Jumping Headfirst Into My First Speaking Engagement

A 2 minute read, Posted on Fri, Sep 26, 2014 In Speaking
Tags stldodn, xamarin

I’ve been wanting to start speaking at conferences for a while now, but have always been nervous about it. I’ve really wanted to do this for a long time but I specifically remember in 2013 I went to KCDC and was all energized about sharing as a speaker. I decided that I was going to work on having a presentation for the next year. When KCDC 2014 was announced earlier this year I realized I hadn’t even thought about a topic since the week after last years conference. I was a little bummed by my lack of effort, to say the least.

This was all happening about the time that I was seriously thinking about going out on my own. While I wasn’t prepared to talk at KCDC I knew that I still really wanted to make it happen.

Fast forward to May when Brent and I started working through our new company on our first contract. With the change from employee to business co-founder I knew that it now meant even more to me and my business to be involved. Right after this I met some great speakers at KCDC that really encouraged me to put myself out there and do it. I also heard good things about St. Louis Days of .NET and about a month after KCDC the call for speakers went out for St. Louis.

I didn’t have a presentation started, but I had one I been thinking about and I knew that if I waited for the presentation to be “done” I would never start speaking. So, I took the plunge, wrote my abstract, hit submit, and freaked out a little. It wasn’t long before the selection process was done and I received (and accepted) an invitation to present a session at St. Louis. I freaked out a lot.

I had picked a technology that I was beginning to use with my business but that I didn’t yet have a lot of experience in. I did this partly because I knew having to present on it would push me to really understand it, and because it was new and cool.

The experience has been both exciting and nerve-racking, but one I think will have a rewarding end. I’m pumped to complete the presentation and do the talk, and the date is fast approaching.

I’ll blog more about the process I’ve been going through to prepare for this talk in the coming weeks as I begin to put the finishing touches on it before the big day.

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