As always, thank you to Ben for his continued positive influence on the data community and the world at large. Let’s hope he likes my post!
What got you into Speaking?
I was fortunate enough to be near an active UG, originally the Oregon SQL UG based in Portland, OR. After discovering my first SQL Saturday in 2011, I became an active volunteer in 2015 and slowly started speaking. I had no idea how instrumental this would be for both my career and my life!
What was your first speaking experience like?
I originally kept submitting to the “big leagues”, but was advised to improve my skills at the User Groups. I still tell new speakers the same things. My first presentation had everything go wrong. It depended heavily on a network connection. I tested it in the room outside the presentation room. No problems. Inside the presentation room, nothing would connect. Slide after slide “didn’t work”! I learned some really valuable lessons there. Keep your cool, always have your demos on your laptop if possible, keep an extra copy on a thumb drive just in case!
What mentors have affected your life?
I feel it’s really hard to find a dedicated mentor and so I am a big supporter of what I call proxy mentoring. Everyone has a story. It’s up to you to take what’s best for you in your life and to make it your own. Learn from other people’s experiences and become a better person. It’s so important to pass on your knowledge and help other people! But, I will certainly say that the OG crew of Oregon SQL (now Oregon Data Community) have taught me so many valuable lessons, either directly or indirectly. As I’ve grown as a speaker, now I am surrounded by so many great influences, it’s hard to list them all!
How do you feel about mentoring? How can you help?
I always feel like the duck on the pond; serene on the top and frantically kicking underneath. I hope that I can give some advice as what worked well for me and what really wasted my time. That being said, I do enjoy working with other people so that I can learn about them! If I were a mentor for one of the new speakers, I’d show them some of the same things I learned from my good friend Paul Turley and then other tricks I’ve learned over the years. Speaking is a blast and so is the interaction with the attendees. There’s nothing better than going and watching people you admire speak on their favorite topics!
Why are new speakers so important to our community?
There are so many topics to choose from, and everyone has their own passion. Share that passion. Inspire others! There’s more to speaking than just speaking. Becoming a master on a topic will help you be more successful in your career and many other aspects of your life. Keep speaking and soon enough you’ll have others reaching out to you for advice. Our community needs this constant infusion of new excitement to keep the positivity alive!
How do I get started?
First of all, join a local user group and find out what it’s all about. Do a search on Meetup for data groups or sql groups, etc. From there, you should be able to make more contacts and ideally get your first taste of speaking in public. If you’re ready to speak at a conference, be sure to submit at the New Stars Of Data and give it a whirl!
Give it a try! You won’t be sorry!
