264. The behind-the-scenes of my New York City Meetup

Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar and this is episode number 264. Today I'm going to share with you my experience in New York City and what it was like to meet my students in real life.

Foreign.

Hey. Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of the Influency Podcast. I hope you're doing well and happy today whatever day you're listening to this podcast on. And I'm recording this podcast on Sunday, October 30th. And I had just gotten back, I mean, I got back a week ago from New York after I spent a full month there with my partner Gil and my daughters. And I feel like I just got back because I was so jet lagged over the past week. I mean, I was fine, but everything was really foggy and hazy for me and for my family. So I am just going to accept the fact that that week was not the most productive week in my life. And now I'm really starting kind of like adjusting to life back home. And one of the first things I wanted to do is to share my experience living and working or teaching in a different place in New York. Something that is possible for me only because I have online business and students from all around the world. But the highlight of this month was a community, a student community meetup that we held on Saturday, October 15, where almost 50 students of mine from all across the U.S. europe and South America came together to see each other in real life. That was probably the most profound and exciting experience I've had in my life, and I'm very grateful for it. And I wanted to share that experience here with you because I think it is so important to dream big and to set goals for yourself even when you think they're not possible. Because who knows, you know, once you set that goal, sometimes you keep working towards that goal without even thinking about it. And then one day you wake up to realize that that dream has become a reality. And that was the case for me. I also want to say how important it is to have a safe community to be a part of, because after the global pandemic and people, you know, had to stay in their home for so long for so much time and contacts were lost. And of course, that's not our reality anymore. And I started the podcast at the beginning of 2020. So the first, I think 100 episodes of the podcast always dealt with the pandemic and the impact it had on our lives and our English and the need to connect and the need to communicate. And for some people, that opened up opportunities to learn and to speak, because all of a sudden, they had more time. So I was constantly dealing with that. And now it's the aftermath of the pandemic. And I still see the incredible need we have for a community, especially when it comes to learning English. Because when you practice your English or you learn in a safe environment or in a safe space with people who know exactly what you're going through, it gives you so much more motivation, but also it makes it more possible and keeps you on track, and it creates such incredible relationships. And we've seen that on that day where we met, because it really did feel like a family. People who have never, ever met behaved as if they've known each other forever, really. And I felt the same way. I felt like they're my family for the. For sure. So, just to give you a little recap, I had planned this trip around a training that I was supposed to deliver at this company in the US And I planned it, and I said, okay, I'm going to be there for a month because I have a lot of things to do and people to meet and colleagues to see after not, you know, only connecting with them online and my friends from the time that I lived in the US So I had all these things to do, and I said, why don't we have a meetup with new sound and beyond students who live in New York and the area? And when I thought about it, I said, okay, it's probably going to be like 10 or 15 people, easy peasy. Maybe I'll get an Airbnb and, you know, we'll just meet there. It's going to be nice and chill. Maybe we'll meet at the park. So we sent out a form for people to fill in, inviting them to tell us if they want to join this meetup. And I think after a day, we already had, like, almost 30 people who signed up. And then the day after, we had 40 people, and we were like, okay, this is taking a totally different shape than what we had anticipated. And then people started saying, okay, we're getting a ticket. We're coming from. We had students coming in from Czech Republic and Poland and Hungary and Argentina and Canada. That's where I started getting really, really scared and stressed out. I was like, oh, my God, all of these people are coming just to meet the community and me. This is a huge responsibility. I thought it was going to be something small. And with the fear, there was this excitement because it ended up becoming something that I Had anticipated or hoped for for years, having this annual meetup of my students where we get to meet and talk and maybe learn together. I was like, okay, this is actually, actually happening. And it's totally different than what I had planned it to be. But I'm loving this. So once I got over the fear and the imposter syndrome and all the possible scenarios on how I can mess it up, I'm going to get sick. The space is not going to be right. They're going to cancel on me last minute. The food is going to be disgusting, we're not going to have enough drinks. So I went through all the possible scenarios on, you know, how this could go wrong. And then I said, okay, now that I've dealt with all the bad things that could happen, let's think about what's all the good things that could happen. And that was our real starting point. We started organizing it. I found this beautiful space in Chelsea in New York City, in Manhattan, and everything just came together beautifully. To say that it was the easiest thing that I've ever done. No, because I'm used to organizing online events and I can do that, you know, wake me up in the middle of the night and I'll organize the perfect online event. But with an offline event in real life, there is so much that goes into it that I didn't even think I, I needed to worry about. So that was definitely an interesting experience and I've learned a lot. And now I'm all about offline events, conferences, meetups, workshops. I'm all about it. It felt so good. The day before the meetup, we had a seven hour, actually an eight hour training with a small group of people who signed up for it. And that was also one of the best days of my life. We had an incredible group of 12 women and we did some voice work and we did some speech work and we did some mindset work and a lot of conversations, some acting work because you know me, I come from acting. So it was really important for me to do that as well. And I hope they loved it. See, seemed like they did and I