I don't have a fear of public speaking. At least I strongly believed that I didn't - and I finally got a chance to test this theory in practice: I got to participate in the WeAreDevelopers conference with a React server components workshop.
Not that I never tried to present some ideas to a big number of people, but it was usually a part of work or studies, and it was different. Despite the fact that I had to persuade people to listen, I never had to prove myself to anyone.
This time, it was 40 complete strangers with expectations, technology I'm not an expert in, and a complete lack of experience in public speaking. What could go wrong, right?
Preparation
A first couple of practices went relatively well. We agreed on the schema, added some new technologies (but what if I cannot make it work?), worked on the ordering and placement. I even prepared all the necessary code without getting too nervous (where are my logs? ah yeah, on the server, not in the browser console). I learned so much more about React, it was a great opportunity to dig deep.
But then the fun began. Well, then I also broke a finger and continued the whole preparation with one left hand available, but truth to be told, I didn't think much would have changed if I had two hands.
The first run through should have been good. I prepared the talking points, went through them a couple of times, brushed up on the theory… and kind of assumed that all the practical parts will just go very smoothly. I mean, it's just a code, I do it every day, it's not even interesting to practice, right?
Well, I quickly learned that coding in a workshop is a completely separate thing. You cannot run between files like crazy, you have to be very deliberate in everything you do not to confuse people. You have to remember where and what to write. So that required the same amount of practice, if not more.
The second (and final) practice run went better. This time I was prepared for coding, talking points were more or less clear, and we were mostly doing small adjustments and checks. We quickly ran through everything, and were ready.
Almost.
Lessons learned (or at least noticed)
One thing I was prepared for was a feeling of an absolutely empty head right before the workshop. But I've been there before, and that feeling I decided to ignore right away: I've been repeating the same stuff over and over again, and I knew that I was ready, whatever my mind was trying to pull.
But there were things I didn't know about, and I will make sure that I'll take them into account for the next time.
First of all, timing. No, the timing of the workshop itself was surprisingly good, but I was simply not prepared to speak for so long. I was not doing the workshop alone, but we didn't think that my bits would be so long that I will be physically and mentally tired of speaking by the end of the second hour.
The other problem that I did not anticipate was the eye contact with the audience. At work, I usually don't have to think about it because the majority of meetings are online or hybrid, and looking at the screen is a pretty normal thing to do. But there I was torn between looking at my code, looking at the presentation, and looking at people. It is hard enough to connect with a bigger audience, let alone being glued to the screen.
And maybe follow-ups would be nice to have. People spent two hours building something with us, so they should be able to take something from it. A short version of points covered? A small "homework" task they can accomplish in their own time if they want to check if they got the skills?
Conclusion
Even with these learnings, for me, the workshop was amazing. The energy in the room was great: going from a quiet introverted crowd to people communicating, laughing and helping. I think I was extremely lucky to have a great audience.
So yeah, that was something. But I have to say, now I am looking at talks more favourably: it feels like making people listen is easier than making people do something. Maybe I am wrong, and it's way harder - I hope to learn it in practice soon enough.
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