RESILIENCE UNDER PRESSURE
Keep your confidence. Recover from setbacks. Find the courage to try again.
What did Roger Federer do between points to stop disappointment carrying into the next rally? How does comedian James Acaster prepare for an audience that might sit in silence? And how do you hold your nerve when a room challenges your right to be there?
Through memorable stories from elite performers and her own experiences in national journalism, Alison Kervin OBE explores how we recover when something goes wrong and build the self-belief that helps us begin again.
Warm, funny and revealing, this talk connects the pressures of the sporting arena and the stage with moments we all recognise: a difficult meeting, a rejected proposal, a presentation that unravels or an unfamiliar technology that leaves us questioning our abilities.
Audiences discover practical ways to regain their composure, prepare for uncertainty and learn from disappointment without allowing one difficult experience to become a judgement about who they are.
Approaches to take into everyday life
Be where your feet are
A mistake has happened, but the match is still being played. How do you keep focusing on the game and not lose yourself in the error, replaying it in your mind constantly and kicking yourself?
The All Blacks’ memorable mantra: Be Where Your Feet Are is all about staying in the present.
It is about staying in the ‘now’ where your feet are, and not worrying about what you can’t change. So, if you make a slip-up in the presentation, don’t let it consume you. Don’t spend the rest of the presentation annoyed with yourself.
Ground yourself and carry on.
A physical moment
Roger Federer’s skill for coping after he loses a game is to reset by introducing a familiar physical gesture that marks the transition from disappointment to the next challenge and helps him to refocus and stay in the present. Alison shares what Federer told her and invites audiences to consider a small reset of their own: a familiar action that helps them acknowledge the feeling and return to what they can usefully do now.
Fire and ice
When Edwina Currie announced that Alison was editor of Rugby World, she was booed in the House of Commons. How do you respond when people question your place before you have had the chance to speak?
Drawing on that experience, Alison explores when to bring energy and conviction, and when a pause and a measured question will serve us better. The aim is to choose a response that helps us achieve something, even when our first instinct is to react.
Turn your inner critic into a coach
Before entering a meeting, what are you telling yourself? The doorway technique turns an everyday moment into a reminder to offer yourself something useful: “You have prepared for this, so take your time,” or “You are allowed to ask.”
Audiences explore how to develop an encouraging inner voice they can believe, giving themselves something more helpful to draw upon when confidence falters.
Prepare for what you’ll do if things go wrong
Before a show, James Acaster notices what he can see, hear, smell and feel, then checks in with his body and mood. He considers five ingredients of a good gig: a good audience, a good venue, performing well, staying disciplined and trying something new. He cannot guarantee the first two, so he focuses his preparation on his own contribution.
He also imagines the uncomfortable possibilities. If the audience is silent or someone interrupts, how does he want to respond?
Participants apply the same thinking to their own challenges, identifying what they can influence, choosing one small improvement and rehearsing how they will handle a moment that does not go to plan.
Rejection…
Enid Blyton worked in a room covered in rejection slips. When a book was rejected, she didn’t think she was a bad author; she wrote another. Where does that level of self-belief come from?
Decades later, twelve publishers turned down the first Harry Potter. Agatha Christie’s first detective novel was rejected by six publishers. Sometimes the discouraging verdict comes from within. Stephen King doubted the opening of Carrie so much that he threw the pages away. His wife Tabitha rescued them and encouraged him to continue.
From a keynote to practical confidence
Resilience Under Pressure can be delivered as a standalone keynote with questions, or combined with small-group exercises and facilitated discussion.
The workshops give participants time to work through situations they recognise: being challenged in a meeting, losing their place during a presentation or feeling like a beginner when learning something new.
With Alison guiding them, they consider what they would notice, say and do, then develop a response they can practise in their own lives. Personal disclosure is optional; prepared scenarios allow everyone to take part.
Participants leave with a practical way to refocus under pressure, a helpful self-talk phrase and a plan for an upcoming challenge. A one-page takeaway guide supports continued practice after the session.
The programme can be adapted for:
Conferences and staff events
Leadership programmes and team away-days
Women’s networks and International Women’s Day events
Teams navigating change or learning new technology
Professional-services and client events
Organisations developing presentation and communication skills
Bring Resilience Under Pressure to your event
To discuss a keynote, interactive workshop or tailored session, contact Alison at ak@alisonkervin.co.uk.