The One Person You Can Convince to Be a Public Speaker
By Jenn Lukas It was 2009. My friend and colleague Dan Mall sent me a link to this: http://2009.jsconf.us/. It was the first JSConf run by Chris Williams and I was stoked. I registered for a ticket and...
View ArticleKnowing the Quest
By Leslie Jensen-Inman This piece is a follow up to Leslie's: “Speaking up, it's time” “When you know better, you do better." Wise words from Maya Angelou. We know incidents of harassment happen within...
View ArticleThe Awesomeness of Meet-Ups
By Val Head Many of us web designers tend to be a self-taught bunch. Most of our early career stories involve a lot of books, tutorials, and late nights of feverishly learning as much we could. For me,...
View ArticleStepping Up
When I started co-organizing the DC Lean Startup Circle, I made a commitment to involve more women in the group -- because I usually was only one of a few ladies in a room of a hundred dudes. Now we...
View ArticleSpeak and Be Seen
By Whitney Hess Image credit: Jessica Hagy My mom loves to tell a story about when she and my dad came to see me in a play at day camp. I was six. I had the very important job of carrying title cards...
View ArticleUnited We Speak
By Yesenia Perez-Cruz Public speaking is rarely regarded as a team sport. Baring your soul in front of a crowd is vulnerable and personal. It’s like climbing a mountain of doubt, insecurity, nerves,...
View ArticleAsking For Help
By Laura Kalbag The first web talk I ever gave took place in a little basement at a BarCamp in front of six or seven people. We chose the rooms we spoke in, so after waiting for all the other rooms to...
View ArticleYou have to ask to get a “Yes.”
By Estelle Weyl The first step to speaking at a conference is to ask to speak at the conference. To some people this is self-evident. For me, it came as a surprise: when attending my first technical...
View ArticleSelf-Fulfilling Prophecy
Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda When I was five years old, my parents took my sister, Ana, and me to Hong Kong as part of a business trip. On the last day, my mother took us into a toy store and,...
View ArticleMisfits Make Great Speakers
By Rachel Lovinger The number of women at tech conferences is growing, but we still represent a fraction of the attendees, not to mention the speakers. You may look around at a conference and say,...
View ArticleOvercoming Stage Fright
By Emily Lewis Sweaty palms. A keen urge to pee despite plenty of visits to the restroom. Mixed martial artists sparring in my stomach. A shaky voice that sounds like I could cry at any moment. A...
View ArticleMake Yourself Comfortable
Not too long ago, my six-year-old son invited a friend from school over for a play date. A few minutes before the boy was due to arrive, my husband and I got a call from the boy’s mother saying he had...
View ArticleWhy I Speak
By Tiffani Jones Brown As a young almost-professional, I never wanted to speak at tech conferences—because I never wanted to be in tech. The idea of new innovations or bleeding edge anything never...
View ArticleFinding Your Killer Talk Idea
By Rachel Nabors So you want to give a talk? Excellent! More power to you. Maybe you want to give back to the community, boost your street cred, or meet people in a position to hire you. Whatever the...
View ArticleSpeaker Notes
By Rebecca Murphey Speaking at conferences has changed the course of my life. Conferences are where I’ve met some of my best friends; they’ve taken me across the country and around the world; they’ve...
View ArticleFrom Public Freaking To Public Speaking
By Sophie Shepherd For most of my life, my feelings about public speaking have bordered on phobic and I have avoided it like the plague. I’m not proud to admit this, but in college I once feigned food...
View ArticleSpeakers, Take Care of Yourselves
By Raquel Vélez From my experience, “conference season” seems to come twice a year: spring and fall (or fall and spring, if you’re in the southern hemisphere). It’s the perfect time of year to have a...
View ArticleAvoiding the Condo Timeshare Sales Pitch
By Stacey Mulcahy As long as I can remember, I have loved to give toasts. It didn’t matter the occasion; it didn’t matter if there even was one. I would find a reason. Imagine the little blonde...
View ArticleThe Best Advice on Public Speaking
The first season of the Ladies in Tech podcast is in the books! As we get ready to kick off season 2 this Thursday, we want to take a look back at one of the questions from Season 1: What’s the best...
View ArticleWatch Yourself
By Jenn Downs When I first had the idea to write an article comparing my very first speaking gig with my most recent one, I thought I would share the following narrative: Woman gives her first talk and...
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