Tick off another concern from your fear list. If you lack experience but have knowledge and you are comfortable in front of crowds, you probably have a feel for how to weave a story or lesson, which translates to the content becoming less of a daunting task.If you’ve chosen to present on a topic that you have solid experience on, you can feel secure in what you’re saying to the audience.You’re reading this blog and going to webinars and listening to podcasts, so you know that you’re interested in learning more. We will love your presentation no matter your level of expertise. When I was first considering doing a presentation I was sure that everything I knew, everyone else knew already…because I learned from them! In talking through my concern with my colleagues, what I found out was that they didn’t know about their topics either! You don’t have to be the topic-expert AND an expert presenter. Not what I had intended, but they felt like safe introductions to this new phase of me. And I came up with a couple of concepts on which I had enough personal experience to speak about. With some encouragement (read: guilt trip by one of the conference planners), I tried again. There were SO many more capable people offering up highly technical topics that I found myself giving up before I even put pen to paper. I felt (erroneously) woefully unqualified to speak about every topic I wrote down. When the call for speakers went out, I sat down to brainstorm session ideas. But, ooooh, to have the confidence to feel you actually have something to give back…that’s a whole different animal. I also deeply believe that presenting at a conference is one way to give back to the community. I wanted to set a good example for other women – we hadn’t had many women speakers yet and if I was going to encourage them to step up I had to walk that walk myself. Setting my (fragile) ego aside, I really did want to do well for the conference itself. If you recall, one of the things I wanted was to become one of those presenters whose sessions required “the big room”…you know who you are, Tom B., Jim R., Greg N. If you recall, I wrote a piece about Imposter Syndrome? Yeah, still an issue here, but not today’s topic. Increasing Visibility When You Don’t Like Being The Center Of Attention
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