definitely enjoyed it. We had Samara Bay, who is an author and a dialect coach, a Hollywood dialect coach who did her voice session there, which was so profound and interesting and exciting and. Yeah. So I'm ready to start combining all my beautiful online work with my amazing online students with a little bit more offline. There is nothing like the real touch, the real look, the real experience of being in the same room, feeling the energy and doing Stuff that you simply cannot do online. On Saturday, that was the day of the meetup. I came to the space with Christina, who is the head of content in our company, and she also manages one of the programs beyond that we have in our company. And she came all the way from Japan. She's originally born in the US but she came all the way from Japan. That's where she lives now, which was an incredible thing to meet her in person for the first time. And, you know, after working together for over a year, knowing her for two years, so that was incredible. We wanted to also bring our head of community, Yelena, but visa issues prevented us from being able to bring her over. So unfortunately, I didn't have my entire team there or even like all the team members who were really a part of these students journey. But having Christina there was amazing. And also Daniela, who is one of our coaches. She was able to come from San Francisco, so we had a nice representation of the team. So we met there early morning on Saturday. I came in with my girls who were so excited about this event, and Gil, my partner, and myself, we came in, we dressed up really nicely, and from then on, it was all just like a dream. People started coming in, we set up everything. We had notebooks for everyone, and people started coming in. And like I said before, it was really, really special to just see their faces. They look just like they look on Zoom. So no surprises here. I did realize that I'm a lot shorter than most of my students and definitely from my team members. And we just talked, we organized some games, there were a few speeches. Then I invited all my students to ask me personal questions. But it wasn't just me. It was me, Gil and my girls, who were very all over the place at that point. We were sitting on the couch and everyone, we invited everyone to ask us questions about our lives together, about working together. Gil is a big part of the company, and he's also my partner and a great father. And we got some really fun and interesting questions because, you know, they always get to ask me professional questions about English, but not so much about my life. So that was fun. Gil was really nervous because he is not used to speaking in public, and all of a sudden he had to speak in English holding a microphone in front of 50 people, poor thing. Also, I didn't really prepare him for that. So it's just like, okay, now you're gonna speak. So that was fun and funny and, yeah, overall, it was just such a great day. The next day, we met up for a picnic so we had more time to talk in depth. I felt like I didn't really have time to talk to anyone. It was so, you know, hi, how are you? Good to see you. Let's take a photo. And then with, you know, with the next person and with the next person. And I was just like taking everyone in. But we didn't go deep in our conversations because that was not the energy. So we wanted to have that picnic. The next day we met in Central Park. The weather was perfect and we just spoke a bit deeper about things and about English and about, I don't know, our personal lives. It was really special, really. And again, like, I cannot stress enough how important it is to put yourself in a safe environment, in an empowering environment, in an environment that makes you want to pursue more. In an environment of people who pursue personal development and who are there to really encourage and support and not to put you down where you know that whatever it is that you say or do or post, you're going to be safe. And that's what we need to succeed in anything. But definitely in English, especially since you have to have the right people to speak with and to communicate with, you know, because English is all about speaking. It's not about just you reading or listening or writing. It's about speaking. And you need the right people to be able to do that. Now, if you're not a part of a safe community, I'm inviting you to join the Influency community. It's our free community on Facebook. Because if you're not a member of beyond in New Sound, you are not a part of the community I was talking about. But the Influency community is an incredible community of non native speakers from all around the world who connect and talk. And we have the speaking club and we have weekly video discussions and a lot of people have improved and found friends simply by being a part of this community. So I'm going to link to that group in the show notes and I really hope that you can join us. So you involve yourself in a safe community that will inspire you to do better and bigger stuff in English. To wrap up, I want to share with you the speech, not really a speech like a few minute talk that I gave in that event. It was about how it all started and also about what it meant for others to come and be in that event. Because it wasn't just about meeting me and it wasn't about meeting others or just about meeting others. It was also a personal achievement for so many and a milestone Doing something that matters, doing something alone. Many of the people who came to the event traveled for the first time on their own, without their spouses, without their families, without a friend. They had to figure it out all by themselves, and they did it, and it was a huge achievement for them. So it wasn't even just about the meetup. It was the decision to make it important and executing that decision that was so powerful and meaningful for so many of the people who came. And I appreciated it so much, and I kind of touched upon it in my speech. But I also wanted to mention that here, because sometimes when we do things that are important, we have to give up on things where we have to fight for it with the people that we love and who care about us, but don't understand why it's so important for us. And I think it's worth acknowledging. And I think for you listening to this, it's important to hear that. And that's why I'm saying that, because sometimes we forget to acknowledge those things that we do, and it's so important to do that. So I'm inviting you to acknowledge some of the things that you have done over the past month or two months that maybe you didn't take the time to celebrate and to celebrate yourself. So now it's the time to do it. All right, so with that, let's listen to the speech. I hope it makes you think and it gets you excited about fulfilling your own dreams and planting your own seeds. All right, let's listen.

