By Poornima Vijayashanker
Toward the end of my debate career in high school I had done so many presentations that I felt great. But when I got to college, I decided being a lawyer wasn’t my calling. Instead, I majored in computer science and electrical engineering, which left me with no time for public speaking. Instead, I spent 4 years sitting in computer clusters coding away or doing engineering problem sets.
A few years after graduation, I realized that I missed public speaking, and wanted to get back into it. I wasn’t sure how. Then I saw that there was a local event called Code Camp. Anyone who wanted to speak could submit a proposal. So I decided I’d talk about my scrappy little startup at the time, Mint.com.
Weeks before the talk I was nervous. I hadn’t given a talk or speech in nearly 8 years, and during that time I had managed to revert back to my shy ways!
So I sat down the week before and recalled 3 things that I had learned back in debate that would help me overcome my fear.
Understand your audience and use layman’s language. I took the time to think about who would be present, what they’d want to know about being in a startup and growing it, and decided that I wouldn’t make it too technical because people have varying skill levels.
Share your expertise. I focused on what I knew best, and stayed away from topics that I wasn’t sure about.
Practice, practice, practice! Because I was super rusty, I recorded myself on camera to make sure I didn’t have any weird gestures. I also presented in front of some co-workers to get their feedback.
On the day of the talk, I was still nervous. I took many deep breaths, and proceeded to do my presentation in front of about 30-40 people.
Afterwards, people stayed to ask me questions. One guy even mentioned that a friend of his would really be interested in meeting with me, because he was an entrepreneur and very into the startup scene. The person he introduced me to is now one of my closest mentors!
Public speaking has given me an abundance of opportunities, including speaking at TEDxNavesink in May! I wouldn’t have received these opportunities had I just sat in the corner, and kept my nose to the grindstone, or in my case my computer!
Whether you’re mildly shy, have stage fright, or just struggle with connecting with an audience, I am going to be sharing some of my secret strategies in my upcoming course on public speaking.
The great thing about these strategies is that they are going to be applicable in a number of contexts such as the following:
One-on-one conversations
Meetings and presentations
Talks and panels in front of large audiences
If you want to learn the strategies and have an abundance of opportunities during your career, then come out to the next Femgineer Forum and learn: Why You Should Speak at Technical Conferences, register here.
