No time like the present

Miski Osman is a junior doctor from London. Because of the coronavirus lockdown this will be the first Ramadan she has ever spent alone. Normally the 27-year-old would spend it surrounded by extended family and friends but as she cannot take the risk of bringing Covid-19 home from work, she has been assigned temporary NHS accommodation miles away from her loved ones.

“I’m living with another doctor who is also Muslim but they will be doing the opposite shift to me so I am trying to sort out how I can do iftar (the meal eaten to break fast at sunset) with my friends and family,” she says. “I’m sure I’ll partake in virtual iftars, as some of my friends are in the same situation too.”

Like many Muslims, Osman’s Ramadan usually consists of lots of family time: preparing dinner for relatives, enjoying each other’s company and spending time together. She also normally volunteers at the Ramadan Tent Project , a charity which hosts large community meals across the capital. But this year will be a much lonelier affair, in which Osman hopes instead to read the Quran in its entirety (a goal many Muslims set during Ramadan).

“I don’t remember the last time I had time to myself during Ramadan, I’m normally busy with family. This is a chance to reflect more, to worship more. I know it will have a huge benefit to what we’re all trying to deal with [coronavirus].”

The holy month of Ramadan is celebrated by the almost two billion Muslims around the world and the 3.4 million Muslims in the UK (latest ONS data available ). The festival lasts a period of 30 days and Muslims believe it is a time to replenish spiritual and religious health, as well as volunteer in your local community and appreciate the things we all take for granted; this is most visibly done by fasting , not consuming any water or food, from sunrise to sunset.

The date of Ramadan changes every calendar year because it is dictated by the lunar cycle – it is expected in 2020 most families in Britain will start fasting on Friday 24 April with Eid (the end of the fast) expected on 23 May. For obvious reasons during this period the ritual of eating is seen as a more special event – suhoor (the last meal before daybreak) and iftar being times of family gathering. But with Muslims across the UK practicing social distancing and self-isolation this year will undoubtedly be quite different.

There will be no nightly Taraweeh (prayers) at the local mosque, no sharing iftar food with your neighbours, no tangible communal acts to feel united. In other words, the many things that are synonymous with Ramadan for many Muslims, have been taken away. Prominent Muslim figures including Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, actor Riz Ahmed and former-TV presenter Konnie Huq even released a video encouraging people to spend Ramadan at home.

Lamisa Khan, 24, the co-founder of Muslim Sisterhood, says not having the community interaction will be the part of Ramadan in lockdown that is most difficult for her. Khan, who lives in south west London, says that as she has got older she has cherished the sense of community and having more friends fasting together, particularly as a woman.

“For many of us growing up, especially for women, we didn’t have that space to pray together but in recent years, there is a community spirit where neighbours drink mint tea together,” she says. Khan’s local mosque hires out a school canteen so that people can come for tea before the Taraweeh prayer in the evening.

“It is so nice to see so many people come through every night. It’s so beautiful to see how nicely organised our community has become. When you grow up in places where there aren’t many Muslims around you, times like Ramadan can feel isolating.”

As a result, losing this community in 2020 – because of the ongoing lockdown, social distancing, banning of mass gatherings and the closure of all places of worship – will be a real struggle for Khan. “I’ll miss that…I know when you’re fasting and praying with people, it can make things easier.”

The Muslim Council of Britain, the largest umbrella organisation for Muslims in Britain, has issued advice on those missing the community interaction; it says families should organise virutal iftars and use video chats or turn into livestreamed prayers from their local mosque. It says: “The suspension of services in mosques and social distancing measures will make Ramadan 2020 feel very different for Muslims.”

Another issue for key workers like Osman will be combining the strain of working on the frontline of the pandemic, doing longer hours and facing ever-greater challenges to fight Covid-19, with not eating and drinking – something that is normally hard but believers say brings spiritual fulfillment and focus to compensate.

“Many of us who will be fasting while working for the NHS will take it day by day,” she says. “You’re meant to hydrate yourself when wearing PPE as it can get hot and stuffy.”

Despite these challenges Osman is hoping that there will be rewards and upsides to fasting during the stress of a pandemic. “Ramadan may make this all simpler and easier to manage. The beauty of [it] is that it brings ease. Fasting gives you the ability to focus.”

For others there are tangible benefits to the lockdown, which the government has said will be in place till at least 7 May, and likely much longer. For comedian Tez Ilyas, 38, based in Blackburn, he would not normally be at home for Ramadan because he would be doing gigs in London or touring his shows. Now he has been at home for six weeks.

