Why We Should Send Technical Talent to Speak at Conferences
Last week I talked about why you don’t need to be an expert to speak. I also shared the Inventory Method with you, as …
Last week I talked about why you don’t need to be an expert to speak. I also shared the Inventory Method with you, as a method for extracting your expertise, no matter what your experience level is.
Are you eager to share your experiences at conferences and events, and participate in our upcoming Confident Communicator Course to prepare?
Or maybe you are a little reluctant to share it with your team or company because you know they want you to:
Stay heads down and get work done. There are fires to fight and customers to serve!
They are afraid you will get poached by other companies. After all there’s a war on talent.
Well we understand and know that it’s natural to feel a little reluctant, especially if people are couching their enthusiasm and support for you with excuses like:
Deadlines. “You are a valuable asset to this team and we need your help meeting this tight deadline.”
Budget. “Sorry no budget for conferences in Q3, let’s revisit in Q4.”
Pushing you to share benefits to larger the organization. “What do you really think you’d learn from going to this conference?”
Instead recruiters and salespeople get sent to speak, but conference attendees are tired of listening to pitches from recruiters and talking to salespeople. Attendees want to connect with the people who make the products they use and the people whom they will potentially be working with.
Here’s why employees like yourself should be trained to speak at conferences:
Your employer shows that they care about you and your long-term career growth. We focus heavily on the technical skills to ship a high quality product, but soft skills are important for developing leaders and maintaining team morale. This is especially important for retention, and remember there’s a war on talent out there!
You are an authentic ambassador. When you share what you’ve worked on, what you’ve learned, and the roadblocks and hurdles you’ve overcome, your audience learns from you. You spark their interest, and they see you as someone they can work with, especially if they are looking for a new opportunity. 99% of my hires came from speaking to people in different roles such as: design, engineering, marketing and sales. It also builds up credibility for your company’s technical teams.
Gives you a chance to connect with customers. When you speak in front of customers you see who is using the product you have built. You get to experience the impact you are making and it motivates you to continue to build and improve the product for your customers.
Signals a company’s success. When your company sends technical talent to speak it sends a signal that things are going well at your company, because they can afford to have employees take time to attend a conference.
There are of course leaders and executive who believe in the power of public speaking.
Karen Catlin is one of them. Karen was previously a VP at Adobe, and is now a leadership coach and advocate for women in tech.
Karen is also one of the amazing instructors in our course with a rich and deep background that spans 30+ in tech as an engineer, program manager, and executive.
However, Karen didn’t always believe in the importance of public speaking, and whole-heartedly admits she was not a natural speaker. She was often nervous, and didn’t feel like she was very good at speaking.
As she took on leadership roles her sentiment changed. There were many times she needed her employees to up their presentation game, but didn’t always know how to coach them to success.
In the brief video below Karen shares:
- How she overcame her own bouts of stage fright and has helped others do the same.
- Some of the biggest challenges tech leaders and employees face today.
- Why improving employees’ presentation and communication skills will help overcome those challenges.
After you watch the video, we highly recommend that you take a moment to share it with your boss or employer. You can also share this brochure to convince them to sponsor your participation in our course.
Remember that early bird registration for our Confident Communicator Course ends this Friday April 15, 2016, register and save $300. Register here today!
