Stephanie Decker

DECKER: I want people to be inspired, to let go of their “some days”, and take action toward creating the life they want to live today. I am human, I am not perfect, and I don’t achieve every goal that I have ever set out to do. People relate more to my vulnerabilities than they do to anything else. They realize “Hey, she’s not superhuman after all. I can do this.” In fact, if people take one thing away from my talks, I hope that’s it. I want people to walk away and feel like whatever is going on in their life, they can make a change, make a difference in their paths, and find their purpose – their “WHY” in life. Hopefully, we will cry a little and laugh a lot along the way.

DECKER: My husband laughs at me when it comes to this! Our house is an open floor plan, which means my office is smack dab right next to the family room and kitchen, an arrangement that doesn’t lend itself to a great deal of privacy. That’s why a few weeks before I give a speech, you will usually find me locked in the bathroom to get away from the 2 dogs, 2 kids, and 1 husband! There is never a quiet moment around my house and I know many can relate; sometimes, the bathroom is the only place to get a little time to myself.

DECKER: I have had some very interesting situations. Speaking about opening up to your vulnerabilities, I am not sure I have shared this story with anyone other than my agent. Joe (my husband) and I went to California for a TED talk I was presenting. This was my first one and I was pretty excited since these can make or break your career in speaking. I had someone help me prepare, but as a result, the order of events and language had changed quite a bit in my speech to the point where the presentation wasn’t really MY WORDS.

At any rate, I thought I was pretty well prepared and that I was going to do great. We went for a rehearsal where we only had a few people in attendance: a speechwriter, producer, camera guys, and my husband. I got on stage and it was an EPIC FAILURE. I was for a lack of a better word, speechless – and being a speaker, that is not really an option. The speechwriter took me outside to talk and tried to be supportive. I am sure that everyone was thinking, “Wow, who brought her in to speak? She’s going to be a disaster.”

Joe and I went to do dinner and I was stressed. I only had that evening and the next morning to get it together and I was back at the drawing board, trying to get back to my presentation that I had done in the past, and then create a more condensed version.

Finally, it was show time, my husband was a nervous wreck for me, and I knew the rest of the staff was, as well. Most were banking that there was no way I was going to be able to pull this off. After all, most TED speakers have their talks and times memorized well before they even get to the venue. To further turn up the pressure, the gentleman before me was riveting. He did some crazy things with balls floating around the room. I remember watching him, thinking to myself “Great, I have to go after him? He was a hit!”

My turn came. I remember getting out on stage. All eyes were on me, and I nailed it! The audience was truly captivated with my TED talk, so much that I received a standing ovation. The looks from the speechwriter, producers, and camera crew were priceless and as I left the stage the gentlemen who was up next said, “Great, I really have to go after you?” It ended up being one of my favorite talks that I have done; however, it was a little eventful to get to there.

DECKER: Personally, I feel I can reach a broad-spectrum audience. My story, passion, mental toughness, perseverance, power of positivity, goal oriented talks give me the ability to reach many different groups of people: conferences, businesses, corporate events, athletic groups/teams/events, religious institutions, insurance companies, doctors/hospitals/medical groups, diversity groups, and school/universities. My message is a great fit for events that focus on health and wellness, fitness, psychology, personal growth, body image, confidence, teamwork and team-building.

DECKER: That’s a bit difficult to answer; I enjoy all of the groups that I talk with. I guess if I had to pick a favorite it would be talking to athletic and sports groups. Being an athlete it’s very easy for me to relate, because there’s this psychology in sports that you need to give it all you have got, even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. I thoroughly enjoy motivating a team or group because I am a competitor at heart. It’s odd, but I never realized how important of a role that athletics played in my life until I was put in a situation of survival. Being buried and trapped in 9 feet of rubble, legs severed & bleeding profusely put me “back in the game”. That’s an aspect that many athletes don’t understand until they are faced with unimaginable adversity or tragedy.

DECKER: A nation latched on to our quiet family of four in rural Henryville, Indiana and never went away. The headlines were everyday of every week; I felt like I was being interviewed non-stop. Early on, I realized the impact that this had on women, mothers, children, amputees, and the list kept growing. I needed some way to divert the media attention from being “about ME” to “how I can help others.”

DECKER: My story is compelling. I open with a video that enthralls and captures the attention of the entire audience as they feel the vibrations and sounds of a tornado in the room. It’s quite amazing to look into the crowd and see they are engaged from the very beginning. The audience and I then go on this roller coaster of emotions together: we cry, we laugh, we cry some more, we laugh some more, and then I give them the tools and teachings from my own personal experience along with how to put those into practice in their daily life.

I am currently working on a new topic of discussion that I am excited about rolling out. I’ll give you a little inside peak; as audience members come into the room, they take a name badge. On that name badge they write one thing they don’t like about themselves or that they are insecure about. As they look around the room and begin to talk to others, how will that activity change the way they view their insecurities? Imagine how often do we hide behind our insecurities. How many other people in the room have the same insecurities as we do? Do we feel less ashamed now that we see that other people struggle just like we do?

It’s an interesting topic for me considering we live in a world where we feel we have to be perfect, when in fact NONE of us are. I’m going to stop right there, because I don’t want to give too much of my new presentation away!

DECKER: At one of my recent speeches a gentleman came up to me with a full page of notes! He wanted to show me everything he wrote down; in fact, he had already text messaged his son giving him some of my advice and quotes. It was a “wow” moment for me. I had finally gotten to this point in my career where I could truly help someone else achieve their goals. Keep in mind, I usually get a response from women who are mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or sisters, and early on that had been a big focal group for me; however, now there are professional businessmen taking notes. It took some time, but I feel that I have developed my career as a motivational speaker to help people across the board as opposed to just one specific group.