I overcame my introverted background as a software engineer many years ago when I got into public speaking, and after years of practice and patience, I've become a regular speaker at conferences and user groups around the world.
Despite my success speaking in the tech sector, sometimes Things Go Wrong ™. Very wrong.
One such presentation happened recently when I stepped a little too far outside my comfort zone. While I usually speak on tech topics, I had the chance to talk about content marketing to an audience of marketers at Digital Summit - Orlando on behalf of my employer, Sitecore.
Oh boy, did it ever hurt. I stumbled over every single slide in the deck. I lost focus halfway through the presentation and began repeating myself. I tried to relax with jokes that didn't land. It was Awkward (with a huge capital 'A').
So why did things go so wrong? After reflecting on the conference and my being there, I missed several key truths in public speaking:
Be passionate about your topic
It all begins here. I started public speaking because I had ideas that meant a lot to me, and I wanted to share those ideas with the developer community. I speak extensively on JavaScript, .NET, and some light soft skills topics. For Digital Summit, I was handed a topic that someone else created and did my best to echo their script. While I find a lot to enjoy about content marketing, the specific topic of my talk - "How to Solve the Content Crisis" - just wasn't something that resonated with me at that particular time. Lesson learned: I should have given this topic my own spin rather than replay someone else's work.
Know your presentation inside and out
Presenting well is about projecting confidence. Despite being nervous about public speaking, confidence is easy to come by when you know your presentation from front to back. With Digital Summit, I had to rely on slide notes to get through each section, and it was painfully obvious. While notes are okay for certain cues or important reminders, they shouldn't be a crutch. Memorizing your presentation is a lot easier when it's a topic you love (see point above). Lesson learned: spend lots of time rehearsing your presentation to commit the flow to memory.
Understand your audience
Presenting technical topics to a technical audience is easy. I was once a developer in the audience eager to learn, so it's easy to understand audience expectations and create a presentation tailored to them. At Digital Summit, I only knew my audience at a very high level ("business-focused marketers") and didn't appreciate what drove them to my session. Lesson learned: your audience is there for a reason - they want you to succeed! - so its important to understand their background and why they came to your presentation.
Entertain
Presenting a topic at a conference doesn't necessarily mean you're teaching something - think about it as sharing your passion and knowledge on a subject. People attend conferences to gain fresh perspectives on topics they care about. Might they learn something new along the way? Absolutely! Given this, presentations should never be dry, rote slideware. Have fun! Entertain! Make the room laugh! Be creative! Unforunately I fumbled this hard at Digital Summit and delivered the most business-centric, monotone performance ever. Lesson learned: add some fun to your presentation and make sure you entertain your audience.
I don't consider failure a setback - merely a learning opportunity for next time. Digital Summit was awkward for me. To be fair a few folks did praise my presentation and came away impressed. To my own standard, however, I could have done much, much better. And next time I will do much better.