Igniting inspiration – a tech-talker course with Shu Liang

At the beginning of the year, one of my colleagues told me about a seminar-style-workshop to develop one's public speaking skills. He also mentioned that by attending the course, I would benefit from it both at work and personal life.

Speaking in public is a fear that many have and it is aptly described by famous American comedian - Jerry Seinfeld, when he said “ According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two! Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy”.

During the 6-session-course “ Tech talker”, which was held by coach Shu Liang, we encountered several techniques and lectures which were both interactive and immersive.

Each session was performed with a mini-presentation or speech, and at the end each feedback was given by both Shu Liang and the audience. My first presentation was not that great and I was mildly disheartened, but Shu was very encouraging.

She mentioned that giving a presentation is fun and that one must be comfortable and enjoy it, while presenting something. I took her advice and slowly but surely things started looking up.

We were then asked to identify what skills we wanted to improve and then pick the three most important ones and work on improving those. In the last session, I presented one of my favourite topics which is “Continuous Delivery”.

It was genuinely fun to do the presentation and I had a nice time sharing my knowledge and opinions about the topic. Throughout the course I noticed significant improvements in both the quality of my presentations and in other participants as well.

We overcame our fear of public speaking but there are still many more milestones ahead to achieve.

Much thanks to the course, I now plan to run a presentation to a larger audience in the near future.

Last but not least, I would like to give a special thanks to Shu Liang for encouraging me to fulfil my goals and to prepare me for my first ever public speech.

About the author
Maryam Sarrafkia is an avid consultant which prides herself on always delivering what is needed in time and with a solution both you and the customer is happy with. She originates out of the Webstep offices in Skåne, and has a keen interest in technology, development and leadership, and spend a lot of time developing her skills by reading books and being active in many forums like FooCafe, MeetUps and similar activities.