“Work doesn’t usually stop during Ramadan. So I’d be in London or doing other gigs while fasting, meaning I’d be breaking my fasts at a gig,” says Ilyas. “I’m happy I’m at home with my mum, if I was still living in London and self-isolating alone during Ramadan, it would be horrible. It will be quite nice to get at least one nutritious meal a day this time.”

Khan will also be at home with her family throughout Ramadan – although she is a little concerned that her multi-generational household (made up of her parents, her maternal grandmother, her brothers, her aunt and her cousin) will be a frequent “test of patience” for the month-long endeavour. “I live with so many people so in a sense I am blessed that I will still get that sense of togetherness and family,” she says.

Of course lots of the implications of social distancing on Ramadan will be logistical – but what about spiritually? This pillar of the Islamic faith is as much a spiritual undertaking as it is a physical one, so will Muslims expect it to feel different – one school of thought that has emerged online suggests that Ramadan has “come at the right time” to focus faith and belief.

“I don’t know about that,” says Ilyas. “But it will be a chance to create discipline with daily prayers, something that isn’t usually there all year round.” Like Osman he also plans to read the whole of the Quran during the fasting season. “It will be a Ramadan of looking inwardly, a time for self-reflection”.

For those who are worried about missing the opportunity to volunteer and do work in their community: some organisations are still going ahead with annual appeals, including Islamic Relief’s annual Ramadan fundraising appeal.

Ilyas also says that as well as having more time for reflecting, being able to shift his sleeping pattern around without work means he can pray at times that are more appropriate for disrupted mealtimes. Although he does worry that without external distraction boredom might creep in and be a factor in the difficulty of Ramadan this year.

For Khan she says that she is choosing to see the ongoing situation as a “sign from Allah to take a breath”. “What an opportunity to be reflective. What an opportunity to be grateful for our loved ones and the time we have with them,” she says.

Although her optimism wanes when she thinks about the prospect of missing Eid parties in a month’s time: “There’s a rush the night before Eid, when you’re getting your mendhi down in the streets and people are celebrating together and buying last minute Eid clothes, an experience that we’ll be sad to miss.”

No one knows whether the lockdown will be in place for the whole of Ramadan, whether celebrations will have to be postponed until the period has long passed or communities will be able to come together again in a matter of weeks. For Muslims looking ahead it presents the usual challenge of a testing fast but with the reassuring comfort of faith in troubled times.

In a controversial move, the United Nations chief is today calling on polluting developed countries like the UK to “fast forward” net zero targets by a decade to 2040, warning the “climate time bomb is ticking”.

It comes as the most comprehensive review yet of the state of climate change delivers a bleak picture of humanity’s failure to tackle it, warning the window to secure a “liveable and sustainable future” is “rapidly closing”.

But climate scientists have rallied to point out there are still grounds for hope.

Today’s report from the United Nations’ IPCC is the culmination of eight years of work by hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists, summarising six underlying reports.

The final sign-off by all governments was repeatedly pushed back amid a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations.

The last similar report in 2014 paved the way for the ambitious Paris Agreement the following year.

The next of its kind won’t arrive until 2030, making this effectively the last collective warning and action plan from scientists while the 1.5°C warming is still in reach – though only just.

Key findings of the IPCC report

• Human activity has “unequivocally” warmed the planet by 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.
• Emissions must fall 48% by 2030 – the first time such a bold target has been signed off in a global political document.
• Climate risks make things like pandemics or conflicts worse.
• Emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure alone would blow the agreed 1.5°C warming target, unless they are captured via still risky technology.
• Global sea levels have already risen by 20cm on average.
• At least 3.3 billion people are “highly vulnerable” to impacts including “acute food insecurity” and water stress.
• Extreme heat is already killing people in every region.
• Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least are disproportionately affected.

‘Hope not despair’

In the year since the last report in this series, the world has suffered violent flooding in Pakistan , drought across the northern hemisphere and a hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa – all of which were made worse by climate change.

But amid the bleak warnings of lost jobs, homes, crops and lives, scientists insisted there were still grounds for hope.

IPCC chair Professor Hoesung Lee painted a picture of a “liveable sustainable future for all” – though only if we “act now.”

“We should feel considerable anxiety,” said Professor Emily Shuckburgh from Cambridge University, who recently co-authored a book on climate change with King Charles, but was not involved with this report.

