First-Time Speaker Questions, Part 1
June 9, 2026Tags: conferences,, speaking
I was talking with my husband, and he mentioned he was prompted with these questions:
- How did you get your first speaking opportunity?
- What’s the one piece of advice you’d give a first-time speaker?
So this gets me thinking…
First Speaking Opportunit(y/ies)
So I have a lot of “speaker firsts” in a short period of time - bear with me.
- My very first speaking engagement was in the late 1990s. My friend Nivex was speaking on the Samba Web Administration Tool (SWAT) at the Toledo Area Linux Users Group (TALUG). He knew I was excited working in it and asked me to co-present with him. While I was nervous presenting in front of the Linux group, they were welcoming of a newbie speaker. 😄
- Later that year, I went to OOPSLA ‘99 with two of my friends from ACM. We were invited to participate in their Code Fest program, which had us implement one of the designs that the adult attendees created during the Design Fest portion. We chose to implement a coffee vending machine in… Java! I didn’t know any Java at that point, so there was a lot of learning on the fly. At the end of our time, we had to present our final project. I remember this one being a hard one for me to present. From what I remember, we were high up presenting - and at that point, I was still dealing with literal stage fright and “I don’t like literally talking down to people”. 😯 Despite that, it was my first time presenting at a conference as a team.
- One of the neat things I saw at OOPSLA ‘99 was a presentation on Squeak, so I did my first solo presentation a couple months later (still late 1990s) at the Toledo Area Linux Users Group on Squeak!
One Piece of Advice for a First-Time Speaker
Just one piece?! Just one?!
Find a good mentor who will guide you, make introductions when possible, and challenge you. You don’t have to go it alone - there are so many of us out there who enjoy speaking and who also enjoy mentoring others.
Not sure where to start? Check out MoreSpeakers.com! If you want me to mentor you, check out my profile!