Presentations!!
I don’t like giving presentations, even though my job and my passion with Impactful Engineer requires me to.
Why Don’t I like Presentations?
- I don’t like my voice in front of a big audience
- I don’t speak clearly enough and I sometimes mumble
- I don’t enunciate words clearly (I learned English when I was 15, but that is not an excuse). I just never spent the time to learn English properly
- I feel like a fraud (mostly when I don’t prepare)
- I like to procrastinate ^^^^
Why Should I Do Presentations
- My job as the head of Engineering Productivity requires me to speak and reach out to a lot of developers, engineering leadership, new hires
- I love my job ^^^
- I write a website Impactful Engineer https://impactfulengineer.org where I interview software engineering leaders. If I wanted to spread the word, which I do, I need to present to people to encourage them to read and learn.
What I Could Do
- I could join toastmasters
- I could sign up for 1:1 training (many resources out there)
- I could just make myself to continue to do it poorly, which I do now
What I Am Hacking To Do
- I prepare and do mock presentations by myself
- I accept invitations when my manager do pre-presentation sessions
- I record myself doing the mock presentations with video as well as audio transcription service Trint which really shows me how poorly or well I’m pronouncing words!!! I love love this hack!
Next Steps
- While I hack with fixing my pronunciation, I will join toastmaster to fix the fear of speaking in front of an audience.