“But hope, rather than despair,” she added, highlighting that the IPCC said it’s still possible to limit warming to the agreed safer threshold of 1.5°C.

Read more: UN’s latest climate warning channels Hollywood

The report says changes in how we eat, travel, heat our homes and use the land can all cut climate-heating gases, while reducing air pollution, improving health and boosting jobs.

And there is enough global capital to rapidly slash climate-heating pollution.

“Not despair, but not just hope, because there is a lot of work to do,” said Dr Friederike Otto, a member of the core writing team and senior lecturer at Imperial College London.

“But we don’t need any new magic invention that we have to do research on for the next 30 years or so. We have the knowledge… But we also need to implement this.”

‘The wolf is at the door’

But because the window to act is “rapidly closing,” the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will today attempt to heap pressure on rich nations to make up for lost time.

In 2018 the IPCC loudly warned of the “unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C”.

Five years later, that challenge is “even greater” due to a failure to cut emissions enough, it said.

“Leaders of developed countries must commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040,” Mr Guterres is expected to say shortly.

“This can be done,” he will add in an address to launch the report, which he calls “a how-to guide to defuse the climate time bomb”.

Mohamed Adow, director of thinktank Power Shift Africa, said it was “only fair that Guterres is setting more ambitious goals for wealthier countries who can make the transition more quickly and who have got rich off the back of burning fossil fuels”.

But the proposal may spark some backlash for apparently moving the goalposts. Countries are already struggling to meet the previously agreed target of net zero by 2050.

Asked about the proposed date change, a UK government spokesperson said: “Today’s report makes clear that nations around the world must work towards far more ambitious climate commitments.”

Britain is currently off track to get its emissions to net zero even by 2050, according to an independent assessment last week, and the recent budget was criticised for falling short on climate policies.

Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Forget distant tropical islands and future generations – we have already seen what 40°C summers and flash flooding look like here in the UK. The wolf is at the door.”

Fossil fuel battleground at COP28

The COP28 climate summit will take place in the United Arab Emirates in December.

The findings of the latest IPCC report are supposed to inform those climate negotiations in Dubai.

This year’s summit is seen as particularly important, taking a “global stocktake” of how countries have progressed since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Observers pointed out that every government had signed off on the scientific conclusions released today, which include the call for a “substantial reduction in fossil fuel use”.

The necessary approval process by all nations is designed to ensure governments act on the contents.

Yet some countries resist that language in other forums such as the more political COP climate summits, with oil and gas states last year blocking a pledge to “phase down all fossil fuels” from the final agreement at COP27 in Egypt.

“By signing off the IPCC reports all governments, even those of high-emitting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Australia, the US and the UAE, acknowledge that climate change is a real and present danger,” said Richard Black from energy thinktank ECIU.

The UN will hope there is similar agreement in December – which needs to result in meaningful action.

Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

All on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.

The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

COMEDIAN Russell Kane, 47, has admitted there’s no lack of spark whatsoever in his marriage to wife Lindsey Cole.

The funnyman tied the knot with make-up artist Lindsey in 2014 and they share a daughter named Mina together.

And Russell says he’s “hornier than ever” as he opened up on his marriage, saying: “I think my wife would like a little less spark. I have an unusual amount of energy. I think she probably hoped by dating an older man she’d be bothered less than she is.”

He continued to tell The Sun that he “doesn’t know what’s going on,” adding: “I’m hornier than a rhino, only for her obviously. We’re just really into each other and we go out a lot and it makes people want to throw up when we’re all over each other.

“We’ve been married nine years in May. I’d never been single before and couldn’t get a kiss. I left school without kissing a girl. I’m 5ft10 and talk a lot. I was so bad at being single.”

Lindsey caught his eye in the front row of one of his shows, and he incorporated her into one of his routines, eventually asking her out.

The pair dated for 18 months before marrying in a private ceremony in Spain.

And the Steph’s Packed Lunch star keeps his doting fans hooked on social media with his hilarious videos, some of which he films with wife Lindsey.

But comedy was never originally on the cards for Russell , who was happy working as a copywriter before things kicked off.

He explained: “I never planned my comedy career. When I first got my first writing job as a copywriter someone said ‘you’re so funny’ which was something I’d been told my whole life but no one ever said to do anything with it. I thought it wasn’t a transferable skill to be funny but turns out it is.

