So I was able to read through the feedback given after my talk at the 2011 Chippewa Valley Code Camp and I now have some random thoughts after my first real talk. I’ll present it here just for fun.
- I was really, really nervous and it came through too much. This one might be mitigated just through repetition of this same situation, but I might need to keep myself a little more distracted and maybe run through the talk a few more times to keep myself from showing how nervous I am.
- Self deprecation is really what I do, it is how I talk with people. It is part of how I judge what a group is like and how I’m going to go from there … but not everyone likes it. Might have to be something that I just keep going with even in face of some resistance.
- Need to bring more practical information on the “HOW” or at least balance it a little bit better with the “WHY”. I could talk about the WHY all day, and there is a place for that, but a little more HOW would not hurt me.
- On the plus side, some people found that I was funny. Need to tell Laura that one.
- Going to need to stress to people that I don’t use PowerPoint … running Keynote at the moment. On the flip side, if they are noticing the transitions, then maybe it is time to simplify things down a little bit.
- Practice, practice, practice, practice … practice?
- Where is the line between over-practicing to the point of mechanical and practicing too little to the point of stumbling? Need to explore this in my mind more.
Overall, I’m happy with how it went. I have a lot of work to do to clean up not just this presentation, but my presentation skills overall. The main thing is that I need to find my voice and how I want to approach my audience and then build from there. Thanks to everyone to came to the talk and provided the feedback, it was very appreciated.
I have a place to work from. Time to clean it all up.