When my friend David Bisset tweeted
Subject for WordPress meetup talk: Encouraging “shy" non-speakers to speak at meetups and conferences.
Any good links/resources?
— David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) November 5, 2014
I was curious what recommendations he would receive.
For the past seven years, I’ve been involved with organizing events, meetups, and conferences for web workers, user experience professionals, WordPress users and developers, and higher education professionals.
One thing I’ve learned: finding speakers is challenging.
Many people aren’t comfortable speaking.
I’ve invited several hundred people over the years to submit proposals and speak at events. And heard many reasons why they don’t feel ready to speak:
- Never presented before
- Nothing useful to share
- Not sure how to create a proposal or slides
- Fear of speaking in public
When David received a quick response with a link to useful resources for first-time speakers, I was excited.
@_andywashere @dimensionmedia @karmatosed We have a whole site full of resources. 🙂 http://t.co/65Lp52qBDj Let me know if you have Qs!
— Kathryn Presner (@zoonini) November 5, 2014
Get Speaking
Originating from a March 2014 Vancouver WordPress meetup encouraging women to speak at WordCamps, Get Speaking is an online resource site for first-time speakers and those people looking to improve their speaking skills.
On Get Speaking you’ll find resources on:
- General Resources on Public Speaking
- Ideas & Proposals
- The Art of Presentation Slides
- Becoming a Great Speaker
- Finding Events
I discovered motivational sites, videos, recommendations for creating slides, tips for writing compelling proposals, mistakes to avoid in public speaking, and more.
Thank you to Kathryn Presner, Tammie Listerm, and Cat Rymer from Automattic for curating all the resources.
Are you ready to get started speaking?