“I was sat in an office and I was sat at my copywriting desk and a colleague said ‘please just try comedy Russell you’ll be f***** ace at it I know it.’

“So I googled stand-up comedy and clicked the first link and phoned the first number and asked how it worked. It was as simple as that.

“There was a three week wait and you go to amateur night and have a five minute slot. I had never been to see live stand up at this point, so in the three weeks that I was waiting I went to watch some and thought ‘I think I’m funny as some of these.’ The rest is history.”

Before his comedy debut, Russell described himself as a “bit of a show off,” and said he’d had small parts in Grange Hill and The Bill.

Since soaring to succss, the stand-up comedian won the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year in 2004 and a year later came second place in comedy competition So You Think You’re Funny.

He has been nominated for two Edinburgh Comedy Awards – first in 2009 and then the following year when he won the gong.

He’s gone on to present I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now alongside Laura Whitmore and Joe Swash between 2009-11 .

He has also presented Freak Like Me on BBC3 in 2010 as well as Geordie Shore: The Reunion for MTV in 2012.

His latest project is a podcast named Pack Your Bags , which sees the comic and some very special guests heading off on an adventure.

Over the 12 episodes Russell jets off with well known travel-lovers from the worlds of sport, food, science and entertainment as they surprise him with their three must-pack travel items.

Guests include Jason Fox, Dr Zoe Williams, Babatunde Aleshe, Candice Braithwaite, Bettany Hughes and Greg Rutherford.

TUI’s new podcast ‘Pack Your Bags’ with Russell Kane is available from 5 ^th April and free to download via multiple listening platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

Every morning, Cam*, 30, crossed the same bridge to get to her London office. As usual, she was doing this journey a couple of hours earlier than she really needed to be – she always put in extra time compared to her white colleagues, so as not to appear lazy. However, every day she crossed that bridge she couldn’t help shake the feeling she wanted to jump off it, so desperate to avoid another day of racist microaggressions from fellow staff, an issue that had plagued the last four years of her career. “I honestly wished I was dead,” she tells The Independent . “I would have preferred taking my life to experiencing another day of what I was going through.”

Cam’s experiences ranged from managers telling her she looked unprofessional and should be “less of herself” when talking to clients, to being refused for promotions she was overqualified for. Her hair started shedding as a result and she developed anxiety-related irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). “I even got told I got up from my desk too often – so I started holding in my urine so they couldn’t say [that],” she says.

Cam spoke to senior management and HR about what was happening but says she was “not given support” from either department. In response her probation period got extended, before she says she was “eventually dismissed unfairly”. “When you raise the problem, it’s reflected back to you and you’re made to feel like it’s your problem,” she explains.

In the weeks following the killing of African-American man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis on 25 May, there has been much discussion about racism on both sides of the Atlantic. Although Floyd’s murder was an overt act of brutality, black people know this isn’t the only type of racial violence that occurs on a daily basis. As well as systemic issues like unequal pay (110,000 people have signed a petition to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting in Britain) or black people being twice as likely to die in police custody, racism can be subtle and insidious.

Coined in the 1970s by psychiatrist and Harvard Professor, Chester M. Pierce, the term “microaggression” relates to these indirect expressions of discrimination and racism, which Pierce witnessed non-black people inflicting on African Americans (although the term can also be used in the context of sexism, homophobia and other discrimination as well).

Microaggressions may present as an innocuous comment or behaviour, but have the impact of highlighting a person’s “difference” from the majority represented group. Microaggressions can occur anywhere – from non-black people clutching their bags when black people pass by on the street, to a heterosexual person at a party assuming two LGBTQ+ people would get along, purely due to their mutual queerness.

Online search for the term microaggression has reached new levels in the UK following Floyd’s death and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement; in fact the data shows never as the world had so many people Googling microaggressions any time in our digital history.

At the start of June, HR expert Avery Francis saw the growing appetite for this knowledge and created a 10-slide presentation of microaggressions frequently experienced by black women. These include; “You are pretty for a black girl”; “You are so aggressive”; “You are so articulate”; and, the frequently-experienced question: “Can I touch your hair?” The post has now been liked over 360,000 times, gaining her 50,000 new followers, and receiving hundreds of comments, which cross the whole spectrum from support and reinforcement, to others claiming Francis is wrong, and that these comments are “intended as compliments”.

