Satirist and broadcaster KSM once told the story of his first public performance in a one-man play in New York. After preparing and advertising as best as he could, he ended up with an audience of two people.

Naturally, his dilemma was whether to refund their money and call off the show or go ahead and give his best. He chose the latter and performed as if he had a thousand people in attendance. The grateful duo game him a standing ovation. Interestingly, one of them, who happened to be a theatre director, was instrumental in taking him unto a much bigger platform.

The lesson is simply to refuse to take any performance or speaking engagement lightly. Don’t belittle any chance. Even if there are only a few people in attendance or it is a low profile event, once you have accepted to speak or perform, still go ahead and give your very best. You may never know who is present or the effect on your reputation if someone recorded and rebroadcast your message or streamed it on social media. See every stage as a World Cup final.