How do you help an engineer become comfortable with public speaking?
My advice is to start with a small audience and increase the size:
- Give a presentation to you
- Give a presentation to 2-3 trusted engineers on the team who won’t nitpick or harp on details. Your job is to find supportive engineers.
- Give a presentation to the team. If you have that *one* person who will spew un-constructive comments, gently tell them to hold their tongue.
- Engineering group (multiple teams)
- Lunch and learn (could incorporate various engineers from all over the org.)
- All hands
As you go down the list, the engineer should first scope out the venue and talk to you as the only audience. The empty room tells them how loud they need to project their voice and how far to look into the audience for eye contact.
With the gradual progression, a few engineers had serious concerns about handling hecklers. They pointed to a few presentations where they thought someone was attacking me. I reassured them I was okay with the pointed questions.
I can spend over 100 hours practicing and preparing 40+ slides for a 25 minute technical talk. As I write the presentation, I note edge cases and anticipate questions. I’ll research the answers and file them away. I cut about 90% of my content for time but I always have enough material if the audience desires a part two.
After the presentation when engineers ask me specific questions, I can show them I did consider their questions and reveal my notes. We can enter deeper technical conversations.
If I’m asked a difficult question and can’t answer the audience member given all my preparation – I say, “I have no idea. We can talk more after the presentation.”
Practice, practice, practice. I cannot stress that enough.
Good luck!
Leave a Reply