At Last — A Public Speaking Guide for Techies!
Women 2.0 interviews author, Karen Catlin, a prominent tech leader and advocate for women in tech.
We recently caught up with Karen Catlin, a former tech executive who is now an advocate for women working in the tech industry. She’s a leadership coach and a frequent public speaker about gender diversity and career development for women.
Along with Poornima Vijayashanker, founder of Femgineer, Karen co-authored “Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking.” In this interview, we learned the backstory to the book and why we should all read it.
W2: What inspired you to write this book?
Poornima and I had two simple goals.
Our first was to share the public speaking tips that worked for us and the students we’ve coached. Neither of us were born with a public speaking gene. We’re both introverts, and we’ve worked hard and deliberately to develop our public speaking skills. As techies, we’ve had to present abstract and complex concepts to teammates, bosses, and customers, and we’ve learned what engages audiences. We’ve also learned the hard way what causes them to tune out. Along the way, we’ve become public speaking geeks who love giving talks and teaching others the craft. By writing the book, we could share our tried-and-true techniques at scale, to help others get on the fast track to becoming a successful public speaker. Besides, we had some embarrassing stories that were just too good to keep to ourselves.
Our second goal was to see more people speak. Poornima and I believe in making the tech world more inclusive, and part of that mission is to encourage people from all sorts of backgrounds and life experiences to share their expertise. Frankly, we’re tired of all-male, primarily-pale panels and keynotes at tech conferences. We want to see more women and underrepresented minorities giving talks at all-hands meetings at their tech companies, at meetups, and on stage at larger industry events. With our book, we hope to inspire more people to raise their hand to public speaking opportunities.
W2: Who should read it?
Everyone! While most of the stories are based on our experience working in the tech industry, the book will help anyone who needs to share their expertise and become a more confident communicator.
And it’s for all ages and levels of experience. A few months ago, we heard from a girl who is just 11 years old who read our book to prepare for an upcoming school presentation. We regularly hear from college students and early career professionals about how our book has helped them. But it doesn’t stop there! We’ve also received positive reviews from seasoned executives who want to up their public speaking game.
W2: What was one thing that surprised you during the process of researching the book?
Ahead of time, we knew that stage fright was a topic we had to address because we heard repeatedly that nerves was what kept most people from signing up to give a talk. What we didn’t know were the other top reasons people say “No” to public speaking opportunities:
- I’m not an expert in my field; why would anyone want to hear what I have to say?
- I’ll get a question during Q&A that I can’t address, and everyone will realize I’m a fraud.
- I’ll be boring.
So, we addressed these topics (and many more) in the book with strategies, tips, and activities to help empower our readers to find their voice and confidence as a public speaker.
W2: What kept you up at night while you were researching and writing?
At one point, I realized that by writing a how-to book on public speaking, I was going to have to give stunning, memorable talks myself. Every. Single. Time. And while I’m proud of the talks I’ve given in the past few years, especially for TEDx College of William and Mary, I’m still learning the craft and improving my public speaking skills with each talk I give. Once the book was published, I felt I would be under additional scrutiny as a public speaker. It was intimidating!
I decided that what I needed to do was simply follow the advice in the book, and practice what I’ve preached. And it’s helped tremendously.
W2: What’s a takeaway that you hope readers will get from the book?
We want our readers to realize that it’s possible to present abstract and complex ideas in a simple and engaging way, and the end goal is confidence, not perfection.
W2: What’s next for you and Poornima?
Once a year, we teach an 8-week, online, live course on public speaking, called “The Confident Communicator Course.” We cover many of the tips in our book, along with modules on accent reduction, negotiation, and interview skills. Poornima and I love teaching this course and seeing the transformation in our students’ communication skills. Everyone becomes more confident and skilled in public speaking.
The next course begins on February 13, 2017 and ends on April 6, 2017. We’d love to have some Women 2.0 readers join us!
Please visit our course page for additional details on the course schedule, syllabus, dates, and time.