So when I was three years old, I remember one night where I was standing out in our backyard in the rain. I was holding my umbrella, and I was eating an olive. And I remember taking the pit out and wondering what to do with it. I was alone. I was, like, standing there with my brother, and I had this brilliant idea that I'm going to plant it in the ground. And there was going to be this big, beautiful olive tree in our backyard. So I took it in my other hand and I dug a hole with my finger, very shallow hole. I put the pit down, covered it, and I was waiting. I was waiting for the tree to grow. A few months later, we had to move out of that apartment, this house. But I kept imagining the tree growing. And I kept imagining how now in this patio, there's this beautiful, beautiful, big olive tree. I didn't have that capacity for time and understanding that it actually takes a little longer than a few months to grow. And the thing is, this idea about planting something is something that is a part of all of our lives, planting a seed and waiting to see the outcome of it. Because every accomplishment you have in your life is a result of a seed you once planted. When I was in high school, I told all my friends that I'm going to be an actress in New York City. I did not know how I'm going to do that. I didn't have a visa, I didn't have money. I didn't have anyone here. But I told them that I'm going to be an actress in New York City. Six years later, I still remember the night before my first Off Broadway show. I remember how excited I was. And I remember that that seed Alice planted, when I just came up with the idea and that show, even though I had one line and I didn't get paid for it, was the outcome of that scene. That was the tree that I grew. In 2017, I was applying for this.

Program.

And I didn't get it, but it was applying for a scholarship, and I had to talk about my vision. And I said, I want to create a platform for people from all around the world to connect and communicate and to feel safe. That was a seed that I planted. One year later, 2018, I opened my first of many to come Facebook group called the Fluency Challenge. A beautiful community of people from all around the world. Many of you are a part of it. That moment has changed my life because that was the moment where I found all the people, people, all those names in the comments on YouTube. They have faces and stories and wants and dreams. And I started getting to know them, and it started changing everything about what.

I believe.

Or what I have believed about what English is for, why we need pronunciation, about speaking like a native, about what's the real meaning of it all. The most important thing is that I started seeing people planting their own seeds, Whether it was the first video or the first conversation group or signing up for something a seed planted. And those seeds allowed them to feel hope for something and to feel powerful and that their words matter and allow them to reimagine their lives and dreams. And all of you here today are here because of seed that you have planted. And I appreciate you all so much, and I am so grateful for making that decision to come here. I know it wasn't easy to come by you. For some of you, it was the biggest investment. Some people came from the other side of the world. Argentina, Czech Republic, Budapest, Poland. Some of you did not. People may have not liked the fact that you came here, and you have to convince them you still didn't like it and you did it anyway. A round of applause for those. Because you couldn't put it in words. Why this 5 hour meeting is important, but it's. It's the tree that you wanted to feel and see. The tree of the seed that you have planted. And you deserve to celebrate that today. You being here means that you are acknowledging your accomplishments, something that I know is not easy for a lot of you to do. You are acknowledging it by making a point coming here. So take a moment to be proud of yourself. You deserve it. For me being here today, seeing this you is the biggest reward for that seed that I have planted and my biggest accomplishment in life, probably after giving birth to bees too. And I'm so grateful for you and for this.

Thank you so much for being here and listening to this story today. It was important for me to share and if you stayed all the way until the end, I hope you found value in it. I'm inviting you to send me a DM on Instagram. Share with me what you think. You can find me at Hadar Accentsway or just subscribe to the podcast. If you enjoyed it and you're not subscribed just yet. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Sam.