“If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade”
-Tom Peters
Upon discovering Women in Agile’s call for speakers to engage in their Launching New Voices program, I knew it was a unique opportunity that couldn’t be passed up! The criteria seemed simple enough:
- Interested in presenting a short talk
- Women in agile
- Little to no speaking experience
Check, check and check.
A visual representation of my LNV journey, purely for entertainment value
Idea Hamster
Right away, I jotted down my ideas and started to prepare a submission. There were several topics that I genuinely cared about, each with a variety of messages attached to it. With so many topics in mind, it was hard to settle on just one. The deadline to submit was just around the corner, so I decided to submit just about everything and hope that at least one will land.
It only took a couple weeks before receiving confirmation that my submission had been accepted. Wow! I would be one of three short talks to close out the Women in Agile Event at the Business Agility 2020 Conference in New York. There weren’t any restrictions on the presentation content – which, for a divergent thinker like myself, presents a unique challenge.
Mentorship
As a new speaker, I had the narrowest understanding of how to prepare. Thankfully, part of being a protege speaker with Women in Agile means continuous support and mentorship. A big thank you to my mentor Ryan Ripley! We met for remotely over the next couple months – diving into my story, finding patterns in my ideas, and breaking through creative blocks.
Setting a few criteria for success helped trim down a whirlwind of ideas and make choices on what to speak about. My criteria included:
- Choose a topic I’m passionate about
- Tell a story and the lessons learned from it
- Incorporate things people can relate to
- Give the audience something to walk away with
- Do all this in 7 minutes
What I ended up with were several iterations of a draft, all with different titles and focus. Thankfully, the launching new voices program is very flexible, and having the liberty to adjust the scope of my speech was never an issue.
Practice
Presentation day was approaching, right as Coronavirus was picking up in the states. Many people were not able to make it to the conference, but I was not without support! Jenny Tarwater jumped in as my stand-in mentor for a practice run of the presentation. Doing my first dry run was nerve wracking, but having Jenny to share her favourite public speaking advice helped immensely. Here are a few pointers that stuck with me:
- Pick a few people in the room to talk to
- It’s just like having a conversation – nobody knows what I planned to say
- Combat breathing to help calm anxiety
- Inhale through your nose for a count of four
- Hold that breath in for a count of four
- Exhale through your mouth for a count of four
- Get moving! Walking around the room helps with nerves
- Practice the punch line
- Let your personality shine through
Launch
Following the guidance of my mentors really paid off! The presentation was swift and to the point. I feel very encouraged and supported by all the attendees. The networking portion of the event was the highlight for me, as I got to connect with like-minded individuals and learn from their experience. In retrospect, being a protege speaker with Women in Agile’s LNV program is less about being in the spotlight to present an idea, and much more about personal growth and making impactful contributions to the agile community.
