Before Select Committee

Today I sat in front of the NZ Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Select Committee, alongside Billy, Scott and Katherine, and spoke to our submission on the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill.
It was quite nerve-wracking. I didn’t feel the sensation of nervousness, that anxious stomach-churning short-breath thing – no sensation like that at all. But I was reacting like it anyway, stumbling to hold what I was saying together and stay on top of what was going on. It’s weird how stress works, it just seems to remove a bunch of working space in your head so you’re desperately trying to make do with only a sliver of mental whiteboard. Tricky.
For all that, it went well. Our message was received, I think, and my less-than-smooth delivery would have only helped our credibility. Tricky questions from the exact two members I was expecting tricky questions from were handled acceptably. For my own personal satisfaction I wish I’d handled it with the ease I know I’m capable of, but heck, I don’t have anything to moan about really.
Actually, I was surprised to discover this felt so different to other times when I’ve spoken to groups. Will introspect and try and figure out why.
So that was one of the things I did today. It was quite exciting really. If I ever find myself in a similar situation I think I’ll be much more confident!
(This was a small group action, by the way. Remember those? More on this theme to come…)
EDIT: Billy has written about it too, see his post here.
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Happy birthday to the Alligator…