If one of your goals this year is to start speaking in industry conferences - here's a few tips by someone who only started last year!
1. Make a list of conferences and meetups you'd love to speak in, ones that inspire you and you'd like to be a part of - note down their speaker pitch deadline/process and add those to your calendar.
2. Brainstorm ideas you'd like to speak about, do not cross out an idea because it feels "too simple" or "everyone knows this already" - your perspective on it will be unique and people are at different skill sets and levels.
3. Walk around with a small notebook or use something like Google Keep to jot down ideas on the go, sometimes talk ideas come to you at the most random times, make note of them!
4. Make every speaker pitch unique and personalised, always incorporate why you specifically want to speak there and share your story - if they ask for speaker experience and this is your first potential talk, share examples of slides or training you did at work.
5. Be as specific as possible with your speaker pitch, do not submit multiple ideas you could do - instead pick that one idea you want to talk about and draw out the skeleton of your talk. It makes the organisers life easier as they know exactly what to expect from your talk.
6. When your pitch gets accepted, prepare for your talk far in advance, do not leave it to the last minute. Put personal deadlines for Draft 1, Draft 2 and so on. With each draft, have a target audience to present it for feedback and give yourself time to work on that feedback.
7. Ask for help - from people you trust, people you admire and people you respect. Ask for feedback on your slides, ask for help when you're stuck halfway through and ask for advice when you're not sure how to even start.
8. Local meetups are just as good as big conferences, get in touch with their organisers - show initiative and tell them you'd love to speak there. It's a smaller more intimate setting and a great way to get started.
9. It's okay to feel overwhelmed, remember to be kind to yourself and focus on the fact that you're putting time and effort in sharing your knowledge to the world - which is amazing!
10. Finally, there's a lot of people in our industry who would love to help so just say out loud that you'd like to start speaking in conferences this year and ask for help! I'd personally be more than happy to jump on a call with anyone who'd like some advice, my DMs are open 🙌🏽
