It was the first time in 19 years of being a professional speaker that I had to cancel a workshop as I woke up with laryngitis.

I was due to run a virtual storytelling workshop for over 150 people from one of my favourite clients, Spark New Zealand.

We kicked off the session even though my voice was fluctuating between sounding like I had spent the night smoking three packs of cigarettes and a teenage boy’s voice breaking. You can listen to the video to know I am not exaggerating.

After five minutes it was pretty clear that continuing was not a good option for either myself or the participants. After making the call to cancel, I not only received lovely get-well messages from the participants but also complete understanding from the client.

I LOVE working with clients that treat our relationship as a partnership. There have been several times over the last 19 years where clients have had to reschedule workshops (sometimes at the very last minute) for various reasons. Likewise, there have been times that I have had to reschedule workshops due to clashes with other work or for personal reasons.

When we treat each other as partners it is so much easier to find a solution.

So thank you for being such a pleasure to work with.