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Speaking at a developer conference. I've always been a natural on stage - as a dancer (as a child, through highschool, and in college (although that was a diff

Speaking at a developer conference. I've always been a natural on stage - as a dancer (as a child, through highschool, and in college (although that was a different kind of dancing)), as an actor (drag king, burlesque), and as a musician (in a band). I've always been terrified to go on stage, but I know once I get there, I'm fine and the fear melts away. But when the organizers of 360iDev asked me to speak at their iPhone developer conference in Denver last year, everything in my body wanted me to say "no way, no, I don't really feel like I know anything about programming". So I said "yes, I'll do it." I knew this would be great for my career - to get more recognition in my field, if I could pull it off. I spent months researching and preparing my talk. I did okay - not great, but okay. There were several people in the audience who thanked me afterwards and told me they learned a lot. Other people, in reviews they submitted to the organizers, said I could definitely use more practice developing more comprehensible and cohesive slides, and that a lot of my content was obvious and unhelpful. Oh well. I'm glad I did it because it really was a valuable learning experience. A few months later, I was asked to speak at another conference. I declined - the first experience was enough for me.

mortenjorck 16y ago
I got my first taste of conference speaking this year. Last fall, when my UI concept video got all its coverage, I received a couple of invitations to speak at tech conferences for the spring. It was very intimidating at first, especially as these were overseas. My primary fear was that they assumed I had already founded a startup based around the concept and would have all sorts of practical experience to share, so I talked down my experience with them a bit—but they were still interested, so I agreed to go right ahead! I'd never been abroad before, so I had to do my homework on passports, visas, the Schengen agreement, and so on, while trying to put together something I thought would be of value to the attendees. As the dates drew nearer, I had a number of "I can't believe I'm actually doing this" moments, but I tried to stay confident. In the end, it was more than worth it. The conferences and hosts were great, I got to experience some other cultures, and even though I still have some work to do on presentation rhythm, the audiences were very receptive.

mortenjorck 16y ago

I got my first taste of conference speaking this year. Last fall, when my UI concept video got all its coverage, I received a couple of invitations to speak at tech conferences for the spring. It was very intimidating at first, especially as these were overseas. My primary fear was that they assumed I had already founded a startup based around the concept and would have all sorts of practical experience to share, so I talked down my experience with them a bit—but they were still interested, so I agreed to go right ahead! I'd never been abroad before, so I had to do my homework on passports, visas, the Schengen agreement, and so on, while trying to put together something I thought would be of value to the attendees. As the dates drew nearer, I had a number of "I can't believe I'm actually doing this" moments, but I tried to stay confident. In the end, it was more than worth it. The conferences and hosts were great, I got to experience some other cultures, and even though I still have some work to do on presentation rhythm, the audiences were very receptive.