When I was working at a call centre in Manila, our company held a talent show for its staff at the end of the year. It took place in a function room at a hotel in Makati during the Christmas party, and each department had to enter at least one act.
Nobody in my team wanted to volunteer, so my team leader more or less pushed me forward because she'd heard me doing impressions in the canteen. I did a five-minute comedy routine where I imitated different types of customers who call our helpline, like the man who shouts before you've said hello and the grandmother who tells you her whole life story. I wrote it over two weekends and practised in front of my mirror and my very patient sister.
The audience reacted much better than I'd dared hope. The first joke got only a polite laugh, and I felt my face go hot, but by the third character people were properly laughing, and some managers were wiping their eyes. At the end I got a standing ovation from my own team, though I came second overall to a girl from finance who sang beautifully.
Taking part made me feel braver in general. I'm naturally quite shy in big groups, and I'd always assumed people would find me boring. Hearing a room of two hundred people laugh at something I'd written gave me a confidence boost that lasted for months. Since then I've spoken up more in meetings, and I even trained new staff, which I'd never have offered to do before.