Getting Your Feet Wet as a First-Time Presenter

When it comes to getting your feet wet with presentations, you can do worse than having your first experience in the City of Bridges.

For many people, the fear of public speaking is worse than death. And I can understand that. It can be intimidating standing up in front of your peers and colleagues, basically putting yourself out there as an 'expert' and sharing your expertise -- especially with an audience where some of the attendees may actually have more experience than you.

Fortunately, my first presenting experience was a positive one. At this past weekend's Drupal Camp PA in Pittsburgh, PA, I presented Images for All Sizes, a discussion of responsive images in Drupal 8.

And I can say that I feel it went well -- and I'll definitely consider doing it again.

As Andrew mentioned last week, I wasn't alone in being a first-time presenter. Asha Ramji also presented "I've Got 99 Problems and Our Old Code is All of Them," which was her first time presenting at a camp. And, of course, Anna Mykhailova was there with a trio of talks -- but she's an old hand at this and has presented throughout North America.

If you're interested in starting to do presentations, I'd strongly recommend looking at events like Drupal Camp PA. Though well attended, it's still a smaller-sized camp, so it's not so overwhelming. You're not trying to keep the attention of 300 or 400 people in a room, but instead you've got a much smaller and more intimate audience to talk to. You can see faces, you can make connections, and -- most importantly -- you've got a sympathetic audience.

After all, we're all there for the same reasons -- to learn and get better at what we do. Everyone I met with was very welcoming and friendly, and it made it easier to do the presentation. In that type of environment, you feel that it's less like a lecture and more like a conversation.

Our presentations were very well received and what was encouraging is that people stuck around afterwards to ask questions and have discussions. Sometimes you don't get that -- especially at larger events. People are rushing to get to the next track (or, equally as likely, to go grab a coffee somewhere) and you don't get that immediate feedback. It's encouraging to know that people were invested in the conversation and were thinking about how they could apply what they learned to their day-to-day life.

I can say we represented Echidna and London well in Pittsburgh. We're pretty easy to spot with our jerseys, and camp and convention veterans easily recognized us as Echidnas.

On a personal note, I really found Pittsburgh very interesting. We got to explore several unique neighbourhoods.  And, sure, it may have a confusing layout, a tonne of bridges (446 according to the Heinz History Center), and a layered highway infrastructure, but the view from the top -- courtesy of a ride on a 140-year-old cable car up the Duquesne Incline was amazing.

Really, that's one of the best ancillary benefits of going to conferences and presenting. You get to meet amazing people, explore different places, and expand your horizons. Sure, people may fear public speaking more than death, but if you don't get out and challenge yourself and grow as a person, are you really living?