Francis says all of these comments qualify as microaggressions because they play into long standing historical stereotypes – that black people are lazy or uneducated (so being articulate is surprising) or that black people are more prone to being aggressive or violent. Others tap into issues around black women’s appearance: that attractiveness would always be surprising because western culture puts whiteness on such a pedestal, or a type of hair is so unfamiliar and other, that someone would want to touch it like an educational exhibit.

“It feels like death by a thousand cuts,” Francis explains. “[Microaggressions] really chip away at your self worth, and it’s harder because the instances seem so small.” It’s this element of perceived neutrality or individual smallness that can make microaggressions all the more sinister. After all the language and behaviour concerned can seem non-specific and more opaque than outright violence – because it isn’t always the words but the cultural and historical context concerning who is saying them, and to whom, that informs the impact they have.

But, just like more open expressions of racism, recipients of microaggressions can be left feeling angry, wronged, or belittled. According to psychologist Dr Samantha Rennalls, these “small comments” can generate an additional layer of damage to overt racial violence. “Because of their somewhat ambiguous nature, microaggressions come with an added layer of emotions,” she explains. “They can be confusing, sometimes leaving the recipient with a sense of uncertainty about why they are feeling hurt or offended.”

This difficulty in identifying the offence may discourage people from calling them out. Francis says: “In the workplace, if you have someone that makes a comment about your hair, you might not necessarily feel that it’s totally appropriate to go to HR, because it’s not overtly aggressive. It’s something that isn’t okay to you – but you’ll take it on the chin, so as to not make a fuss.” But, sadly, without the offender discovering what they’ve done, the cycle continues indefinitely.

Microaggressions are frequently attributed to occurring in the workplace, largely because it’s an institution in which we spend a lot of our waking hours. A poll by NASUWT , one of the UK’s largest teachers’ unions, found earlier this year that the majority of black and minority ethnic teachers in British schools have experienced “microinsults, microinvalidations and other forms of covert racism in the last year”. But it also occurs in other industries too.

On 14 June singer Misha B (Bryan), who appeared on The X Factor in 2011, took to social media to share a video about microaggressions she says she faced from contestants, production staff and judges. The singer told fans how inaccurate descriptions of her being “feisty”, “overconfident” and a “bully” chipped away at her confidence and made what should have been a joyous experience, an extremely painful one. “[They] created this whole narrative of me being overconfident because I’m black,” Bryan told her fans. “In [their] eyes, black girls should not be confident.” Bryan said her experience on the programme had left her feeling suicidal.

An X Factor spokesperson told The Independent : “We are very concerned to hear Misha’s comments regarding her experience on The X Factor in 2011. We are currently looking into this matter and are reaching out to Misha to discuss the important issues she has raised. The welfare of contestants is our priority and we are committed to diversity and equality.”

Bryan says she was diagnosed with PTSD after the experience, and claims that her absence from the music industry is due to her having to take time out to heal. She is not alone in the devastating long-term impact of microaggressions: multiple studies support the view that microaggressions have palpable repercussions past the moment of impact. Dr Samantha Rennalls says: “Long-term exposure to microaggressions has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, possibly due to the impact that they have on self-esteem and/or the way in which one may feel powerless to challenge them.

“When trauma is experienced, the body responds with an emotional and physiological stress response, which, when experiencing chronically, leads to a wearing down of psychological and physical wellbeing. This can be conceptualised as a “biological weathering” and is known to be associated with physical health problems such as hypertension and an impaired immune response,” she continues.

After leaving her job, Cam decided to try and transform a negative experience into a positive one: she set up an Instagram community to talk anonymously about what had happened, and encourage other black women to share their own stories. Ultimately she says she only made it through that time, without having a nervous breakdown, due to the support of her mother.

As society begins to reconcile the idea of transformation from the ground up, it is easy to focus on the most obvious signs of racism. But if we are to really address the deep-rooted nature we cannot overlook the micro-events that play out against the background of extreme racial violence. The daily aggressions that mount up and change the lives of black people forever.

*Names have been changed

If you have been impacted by mental-health related issues raised in this article you can call Samaritans on 116 123 for a free conversation and support.

I recently traveled to Pakistan after being invited to speak about personal branding with a group of entrepreneurs and business owners in Lahore and Karachi. I’d never been to that part of the world before, and I wasn’t at all familiar with the business, professional, or cultural scene there.

