AWS New Voices Reflection: Week 1 – Finding Your Authentic Voice

#awsnewvoices #publicspeaking #storytelling #awscommunitybuilder

Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, no matter how much experience you have. Your heartbeat speeds up, hands get sweaty and for a moment, mind goes blank. Sound familiar? I've been there too.

"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows." – Japanese Proverb

And that’s exactly why I joined the AWS New Voices Speaker Training Program - not to start from scratch, but to level up my speaking skills. It's not just about delivering a talk; but owning my presence, managing nerves and making a real impact.

Building Your Public Speaking Superpower

In our 1st session, we were asked: If you could develop any superpower in this training, what would it be and why? Most of us agreed on one thing: confidence.

Public speaking is about connecting with people. Some people wish to share their experiences or challenges in the tech world (maybe, women in tech), rather than talking about products or services all the time.

However, to deliver your speech effectively, you need to think upon :
🔹 How are we showing up?
🔹 How do we manage nerves and anxiety?
🔹 What are we doing to develop vocal variations?

"Vocal variation is like jazz for your voice", referring to the intentional and purposeful use of various tones, pitches, volumes, speeds and pauses in your voice to enhance emotion, interest and emphasis, ultimately improve engagement and clarity.

"Speak with energy, pause with purpose and let your voice paint the story."

Art of Nerve Control : Shift Fear into Confidence

Often times we rush or don’t give ourselves enough time to regulate our nerves. But when you take a moment to breathe, move and center yourself, stage feels like home. Our incredible coaches Meridith & Gary Grundei introduced a game-changing concept : pre-talk rituals (pick yours that works best for you)

✅ Mindset Preparation:	✅ Energy Boost:
Amy Cuddy's Power pose (refer)	Motivational music track
Inhale 4s-Hold 7s-Exhale 8s breathing	Smile & Eye-contact in mirror
Affirmations & Visualization - "I am confident & prepared."	Self-pep talk - "*I've got this!*" or "This is my moment!"

✅ Voice & Speech Warm-ups:	✅ Physical Readiness:
Tongue Twisters improves articulation:	Jazz Hands shake off tension
🔹She sells seashells by the seashore	Stretch, Hydrate, Shake Your Body
🔹Click tie,click tie,click tie,click tie,clack!	Jaw Massage & Brain Tapping
🔹You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York	Full Body Yawn & Exhale loudly "Haaahhhh" - relax facial muscles
Project "Hey!" While Extending Hand, Humming

"Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear." – George Addair

🔺 Trust = Authenticity + Empathy + Logic

Remember, 90% of your audience wouldn’t dare to stand where you are. They admire you just for trying. Own your space!

Trust plays a crucial role in audience engagement. According to Francis Frei's Triangle of Trust, trust is built through these 3 equally balanced elements :

Authenticity - Show your real self, who you really are, by bringing genuinity.
Empathy - Put yourself into your audience's shoes, understand their point-of-view and reflect that back into your presentation.
Logic - Showcase your knowledge, expertise and ability to explain ideas effectively

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Exercise 1 : The 1625 Time Travel Challenge

Explaining cloud computing to someone who just teleported from 1625 !! Standout explanation:

🔹Cloud is like a magical invisible locker that follows you everywhere, keeping all your special things safe and accessible anytime from anywhere without physically carrying it !

Complex information can be a barrier for your audience; it becomes difficult to make it easy even if we work with those concepts daily, because we’re so knowledgeable about it that it leads us to assumptions. Always ask yourself :

Who's is the person with the lowest level of knowledge in the room? SIMPLIFY for CLARITY.

🔹But what if your audience is a mix of beginners and experts?

Repetition isn’t boring - Not only it boosts confidence by reconfirming something we already know, but also reinforces learning from new perspectives that you'd never thought of !

Exercise 2: Extemporaneous Speaking (Show & Tell Challenge)

Grab the 1st object around you & form a compelling story about it!

"Sometimes we don’t notice the answers directly in-front of us. There's always a reason why something exists anywhere." Even if it's just an object. There's story behind it.

Here’s what some of my breakout room peers shared:

Mouse: Tiny device building a bridge between thought & action, controlling everything with click.
Glass mug: It holds more than just coffee, such as brainstorming ideas & late-night conversations.
Deck of cards: Every shuffle is a new possibility, just like every decision we make in life.

Try this exercise out to push yourself out of your comfort zones.

💡Pro Tip: The next great analogy for your talk might be sitting right in front of you!

Now that you've conquered your stage fear & discovered your voice, next week we'll dive deep into the backbone of talk & storytelling techniques. Stay tuned!