foreign country and didn't want to disrespect the local #culture.

Fortunately, I prepared a few '#science magic tricks', and went straight to work. I ended up attracting close to 100 audience members using call and response techniques I learned in NYC's Times Square 🤣.

This experience taught me that 1) My message could resonate ANYWHERE 2) ALWAYS overprepare 3) If you believe in your #message enough, your excitement will organically excite others!

For more details, please visit justinshaifer.com.

#STEM #AI #KeynoteSpeaker #Education