Places Please

This week I’m packing my bags for the Global Speakers Summit in Cairns.

Which means I’ve been doing what theatre directors always do before opening night.

Walking the stage in my mind.

Not the slides. Not the script. The space. The relationship. The moment before the first word is spoken.

In theatre there’s a call that comes just before the curtain rises.

Places, please.

It’s the quiet signal that everything is about to begin. Actors move to their marks. Conversations drop to whispers. The energy gathers itself.

Something is about to happen.

I’ve been thinking about that call this week as I prepare for the summit.

Not only because I’ll be on a stage, but because it’s such a perfect metaphor for those moments in life when we know we’re about to step into something significant.

A presentation. A conversation. An idea we’ve been carrying around for a while waiting for the right moment.

There’s always a kind of gathering before the moment itself.

A breath. A small internal adjustment.

We don’t often talk about that part. We focus on the words, the slides, the outcomes. But anyone who has ever stood in front of a room knows that something begins before the talking does.

The room feels it.

After forty years in theatre I’ve come to think of that as the real beginning. Not when the speech starts, but when we quietly take our place.

Which is exactly where I find myself this week.

Packing bags. Revisiting notes. Letting ideas settle into the body before they ever reach the stage.

Places, please.

It’s the call that reminds everyone something is about to begin.

This week I’ll be stepping into that room at the Global Speakers Summit - watching what happens when hundreds of people gather around ideas, stories, and the strange alchemy of live communication.

I have a feeling I’ll notice a few things worth sharing.

But for now, it’s simply this moment.

The one before everything begins.

Places, please.

March 10, 2026