Delivering a workshop on the other side of the world where you’re unfamiliar with the language, culture, and local dynamics presents unique challenges for speakers whose job is to hold the attention of an audience for several hours. As someone who regularly gives talks to international audiences, I was confident I could host a valuable workshop, but acutely aware this specific assignment would be challenging due to my extremely limited knowledge of the region.

My days in Pakistan were eye-opening to say the least, both personally and professionally. Presenting in a completely different region illuminated some of my blind spots, and hosting these workshops there showed me I can always improve as a speaker. However, I was also reminded that sticking to seven presentation fundamentals can serve you well as a public speaker no matter where you are in the world.

1. Know Your Audience

The first, most critical step you must take as a speaker is to understand exactly who will be in the audience. For these workshops in Pakistan, based on my initial briefing with the client, I had originally understood most audience members were small family business owners focused on serving local communities there. I included specific case studies throughout my presentation of what I felt would be relevant, relatable, regional examples for this specific audience.

However, as I went through my workshop, it became apparent to me that many attendees were owners of larger-scale companies with larger footprints. In fact, during one of the breaks, one of the attendees said the examples I included were not “high profile” or international enough. Due to my misunderstanding of the audience, I’d intentionally taken out examples that more closely aligned with what he described.

Your audience profile should drive your presentation’s structure, content, and design. In this case, I misunderstood the dynamics and profile of the group and should have clarified this before it was too late to change my slides. I was reminded that you must ensure you’re crystal clear on the profile, attitudes, and ambitions of your attendees so your content is on point.

Tip: After an initial briefing and before you craft your content, re-articulate the target audience’s profile in writing with your client to double-check your understanding ’ s 100% accurate.

2. Arrive As Early As Possible

If you’re speaking at an event, you can never get to the venue too early, especially if you’ve never been before. Although most audio/visual (A/V) equipment is fairly standard, when presenting in a foreign country, you should be prepared to deal with slightly different setups, unfamiliar equipment, and of course language barriers. To further complicate things, these days you may be delivering a hybrid session, where you must consider how you and your presentation come across to both the in-person and remote audience.

A couple hours before I was set to host my workshop in Lahore, I received a message from the organizers informing me some attendees now wanted to join the session virtually via Zoom. As someone who’s hosted many hybrid sessions before, I knew shifting to a hybrid setup could introduce additional complexities in both the setup and delivery throughout, highly dependent on the room’s technical capabilities.

Typically, I try to arrive at least 1 hour prior to hosting a workshop at venues where I’ve never presented before. Unfortunately, in this instance, due to traffic and other causes beyond my control, I had only 30 mins to set up. A half-hour is typically more than enough time if things go smoothly, and the room is set up the way you want. However, if things don’t go smoothly, it’s not.

With some A/V setups, I can get all equipment up and running in under five minutes, even for some hybrid sessions. However, in this case, the setup with the hotel venue’s staff took longer, due in part to some language barriers, hybrid A/V limitations, and equipment I was less familiar with.

While I did manage to get everything up and running, I was not completely happy with the final setup. The room setup certainly did the job, and the issues were likely only noticeable to me. However, I would have ideally preferred a few optimizations, but no additional time was available for further tinkering. Because I’m very particular about these things, I do feel it affected me during my delivery.

When you’re in front of an audience, your room’s setup becomes part of your own personal brand, so the onus is on you as the speaker to ensure you have ample time to set up in a way you find works for you. You can never give yourself too much time buffer.

Tip: When presenting in an unfamiliar location, arrive on-site at least one hour in advance of your start time. If setting up only ends up taking a few minutes, simply use that extra time to connect with audience members who arrive early.

3. Do Your Best To Adapt

If you’re a regular public speaker, you know that creating presentations specifically tailored for each individual audience is critical. Although inevitably more time-consuming than simply reusing existing slides, making even a little bit of effort to customize your presentation can go a long way.

In Lahore, I spent some time before my session with the local individual who invited me. He was kind enough to have me over to his family’s house and even give me a tour of the city. I noted a few songs he chose to play on the car radio, and I also asked around to discover some popular music in Pakistan, which I eventually embedded into my final closing slide as exit music. The morning of my presentation, I also spent a bit of time with the hotel’s front lobby staff to learn a few basic phrases in Urdu.

Your effort to just go with the flow and adapt the best you can, especially when you’re not used to local customs, can go a long way with a foreign audience. If you’re presenting in a region where drinking alcohol is forbidden, don’t feature images of people drinking wine in your slides. If men and women there don’t typically shake hands during greetings, don’t feature those types of images in your presentation. Again, your content should relate to those in your audience.

