Learning to present and becoming good at it Have you been thinking about presenting at a user group? Are you being asked to present at your work? Is learning to present one of the keys to advancing your career? Or do you just think it would be fun to present but you are too nervous to try it? Well take the first step to becoming a presenter by attending this session and I will guide you through the process of learning to present and becoming good at it. It's easier than you think! I am an introvert and was deathly afraid to speak in public. Now I love to present and it's actually my main function in my job at Microsoft. I'll share with you journey that lead me to speak at major conferences and the skills I learned along the way to become a good presenter and to get rid of the fear. You can do it! James Serra Big Data Evangelist Microsoft JamesSerra3@gmail.com JamesSerra.com

About Me Microsoft, Big Data Evangelist In IT for 30 years, worked on many BI and DW projects Worked as desktop/web/database developer, DBA, BI and DW architect and developer, MDM architect, PDW/APS developer Been perm employee, contractor, consultant, business owner Presenter at PASS Business Analytics Conference, PASS Summit, Enterprise Data World conference Certifications: MCSE: Data Platform, Business Intelligence; MS: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions, Design and Implement Big Data Analytics Solutions, Design and Implement Cloud Data Platform Solutions Blog at JamesSerra.com Former SQL Server MVP Author of book “Reporting with Microsoft SQL Server 2012”

Agenda My history Goal Setting Always Be Thinking of Presentation Topics Promote your presentation Where to present? Tips to getting your abstract chosen Creating your presentation Preparing for your presentation Pre-presentation Tips In-presentation Tips Post-presentation Tips Final thoughts

My history Asked to do a presentation to my team - Scared to death! 75% of people have some degree of anxiety when public speaking Realized good for my career to get good at presenting 70% of people who present regularly agreed that presentations are critical to their success at work Over the years just kept presenting Goal was to present at bigger and bigger events Took a while, but finally got comfortable presenting For my current job, I get paid to present Now I either don’t even think about it or I look forward to it 75% of people who present would like to improve their presentation skills

Goal Setting What is your ultimate goal for presenting? Set 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year plans Track your progress Reach out to others for help/mentoring

Always Be Thinking of Presentation Topics Write subjects down in OneNote Does not have to be unique! Keep list of your presentations: title, abstract, dates presented and location, upload slides to slideshare.net See http://www.jamesserra.com/presentations/

Where to present? Brown bag session at work Local user groups/Meetup.com Virtual PASS chapters SQLSaturday PASS Summit Submission process

Promote your presentation Upload slide decks on LinkedIn (slideshare.net can do automatically) Mention on twitter Mention on your blog

Tips to getting your abstract chosen Find a subject that hits a pain point, hot topic, or new product Know the decision makers! Build your personal brand: http://www.slideshare.net/jamserra/enhancing-your-career-building-your-personal-brand Get others opinion on the abstract Use GroupBy.org (Brent Ozar) https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2012/04/writing-better-conference-abstracts-presentations/ https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2017/04/wanna-speak-pass-summit-heres/

Creating your presentation Know your topic well Create an outline Build your slides Don’t put a ton of words on slides Know your audience Balance educating with entertaining Most listeners will recall no more than 25% of your presentation

Preparing for your presentation Practice makes perfect Run through presentation in your head Do speaker training Toastmasters Watch or attend sessions of the best speakers

Pre-presentation Tips Wear a watch or display clock on your phone Have a backup laptop or deck on USB memory stick Get a page-up clicker (Logitech Wireless Presenter R800 has laser pointer, timer, vibrating alert) Install Zoomit: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/zoomit.aspx Bring air card/jetpack/phone personal hotspot Turn off power/screen saver on your laptop Bring water

Pre-presentation Tips In PowerPoint, turn off auto advance of slide Arrive 15 minutes early to test out equipment Test your voice for online presentations Upload your PowerPoint presentation instead of sharing your desktop (do five minutes beforehand) In Skype, know about the “Mute Audience” button Upload your deck Dress like your audience

In-Presentation Tips Use sticky to remember a couple of pointers Check time and speed up or slow down Avoid filler/bridge words: Um, ah, you know, right, like Be animated, energetic, excited, vary your voice Have a sense of humor, smile Show passion Ask questions, engage them, but someone will still fall asleep Don’t talk fast, have pauses Watch your body language (65% of communication is done nonverbally)

In-Presentation Tips Have eye contact with everyone in the room Ok to walk around, but not too much (stand still for 15-30 seconds – stand like Superman). Only move between important sentences Don’t read the screen – glance at it but don’t talk when glancing Speak clearly, especially if foreigners in room Talk loud Use personal experience, use cases, tell stories Be humble, don’t come across as arrogant Repeat questions if session is recorded

Post-Presentation Tips Hand our surveys Hang around to answer questions Encourage attendees to email you with questions

Final thoughts Take risks! You can learn a subject better by presenting it The path to a great presenter starts with their first presentation Have fun!

Questions? James Serra, Data Platform Solution Architect Email me at: JamesSerra3@gmail.com Follow me at: @JamesSerra Link to me at: www.linkedin.com/in/JamesSerra Visit my blog at: JamesSerra.com (where this slide deck is posted under “Presentations”)