An unForeseen Nightmare
The scene plays itself over and over across meetups all around the globe. The local meetup organizer, trying their best to offer interesting topics and meaningful experiences, approaches a developer and asks,
Would you be willing to present at the meetup next month?
It is typically at this point many developers find the next meetup time is a perfect opportunity to schedule that root canal they have been putting off.
It is not that people are unwilling to help, in fact often the opposite is true. If that same organizer asked individuals to help set up tables, coordinate logistics or prepare some sample code; he or she will likely find willing participants. However when it comes to presenting, the mere idea seems to spark an innate dread or even fear.
Now to be fair, this is in no way isolated to the tech industry. Various reputable sources annually study the most common fears of individuals (here is one such example) and public speaking is always near the top. The reality is most all of us will hesitate when asked to speak in front of others for reasons such as:
What am I going to say?
What if I say something wrong and look like an idiot?
What could I even talk about that these people do not already know?
What if I am....boring???
My goal in this series of articles is to provide for you a basic framework to help guide you through:
- How to structure your talk
- How to present your talk
- How to ensure you are adding to rather than taking away from your talk
Will a few articles on a website get you an invite to the next major dev conference? Probably not. However my hope is that these articles can provide you the structure and build your confidence to tackle your first (or next) tech talk.
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