Tip: Ask your client which common missteps foreigners make during presentations, and do your best to avoid those same pitfalls. Just asking the question alone can demonstrate your willingness to consider inevitable cultural differences.

4. Take Feedback On Board

Audiences can be scathingly critical. In a world of Google reviews, TripAdvisor comments, and app ratings, we’re practically programmed to share our subjective opinions about everything these days.

When you’re not the one actually delivering a presentation, it’s all too easy to call out what’s missing, critique any oversight, and suggest improvements. As someone who’s regularly invited to speak at over 100 events each year, I’m used to receiving audience feedback, and I not only welcome it but actively solicit it.

During one of the breaks in the middle of my workshop in Lahore, an attendee came up to me, initially complimenting me on the session, only to then share some suggestions for improvement on the spot. After my workshop, during the car ride back to my hotel with the person who originally invited me, he immediately shared mostly negative feedback and had almost nothing positive to say.

Ouch.

After investing many hours into crafting the content, flying across the world to deliver the session, and feeling quite confident in my abilities as a speaker, my initial reaction when hearing this negative feedback was confusion and disappointment. Did I miss something? Did I read the room incorrectly? Was I really not energetic enough?

I thought I’d precisely followed the content outline we agreed that laid out the exact sequence of interactive elements. I thought I was reasonably energetic (although I did intentionally pull back a bit to avoid coming across as an overly extroverted American). I thought I did go above and beyond what most speakers would do to customize the presentation content to their regional market. Turns out, I was off in my assessment.

Scheduled to deliver the same session to another group of entrepreneurs in Karachi 48 hours later, a part of my jet-lagged self just wanted to just stick with my existing presentation I’d already invested a lot of time into and not make any last-minute changes. However, upon further reflection, I felt these critiques were fair. I did notice the audience’s energy drop midway through my session. The content could have been more focused. The session could benefit from more interactive exercises.

So late into the night and throughout the following day during my journey to Karachi, I overhauled my presentation. When I arrived in Karachi, I had dinner with a few people planning to attend my talk there the next day and asked them for their thoughts on what would make my session work best. Afterwards, I made even more changes. When I delivered the revised session, I got a completely different response from the audience, and my session seemed to land better.

Receiving negative feedback is never fun, but in nearly every case when someone shared some tough feedback with me, my presentations got better as a result. Feedback is especially valuable when speaking with foreign audiences because you may simply be unaware of some important cultural considerations or blind spots you have.

Tip: Before swatting it aside, take a moment to consider all negative feedback, recognize its constructive merit, then optimize your presentation accordingly to make it more bulletproof.

5. Stand Your Ground

The counterpoint to taking on feedback is that you don’t always have to take it on board, even if coming from someone more knowledgeable about a region than you. As a speaker, I pride myself in being able to consider every single piece of feedback, even when feedback feels unfair, misplaced, or flat-out inaccurate. At least reflecting on all feedback helps me refine my content and make myself more resilient as a speaker in front of especially critical audiences. At the same time, you don’t have to make every single change people suggest.

For example, that same person who shared some feedback with me during the break also told me I “shouldn’t walk toward the audience” beyond the front lectern because it resulted in my back periodically facing toward those seated toward the front of the U-shaped seating arrangement of the room.

Interesting.

While I did nod and simply say, “okay” when he shared this to me, I immediately questioned his own level of experience hosting multi-hour workshops himself. In the hundreds of talks I’ve given to audiences from all over the world in a wide variety of seating arrangements, I’ve never had a single person comment that my walking pattern was “incorrect.”

On this point, I decided to stick with the advice from every single public speaking coach and presentation skills training I’ve attended over the past 20 years where the consistent guidance has always been to step away from a lectern, eliminate barriers, and reduce large physical distances between you and a listener where possible. The overwhelming consensus is that stepping beyond a lectern is one of the most effective ways of breaking the monotony of a long workshop to make more people feel engaged and included, especially those seated toward the back. Making use of the entire space within the center of a U-shaped seating arrangement is another way to more effectively connect with each audience member.

Not all feedback you receive will be grounded in real-world experience or come from someone who is necessarily credible themselves in that arena. When you feel your way of doing something as a speaker has generally worked well for your audiences, stick with it. While there could always be cultural and situational exceptions that result in you tweaking your approach accordingly, some universal speaking principles will still hold true. Remember that when you’re the one on stage, you decide on the rules of engagement. The stage is yours.

