What I've Gained from being a Presenter at Tech Events
- by MOSSLover
Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/MOSSLover/archive/2014/06/12/what-ive-gained-from-being-a-presenter-at-tech-events.aspxI know I fail at blogging lately. As I've said before life happens and it gets in the way of best laid out plans. I thought about creating some type of watch with some app that basically dictates using dragon naturally speaking to Wordpress, but alas no time and the write processing capabilities just don't exist yet.So to get to my point Alison Gianotto created this blog post: http://www.snipe.net/2014/06/why-you-should-stop-stalling-and-start-presenting/. I like the message she has stated in this post and I want to share something personal.It was around 2007 that I was seriously looking into leaving the technology field altogether and going back to school. I was calling places like Washington University in Saint Louis and University of Missouri Kansas City asking them how I could go about getting into some type of post graduate medical school program. My entire high school career was based on Medical Explorers and somehow becoming a doctor. I did not want to take my hobby and continue using it as a career mechanism. I was unhappy, but I didn't realize why I was unhappy at the time. It was really a lot of bad things involving the lack of self confidence and self esteem. Overall I was not in a good place and it took me until 2011 to realize that I still was not in a good place in life.So in about April 2007 or so I started this blog that you guys have been reading or occasionally read. I kind of started passively stalking people by reading their blogs in the SharePoint and .Net communities. I also started listening to .Net Rocks & watching videos on their corresponding training for SharePoint, WCF, WF, and a bunch of other technologies. I wanted more knowledge, so someone suggested I go to a user group. I've told this story before about how I met Jeff Julian & John Alexander, so that point I will spare you the details. You know how I got to my first user group presentation and how I started getting involved with events, so I'll also spare those details.The point I want to touch on is that I went out I started speaking and that path I took helped me gain the self confidence and self respect I needed. When I first moved to NYC I couldn't even ride a subway by myself or walk alone without getting lost. Now I feel like I can go out and solve any problem someone throws at me. So you see what Alison states in her blog post is true and I am a great example to that point. I stood in front of 800 or so people at SharePoint Conference in 2011 and spoke about a topic. In 2007 I would have hidden or stuttered the entire time. I have now spoken at over 70 events and user groups. I am a top 25 influencer in my technology. I was a most valued professional for years in a row in Microsoft SharePoint. People are constantly trying to gain my time, so that they can pick my brain for solutions and other life problems. I went from maybe five or six friends to over hundreds of friends in various cities across the globe. I'm not saying it's an instant fame and it doesn't take a ton of work, but I have never looked back once at my life and regretted the choice I made in 2007. It has lead me to a lot of other things in my life, including more positivity and happiness. If anyone ever wants to contact me and pick my brain on a presentation go ahead. If you want me to help you find the best meetup that suits you for that presentation I can try to help too (I might be a little more helpful in the Microsoft or iOS arenas though). The best thing I can state is don't be scared just do it. If you need an audience I can try to pencil it in my schedule. I can't promise anything, but if you are in NYC I can at least try.
