Last month Petya, John and I went to WordCamp Torino, the first WordCamp in Italy since 2013, and I wrote a post about it on the Human Made blog. Check it out.
Category archives: public speaking
The one rule to get better at public speaking
So you want to get started with public speaking, huh? One year ago I was at the same point. Did I have something to share? Yes. Did I have an audience? Maybe, big cities have enough meetups. Was public speaking really that scary? More than death.
During 2015 (and my entire life) I’ve given nine talks. I’ll get to ten before the end of the year (no further details yet). Can’t say I’m an expert yet, but the feedback I’ve gotten so far has always been on the positive side.
If you’re asking “How did you manage to get from zero to nine with no prior experience?” and want to follow in my footsteps, here’s my golden rule: get yourself a couple of mentors.
Someone who tells you what you need to hear, looks at your slides and explains you why they’re not ok, listens to your practice sessions and tells you what’s wrong with your delivery, is sitting in the audience then tells you what you’ll need to improve before the next time – even when everyone else seem to have loved you and your talk.
You won’t relax, practice more or realise what the real source of the fear is because you read it on some blog. Read a couple of good books on the subject (Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo seems to be the industry standard), and have someone tell you the brutal truths you deserve. Accept them, fix the mistakes, repeat what was successful.
photo header credit: @localancers
Hello, public speaking. So nice to meet you.
Do you know when you take a look back at the resolutions you’ve made before the year kicked off and then realise you’ve failed them all? I’ve lost the count of how many times it happened to me. I think we’re pretty close to 30.
Anyway, this year I’ve decided to do things seriously. Instead of making a silly list with 10+ impossible intentions, I came up with only three precise and feasible resolutions:
My #ResolutionsFor2015: – Get better with coding. – Build and launch a new product. – Get into public speaking. That is all.
— Franz Vitulli (@franzvitulli) December 31, 2014
As a result, February just began and I can already say that I have succeeded with one. Last Thursday I have spoken at the WordPress London Meetup about user support as a growth tool for online products and tech startups, and in less than a week I’m going to give some tips for good tech support at the WordCamp Norway, this time in the lightning talk / PechaKucha format.
Really looking forward to being in Oslo again, hanging out with some of the Humans (Scott, Jenny, Petya and Noel) sharing something with the community and having fun at another WordCamp!