I'm not an extrovert. I don't like crowds. I'd rather be the trusted adviser than the guy in the spotlight. In high school, speech class gave me su...
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Awesome article, thank you!!
For me, preparation builds confidence. Every time. Sounds silly but rehearsal is my biggest tool, at least with the speaking portion.
I prefer demos, because usually I'm demoing something I've done so many times I can do it in my sleep. Sometimes I wish the presentation could be 100% demos.
The "talk" part with the slides is more of a struggle, so I practice it over and over again. My goal is to be able to click the slides as I'm talking without looking back at them because I know the talk so well. It doesn't always happen that way and depends on how much preparation time I've had.
So I can't add much other than focus on your rehearsals and get early feedback from others if you can.
For me, practicing to an empty room is actually harder than presenting. Previously, I've clicked through the presentation repeatedly, thinking through the words each time and examining the flow, but my last presentation was to a larger audience so I practiced it aloud around 3 times prior to the presentation. That made the presentation itself a lot easier and all I had to worry about was getting into the steam of things.
Practicing also helps me identify what can go wrong. I intentionally presented with no internet connection, just so there were fewer sources for unplanned interruptions. Additionally, during one of my practice runs PowerPoint crashed and I had to practice getting it back online and restarting the presentation.
I've done only a few demos thus far, and next time I do one I'm going to be sure I have pre-recorded video available on device, on USB, and in the cloud in case of catastrophic failure.
I've not had the confidence yet to try live-coding. I may never do it as I think that the benefits it offers can largely be created via slides done in a careful way.
I hesitate to use the word "introvert" as a label that can describe an individual's characteristics in detail.
That being said, many introverts might be surprised to find that public speaking is not only bearable but is even more comfortable than one-on-one interaction. A few reasons:
This isn't to say that I would replace 1:1 interactions with public speaking. Rather, we might just be surprised at how much we enjoy the latter. As we get comfortable speaking publicly a version of ourselves begins to emerge which resembles how we'd like to present ourselves in more personal interactions. As we recognize it we allow it to come out when speaking to individuals. Our public side and our personal side each help the other to grow.
There's a lot in there. For me, the core of being an introvert vs extrovert is how you recharge. Do you recharge by being alone or talking with one or two close friends or do you enjoy parties, groups of people, and larger-scale socialization? Most people are somewhere in between, and this can change over time. I'm a very introverted fellow, but I can act like an extrovert - particularly if I care about a cause or group of individuals.
I love what you're saying with:
I certainly have been surprised myself.
Great post! The best advice I can give is also the hardest to hear (and most boring) - which is that you'll get better if you practice. Like most things in life, you grow when you get out of your comfort zone, and then do that over and over again.
If you're interested at all in speaking (and even if you're not!) I highly recommend finding some local technical meetups in your area, and asking if you can do a lightning talk. Meetup organizers are always looking for more people to talk (I know - I am one 😄) and most are happy to accept a 5 minute lightning talk. Do a few of those, and you'll quickly be ready to move on to longer and longer talks - even if you were terrified before!
So yeah - I love this post because it shows that 1. you don't have to be an expert, and 2. just do it!
Then make a post on DEV and let us all know how it went 😉
I agree entirely with this. While I give formal presentations at work once or twice a month, presenting to strangers at a meetup is a fantastic way to grow. I've done 3 full-hour presentations at meetups and each one has helped me grow and gauge where I am.
After the last, I gauged myself to be ready to throw my hat into the ring for local and regional conferences, and have applied to my first conference. I've identified 3 more conferences I plan on applying to next year when the call for speakers opens.
Hopefully folks will be interested to see me speak and interested in my abstracts and I'll get a shot with a larger audience.
As for posting to Dev.to, I'll know by the end of September if my abstracts were accepted / rejected and either way I'll post them here for feedback and sharing my lessons learned on the process.
Awesome article on public speaking.
I find that i always have the nervousness whenever I'm trying to present
From everything I've experienced and everything I've read / studied, that's normal. You're going to encounter at least some degree of nervousness / anxiety. The key is to find ways of telling your body that there's no imminent threat and to focus on providing value to individuals. Remembering a few people you know personally that could benefit from the topic is often helpful for me, but you're still going to have that anxiety, though it decreases with repetition.
Exactly, What I am looking for. Thanks
@matt , taking the stage has worked well for me. ðŸ¤
But if I take it, they'll want me to give it back - or at least bill me for a replacement stage.