Its 5:00 AM and I’m wide awake, dressing and making breakfast. I was all packed and getting ready to head to the airport, destination the 2013 New York Trader’s Expo.
This is the 3rd time being invited to speak at the Trader’s Expo (my two previous talks were held in Las Vegas), but before I get into the details of my talk let me share a little of what happened during my trip.
Taking a Bite out of the Big Apple
This would be my first time to New York City. I was flying in from Phoenix Sky Harbor airport to JFK and was hoping there wouldn’t be any snow to delay my flight.
Luckily both to and from flights were uneventful (had it been a week earlier I would have been stranded for days).
I decided to stay at the Tryp hotel a few block south of the Marriott Marquis where the Trader’s Expo conference would be held. It turned out to be a great recommendation. It had everything I needed plus a nice modern decor.
Tuesday Morning, It’s Showtime!
My day started off with a run through Central Park. It was a little chaotic getting there with dodging all the people, but a run or walk always makes for a great way to start the day.
I followed up my run with breakfast at Andrews Coffee Shop, which was quite good.
If you enjoy the hustle and bustle then city life is great. That being said, the big city is no longer for me, I need my space, less concrete and more trees!
I headed over to the expo around noon to do an interview with Tim Bourquin for the MoneyShow. I was especially excited to find out I would be following Jack Schwaeger, author of the Market Wizards book series.
I did a series of 3 video interviews that are supposed to be up on the MoneyShow.com website shortly.
The topics discussed were that of managing trading emotions, the importance of developing a routine, and some of the aspects that make up a winning trader’s mindset.
In the meantime here’s a trader interview I did with Tim the week leading up to the expo.
What to Do When Technology Fails
As I learned from Brian Tracy in his book Speak to Win, I made sure to arrive for my talk 30-mins before to get my laptop setup and verify everything was setup up the way I wanted.
As a side note, if you want to dramatically improve your public speaking (or simply become a more effective communicator) I highly recommend this book. I found it incredibly helpful and learned a lot. I also would add that the audio version is the way to go.
Well, as it turns out my Microsoft PowerPoint was acting up and crashing as soon as I would open the program. After a number of reboots with no resolve I was afraid I’d have to present without slides. Not the end of the world, but a bit frustrating nonetheless.
Magically (as is the case with technology) the problem fixed itself on the 4th or 5th reboot and my presentation went off on time.
A Full House
Strangely, I don’t really get nervous when speaking in front of an audience. If I’ve rehearsed well and am passionate about the material I’m covering I guess my nerves just turn into excitement.
The room was a bit larger than and I’d presented to previously.
It looked like it could seat about 150 people. There were probably 50 people in attendance when I began my talk, but Jack Schwager had a presentation finishing at the time I started so a flood of people (maybe 50-60 more) filled the rest of the seats a few minutes after I started speaking. It ended up being a great turnout.
My talk delved into what makes winning traders great and what techniques we can use to turn ourselves into winning traders.
During the presentation I referenced quotes from great traders, and stories from my own trading. I could sense people were engaged and you could feel the energy in the room, I thought it went well.
Turns out it went better than expected. I had a flood of people thanking me afterwards with comments like, “that was the best presentation of the entire expo.”
To all those that came out and attended live, your presence and comments really mean a lot. Thank You!
Light’s, Camera, Action!
I got to meet and hangout with a lot of great traders while in New York, but was still left with time to get out and see the city a bit. All in all it was a great trip, but I’m happy to be back in Arizona 🙂
Recording, Slides, and Transcript
Video cameras were not allowed in the presentation, but I did create a recording just before I left, and have the presentation slides and full transcript available below if you’d like to view it.
10 Steps to Developing a Winning Traders Mindset
Download the Presentation Slides (PDF)
I’d love to hear what you think about the presentation, leave your thoughts below!
Tim, this is a great presentation, and I have not gone through it ‘thoroughly’ since you have collected the BEST of the BEST and put it in simple terms. Thanks for putting the transcript and presentation along with since this is a “keeper”.
I am learning to be a trader as I wind down my corporate career, and of course, the rules are quite different from what I have done for the last 30 years. None-the-less, I will be leveraging a lot of what you have already taught me, such as putting a trading plan together (50% done), a trading system together (50% done), and finally, turning my mind into a ‘traders mind’ with the right pysch needed (most important) to trade unemotionally. I got the theory right, and soon it will be time to put it into practice.
Thanks again, and keep up the great work.
Kenny
Thanks Kenny, sounds like you’re well on your way. Let me know if I can be of help down the road.