Tip: Consider all subjective feedback, but use your professional judgment to decide which points are valid and which you can safely disregard.

6. Always Be Gracious

When you’re invited to be a guest speaker, remember that you are there to deliver a service. Someone is paying you. Someone invited you. Someone is the client. You are the supplier. This principle is especially true for international talks where your host has likely managed a lot of logistics and stakeholders to get you there.

While I’m not one to stick my tail between my legs and just roll over when someone tells me something I don’t want to hear, I’ve found the best course of action in the spirit of collaboration is to always remember to be gracious and professional across every single presentation you have the privilege of delivering.

After my first workshop in Pakistan, a couple attendees mentioned to me that they felt the content could have been covered in three hours rather than four hours. Ironically and frustratingly, my originally recommendation to the hosts was to proceed with a shorter 3-hour workshop instead of their desired four hours. Regardless, the onus was on me to find ways to better manage the presentation flow so that the last hour could be more engaging for the workshop I was scheduled to deliver later in Karachi.

Sometimes, you have to just take it on the chin as a public speaker and demonstrate that in the face of critique or additional requests, you can take a professional approach that reminds people why they chose you as a speaker in the first place. Being invited to speak with a group in a part of the world you would otherwise not have the chance to see is a true honor and privilege. Remember to always thank your hosts afterwards and treat everyone with appreciation and kindness.

I’m certainly grateful to have had this opportunity to visit Pakistan, and I can’t thank the organizers enough for the time and belief they invested into me along with their incredibly kind hospitality throughout my first visit to their country. Giving 110% to deliver the best workshop possible is the standard I try to maintain with any speaking engagement, but especially those that require international coordination with the client.

Tip: Remember you’re the service provider as a speaker, especially when international travel is involved. While the client isn’t always right (as the saying goes), always act professionally and respect your client’s preferences, efforts, and opinions.

7. Believe In Yourself

Having confidence—both the confidence you feel internally and the confidence you project externally—is critical when you’re speaking on stage in front of an audience. That confidence can easily get shaken when you’re presenting in a region where you don’t speak the local language, know regional customs, or understand cultural nuances.

If you’re passionate about public speaking like I am, you’re probably never 100% happy with your performance because you always feel it could have been better in some way. Striving to be better is how you get better—by embracing an attitude of continual improvement. Across the hundreds of talks and workshops I’ve delivered over the years, I can’t remember ever feeling like one went exactly as I’d hoped or planned.

However, having a relentlessly perfectionistic attitude can result in you never feeling quite good enough. If you’re like me, you can also be a bit hard on yourself when a presentation you worked so hard to develop doesn’t land as well as you had hoped, which is more likely to occur when you’re speaking to an unfamiliar audience in an unfamiliar part of the world you’ve never visited before. I’m human, and a bumpy presentation can sometimes deal a blow to my own confidence, at least temporarily.

At the end of the day, no matter how unfamiliar your surroundings are, you have to just remind yourself that you were invited to speak for a reason. And that reason was likely something to do with your talents, skills, and capabilities as a speaker. Don’t ever forget that.

Tip: Even when speaking in a different region where you’re far outside your comfort zone, you must first trust yourself so others can also trust you too.

Embrace Your Opportunity To Have A Unique Impact

When speaking to an audience in a foreign country, your job as a speaker will be exponentially more complicated. There’s no way around it. On top of delivering an engaging talk, which is no small feat, you’ll need to navigate different cultural norms, expectations, and dynamics.

However, presenting to a completely different audience also gives you the opportunity to stress test the quality of your content and ability to effectively connect with a wide range of audiences. Just as you’ll learn and grow as a speaker when working outside of your usual environment, you also can share a unique perspective your audience may never get a chance to otherwise hear.

Being able to have a positive impact on someone’s life is the reason why I enjoy public speaking so much. Having wrapped up this engagement in Pakistan, I now know that presenting abroad, although challenging, is also an enormous privilege, especially when you couple your work with the unique opportunity to temporarily immerse yourself in an entirely different culture to yours.

Speaking with an overseas audience ultimately helps you hone your skills in ways you simply cannot unless you push yourself to present in different environments. If you can embrace the challenge of speaking with an international audience, the experience will be unforgettable. More importantly, you’ll have the opportunity to make your own unique mark with a whole new audience and give a talk they’ll hopefully never forget.