On Tuesday I attended and presented at the local GIS User’s group seminar.  I didn’t present anything too fancy.  Just some info about FDOT’s County General Highway Maps and a little bit about the Unified Basemap Repository (which, is more commonly known around town as “the Navteq data”).  It was my first conference presentation.  And I’d say, it went pretty well, and I felt like I earned some respect among my local professional peer group.  People in my industry now know me by name and face, and it’s awesome.

I’ve often read that the fear public speaking outranks the fear death.  Now I have my own personal religious reasons as to why I don’t fear death, but, I don’t fear public speaking either.  I really don’t think I’ve ever had this problem.  Maybe it’s because my public speaking education started in middle school.  I had to take speech in middle school.  The only assignment I remember was that we had to give a “How To” speech, and I picked “How to Make a Grilled Cheese” – I figured, it was simple enough, it was probably my favorite meal at the time, and I could use lots of adjectives to make people crave grilled cheeses.  Since then, I don’t think I’ve taken a class where I haven’t had to do some sort of presentation throughout my academic career.  The longest presentation I ever had to give was a 60 minute presentation on an e-commerce industry my senior year at CSU.  Luckily, it was a group project, and, our industry was e-education.  This was right when online collegiate programs were just taking off, so it was a hot topic.  Now, every school seems to have some sort of online education program. 

But, the more you think about it, you participate in public speaking, at least in an informal manner, during every meeting you attend at work.  That is, if you actually participate in the meeting and aren’t too busy text messaging your significant other or checking football scores on your cell phone.  So, speaking to a group of professionals who spoke my language was easy.  It also helped that I had given this same presentation twice internally before, so I knew the content well.  Something else I never worry about is how other people perceive me.  For instance, not once did I worry about whether or not people would think I was full of bullshit.  If they think I’m full of bullshit, they’ll call me out on it.  If they call me out on it, so be it.  I don’t know everything.  But, it is important to know your audience, and have respect for them.  After all, they’re spending their valuable time listening to you speak.  They could be at home with their kids, or at happy hour with their friends.  I also think you can make an impression on your audience before you even speak, and that impression will dictate whether or not they decide you’re full of bullshit or they decide that you really do know what you’re doing.  Or, maybe they’ll realize you don’t know everything, and then they’ll offer up constructive criticism and advice.  Receiving advice, even if its bad advice, is never a bad thing.  People that give you advice are people who respect you enough to help you succeed. 

In a nutshell, the less you worry about public speaking, the easier it will be.  I’m not saying that you should ignore all the rules, show up in cutoff shorts and talk to people like they’re your bowling partner.  You should care enough to be presentable and be prepared.  Anticipate questions that might arise.  Know what kind of technology you’ll be working with ahead of time.  But when the time comes, just relax.  No one will be paying attention if you trip over your words (everyone does this).  No one will care how many “ums” you say (unless you’re Kate Gosselin).  No one will notice if you wore brown socks with black shoes.  And if they do, then, they don’t really care about what you have to say and therefore you should just ignore those particular people.

Public speaking is vital to any good career.  I’m not saying you’re going to be the next Charlie Crist and should learn how to address the general public on national TV, but it’s a skill that everyone should have if they want to move off the production line and into the corner office.