With gaining recognition and reputation you will have the opportunity to speak at some Conferences you will attend. If this is fearful idea for you, calm down. Public speaking about what you do and other important stuff related to your industry is great way to contribute. It sounds hard to many beginning web designer and developers, so let’s split the whole process into more manageable parts.
Boost your Creativity.
Your day finally arrived. This is your chance to prove the world that you are the expert. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge with others. You can now help designers and developers, who might be just starting as you were, to get into right direction and on the right track. This part of the preparing process might be the hardest. You have to come up with the subject of your speech. Since you are a designer or developer, creativity is not a big issue for you right? Just to boost your creative super powers, try some tools like mind maps, cards, hitting the gym, free drawing, free writing, playing on some instrument, playing a game (on pc, phone, board game etc.), brainstorming, listening to your favorite music or a simple walk outside. All of these tools can help you to find out what your topic will be so you can move to next part.
Write it down.
I don’t know how about you, but I love writing things down. For me, it’s like enhancing my creativity abilities with steroids. If you don’t know when to begin, create a list. Don’t thing about how many paragraphs you will write or how many pages your speech will have. Think in simple words and phrases. Create a list of the things you want to talk about or mention. In the beginning it is good to not to censor your thoughts. It doesn’t matter how it looks or sound, put that idea down. Now focus on quantity not quality. You will de-crap that later. I can’t tell you how many words you should have, just write as much as you can. Try to write at least for 30 minutes. First five will probably be the worst, but when you get the momentum, you’ll be unstoppable. When you are done with writing creating your list, it’s time for de-craping it. Now switch your focus to quality. Again, how much ideas you remove depends only on you, listen to your heart and instincts. The best is to keep the ideas you are most passionate about. This way, the content will pop-up almost of its own accord. Here comes the drudgery. You have to develop you ideas into sentences, paragraphs and pages. Right after that you will have to edit it and maybe rewrite some parts. Don’t rush it. This part is very important, so give it appropriate time. When you are done get ready to move to memory game.
Train your speech.
It’s time to memorize your speech. I don’t care if you are “bad” at remembering things. Keep those excuses for someone else. You don’t have to learn it word by word. In the end, it’s from your head so you’ve got it already there. Memorizing just some points or anchors is enough. If you get nervous and lost the track, the will help you to get back. How many checkpoints you create again depends only on you. You can have as many or few as you want. After creating your checkpoints it is time to train your talk. Try to talk without any notes, that’s the best. Speak clearly and slow. You are not a machine gun or competing for faster talk. People must hear and understand every word, so don’t speak to quietly.
Sharpen your tools.
Always double-check everything you will use during your speech. Both hardware and software. Everything must work properly without any glitches. It’s good idea to also check what will be available on the spot before your speech.
Have a backup plan.
Sometimes things crew up. It happens. What you can do is to have a back up plan. Don’t rely on your computer stuff. Be able to pivot and improvise.
Wish you luck!
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