Scaling Trust through Public Engagement: Speaking and Blogs

In the last chapter, we talked about contributing to open source projects to increase your skills and advance your career. Trust is one of the most important currencies for your career growth. You need it for both contributing to open source projects and for public speaking. When people trust you, you have access to better positions and more interesting projects. So far, you have been building trust by working closely with people in communities and open source. Now, it is time to build trust at scale. Public speaking and sharing allow you to do that, and that’s what this chapter is all about. In this chapter, we will cover what public speaking really is, how to overcome fear and anxiety, how to generate and present your content, and how to find where to start sharing.

Trust is one of the most important things in our careers. When we have trust, we can get amazing jobs, get offered better positions, and gain more...

What is public speaking?

Public speaking can be thought of as a form of sharing via a conversation. No matter whether you are talking to someone one to one, in person, or even over the phone, be it in a meeting at your company, with a few people in a room, or at a big event with hundreds of people in a room – it is still a conversation.

Even when you are recording a video or authoring an article, sharing is always a conversation with a person. Even at an event where speakers are talking on a stage, the best speakers look at each person in the audience. The speaker talks, and the other person responds by nodding their heads or smiling. They reply to you visibly, or in their heads.

Sharing is always a conversation. That is true also for writing: when you write, you’re talking to someone. When you read a book, there is always a conversation. The author is talking to you and telling you what is going on, answering the questions that are in your head.

When you see...

Public speaking for introverts

When it comes to sharing, particularly for introverts, it’s understandable that there can be hurdles to overcome. For introverts and those who fear being in front of people, engaging in conversations and sharing ideas can be challenging, limiting their ability to share effectively.

While extroverted individuals often naturally feel more energized and comfortable being in front of others, it’s important to note that being an extrovert is not a prerequisite for sharing. Both introverts and extroverts can benefit from a powerful technique: listening. Listening plays a crucial role in sharing because the essence of sharing is not solely about talking; it’s about understanding and helping others take action to overcome their challenges.

Would you believe that Heather is an introvert? By employing her natural strengths of listening and her genuine desire to help others, she was able to utilize public speaking to listen and help others...

Generate content ideas

One of the hardest parts of sharing is to decide what kind of content on what topic you’re going to share. It’s easy to look around and see that for anything that you can imagine, someone already shared something and so there’s nothing that you can add. This couldn’t be further from the truth; just because someone else has already discussed a topic you want to talk about doesn’t mean you have nothing valuable to add. You have your own experiences, your own problems, your own particular situation. This is one of the most powerful presentation topics, especially (but not exclusively) for beginners – adding your personal experience to the presentation or content. When you’re applying a technology, for example, you have a specific context inside your company that can lead to different problems down the road, and you have different environments, different existing problems, and different resources. The same solution...

Find the right place to share

Now that you know how to find the right types and topics of content, you need to find the right place to share it.

There are many places where you can share your content, but the most important thing is to know where your audience is. Every time you share content, you’re sharing to help someone take action, solve a problem, and improve their lives. Your content is geared toward a special person. We call this an “avatar,” a representative of the type of person that needs to hear, listen, or consume your content. Wherever you publish your content, the right audience, your avatar, needs to be present because that’s where they’re going to find your content and benefit from it.

If you’re writing text, one of the most common places to share it is social media. If you have an audience on social media, sharing content there can help you promote content that’s published somewhere else, or you can use social...

Organizing, building, and presenting your content

Creating content can be challenging, especially when it comes to the process itself. Now that you’ve listened to people’s problems, difficulties, and challenges, and you want to offer a solution, the best approach is to envision a journey for your audience. Consider where they currently stand and where they aspire to be. Then, identify the specific steps they need to take to progress from their current situation to their desired destination. With these steps in mind, you can create content that assists your audience in navigating each stage of their journey.

This approach of envisioning their journey helps you create valuable content by addressing the gap between your audience’s current position and their desired outcome. Your content can fill that gap by providing a clear path and outlining the necessary steps they need to take to progress. This can be highly specific, such as addressing a particular challenge...

Finding the right places to get started and share

You should always be thinking about the audience that you are targeting your content at. That way, your content will always match your audience. Once you have that in mind, you can then apply all the things we talked about so far in this chapter – listening to your audience’s problems, understanding their situation, and helping them tackle their challenges; organizing your content the right way and generating content that will help them; finding the places where they are so you can present your content to them; helping your audience to achieve what they want; and tailoring your tone and formality to inspire people to take action. Once you do all of that, what happens?

When your audience gets results, they trust you. When they trust you, your reputation grows and your visibility in the market increases. That takes your career to a new level.

Now, let’s consider some myths about sharing that we can dispel right...

Techniques for engaging audiences with your content

As we close this chapter, let’s talk about engaging your audience. We talk in other parts of the book about techniques for effective storytelling. Humans remember and engage with content through stories. This is how you connect with other people and gain understanding. There are a few key points to remember when you use these storytelling techniques. One that is especially important is to focus on your opening, or your hook, that you will use to engage your audience as you share your story. Equally important is your closing, which should retrace your opening points as a way of closing the story you are sharing.

You will also want to incorporate visual aids when you are sharing your content. Consider adding visual aids to all of your content. If you are sharing in person, utilize props to convey your points or get into character. Something like a hat, glasses, shoes, or any other signature item can set the tone and be incorporated...

Interview

Jim Weaver

Jim Weaver now works for IBM. He’s been a Java Champion, developer, and evangelist for many companies over many years. He has travelled around the world and gone to many places. But right now, Jim is the quantum computing man.

Q: Can you tell us where your career started?

A: In the early days, I went to school for computer technology but then dropped out due to the pressures of life: wanting to get married and start a family, and I thought I could make more money in the restaurant industry. I put the dream of being a computer scientist on hold and went eight years in the restaurant industry, but became increasingly unhappy. This was in the 1970s, a long time ago.

But as I was in that industry then and I had a TRS-80 level 1, so I decided to go ahead and create the first ever restaurant drive-through ordering point-of-sale system, because I wanted to sell that and buy a model 3.

I created an assembly language in Z80 – dialogue 80. If...

Summary

In this chapter, you gained valuable skills and insights to enhance your public engagement and establish trust on a larger scale. Firstly, you learned how to leverage public speaking as a powerful tool for career growth, understanding its significance and the potential it holds. Additionally, you discovered strategies to overcome the fear and anxiety often associated with public speaking, enabling you to confidently share your ideas and expertise.

Furthermore, the chapter provided guidance on generating impactful content ideas, allowing you to create compelling and valuable material for your audience. You also explored techniques for effectively organizing and presenting your content, ensuring a coherent and engaging delivery that resonates with your listeners or readers.

Lastly, you discovered the importance of finding the right platforms to initiate your sharing efforts. By identifying suitable channels to reach your target audience, you can maximize the impact of your...