Public Speaking For Engineers

Have you ever wanted to deliver a session or keynote at your favorite conference? Have you ever attended a really boring session and thought, "I could do better than that!" Are you terrified of getting in front of your peers? Have you ever wondered how to effectively use humor to get your point across? In this course, you will learn how to excel at public speaking, technical sessions, Q&A, and stand-up comedy. We'll cover how to make the perfect deck, submitting abstracts, using humor, and how to build your personal confidence. You will laugh, you will grow, and you will leave inspired.

Transcript

1. Public Speaking for Engineers Robby “Sap” Millsap IAmSap.com
2. Welcome
3. What is your greatest passion?
4. Exercise
5. Icebreakers šChange the energy of room šBreak the speaker/audience wall
6. Our roadmap šHow to speak šWhere to speak šWhat you should say Signposting
7. Interactive session Survey Popcorn
8. Our roadmap šHow to speak šWhere to speak šWhat you should say
9. Giving a speech is no different than making a cheese sandwich. Principle #1
10. Just do it
11. Unlearn what we learned in cartoons • Head back • Shoulders up • Full body
12. Breathe like a baby • Fill bag with air • Exhale the bag contracts
13. Breathe from your diaphragm You can practice this at home by lying flat on your back.
14. You have two voices šConversational voice šSpeaking voice
15. Improving speaking voice šLouder than conversational voice šSlower than conversational voice šMore emphatic
16. How to improve your voice šRecord yourself šTake singing lessons
17. This guy! I took vocal lessons from a guy I met on Craigslist! Come on in! I promise not to murder you.
18. Where to look?
19. Two schools of thought Just above everyone’s heads One person, one point
20. Two schools of thought Just above everyone’s heads One person, one point 1 2 3 4
21. Where not to look šFloor šCeiling šExits šWatch šBoss šSlides
22. Building compelling decks
23. Three kinds of talks šInformative šPersuasive šEntertaining
24. Decks vs. Visual aids (slides) Decks (Informative) šContent stands on its own šCan be shared šGood for informative šData heavy šMay stop listening Visual aids (Persuasive, Entertaining) šVery few slides (10 or less) šBullets and imagery šNot shareable š“You had to be there”
25. Decks vs. Visual aids (slides) Decks (Informative) šContent stands on its own šCan be shared šGood for informative šData heavy šMay stop listening Visual aids (Persuasive, Entertaining) šVery few slides (10 or less) šBullets and imagery šNot shareable š“You had to be there”
26. What font size should I use?
27. Guy Kawasaki rule “Take the age of the oldest person in the room and divide in half.”
28. Too much noise š Microsoft is an American multinational corporation š Headquartered in Redmond, WA š Manufactures and sells computer software š World’s largest software maker by revenue š Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 š Launch their IPO in 1986 š Azure is their cloud platform š Visual Studio is a popular IDE š Steve Ballmer replaced gates in 2000 š Being is their search engine, but you probably don’t use it. š MS-DOS helped solidify the company's dominance References š https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft š https://www.biography.com/business-figure/bill-gates š https://slate.com/technology/2012/10/microsoft- zune-how-one-of-the-biggest-flops-in-tech-history- helped-revive-a-great-american-tech-company.html
30. Lecterns, podiums & pulpits
31. Live coding (bad)
33. Live coding (better)
35. Remove distractions šFancy lasers, pointers šLoud/ironic/hilarious(!) attire šPlug-ins, extensions
36. Filler šSo-called “crutch words” (uh, um) šLike, sort of
37. Lazy descriptors šTry not to describe something as “cool”, “awesome sauce”, “sweet” or ”totally rad”
39. Humor šIndicator of intelligence and likeability šMaking people laugh is fun šComedy is an ingredient, not the base
40. Getting laughs šDon’t be self-deprecating šLearn what makes people laugh
41. Take a comedy class
42. Story theme ideas (be specific) šDisaster stories (server crashes, malware, DDoS et al. ) šGood intentions gone wrong šBoss/client learns the hard way šA dormant bug in the code (w/snippets) šDeath marches, war stories
43. Play with your pitch and pattern
44. Use your hands
45. Co-speaking
46. Speaking on a panel šTell a story from your experience
47. Our roadmap šHow to speak šWhere to speak šWhat you should say
48. Live speaking opportunities šUser groups šToastmasters šOpen mics šOpen spaces
49. Teaching šYouTube šPodcast šLinkedIn, others
50. Conferences šCompetitive šCall for speakers šDon’t get blacklisted šPositive reviews get invited back
51. Product demos šNever count on wifi šBring your own cables šLive demo, local demo, slides šShould be able to do presentation without projector if you have to
52. Our roadmap šHow to speak šWhere to speak šWhat you should say
53. Be authentic šBe truly yourself, not a character šSpeak from experience
54. Be (a little) controversial
55. In conclusion šHow to speak – Be prepared šWhere to speak – Be ready šWhat you should say – Be authentic