Effective Public Speaking: How to Show Your Human Value in an Age of AI (TestFlix 2025)

As a consultant, I’ve spoken professionally since 1997, all to show my expertise and value. Now, in 2025—and beyond—we all need to show our value to all kinds of managers. Not just hiring managers, but managers who think they can reduce headcount because of AI. Those managers do not realize AI can be a helpful tool, but only humans can create great products customers will buy.

I’ve put together this presentation so you can apply these ideas to help you see your expertise. The three secrets of effective speaking are:

- Explain why your audience will care—what’s in this for them.
- Use relevant stories to connect with the audience
- And be enthusiastic so you can inspire your audience to act.

Learn how your speaking can help you define your human value to everyone.

Transcript

1. Effective Public Speaking: How to Show Your Human Value in an Age of AI Johanna Rothman jr@jrothman.com www.jrothman.com
2. © 2025 Johanna Rothman A Short Story • Jane felt as if she wasn’t getting the compensation she deserved • She led some lunch-and-learns • She took over some of the (boring!) status meetings • She raised her pro fi le just enough to get caught in the next round of layoffs 2
3. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Happy Ending: Jane landed a new job at (almost) twice the pay 3
4. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Now, We Have All Kinds of Problems • Especially from AI • Managers think they can substitute AI for human thought • “Do more with less.” • Replace junior people • This thinking is misguided • AI can support product people and teams. It cannot replace them. 4
5. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Realities of Effective Product Development • We create products when we: • Learn with and from others • Empathize with the user • To create a useful and satisfying product • While we can use AI to create prototypes, those are not fi nal products 5
6. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Everyone Is Responsible for Their Own Careers 6
7. © 2025 Johanna Rothman The AI interest clari fi es the end of several illusions: - Job Security - Low-cost borrowing 7
8. © 2025 Johanna Rothman What Can You Do? • Double down on being human • Job descriptions say: “Effective communication skills:” • Writing • Listening • Speaking 8
9. © 2025 Johanna Rothman We need to be able to tell the stories of our: - Projects - Customers - Products 9
10. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Testing is all about risk management. No one cares about risk management until a disaster occurs. 10
11. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Stories Help People Envision Risks 11
12. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Three Secrets of Effective Public Speaking 1. The audience needs to care about the topic 2. Relevant stories to make the ideas concrete and useful 3. The speaker’s enthusiasm is enough of a performance 12
13. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Stories Incorporate Facts and Feelings • What’s a story? • A character, in a situation, with a problem • She tries some things, which succeed or fail. • The successful or unsuccessful outcome explains the change or lack thereof • Standalone, linked, or nested stories 13
14. © 2025 Johanna Rothman What Changes People’s Minds? • Stories, because they create connection with others. • Data might help, but stories matter the most. • How you deliver those stories also matters. Jane was calm and enthusiastic. 14
15. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Three Secrets • What will make the audience care? • How can your relevant stories help people see your reasoning? • Your enthusiasm will inspire the audience to act 15
16. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Speaking Helps You See Your Expertise • When you organize a presentation, you realize what you do know and how well you know it: • Functional expertise, such as testing • Product-focused expertise, such as how this product works (or does not!) for the customers • Industry expertise: General customer expectations 16
17. © 2025 Johanna Rothman An AI does not create healthy relationships between people. Stories can. 17
18. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Can You Future-Proof Your Career? • Probably not. • Instead, become proactive: • Improve your AI skills • Improve your communication skills. • Tell stories to connect with your audience so they can see the reality • Your expertise will shine through—and so will your value. • Double down on being human. 18
19. © 2025 Johanna Rothman All My Books (Organized) 19 Product Development Management Personal Development
20. © 2025 Johanna Rothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ johannarothman/ • See the book (and the Kickstarter) here: https://www.jrothman.com/ speaking 20