Lessons Learned Building Enterprise Software
July 19, 2013 Leave a comment
As part of Toastmasters, I recently gave a speech out of The Entertaining Speaker – Advanced Communication Series.
Project 1 – “The Entertaining Speech”
Duration: 5-7 Minutes
Objectives:
Enjoy!
March 21, 2013 Leave a comment
In December, I completed my 10th and final Toastmasters Speech on the path to fulfilling my Competent Communicator certification.
The intention of the speech was to Inspire with the length being between 8 and 10 minutes.
On one hand, I feel I’ve learned a great deal from presenting 10 speeches at my Toastmasters Club. I’ve become much more confident and have a better feeling for what types of stories work when writing my speeches. On the other hand, I still haven’t mastered the ability to speak, and say everything I want, without notes. This was evident in the below speech. 8-10 minutes is longer than any of the others, so my attempts to memorize the entire thing left me pausing to search for the next line far too often. I am sure I can overcome this struggle with more practice.
With the certification out of the way, I can now relax a bit and have some more fun with my future speeches. I’ve got a couple of clever ideas I can play around with. Stay tuned to see them.
June 7, 2012 Leave a comment
Today I present to you my 7th Toastmasters Speech. The focus of this speech is to prepare by researching the topic. The speech should be 5-7 minutes long.
Some of the feedback I received was that the speech didn’t fit the “research” tag in traditional sense. It also was short, coming in at only 4:45.
I thought the criticism was fair. However, in my defense, about half of my speeches are almost purely research related, about careers or technical topics. So, I didn’t feel like I had to prove I could do that. Also, this speech did require a fair amount of research (though I didn’t reference it specifically in my speech). I had to look up Cavaliers nicknames, accurate movie quotes, and search for the origination of nicknames for inspiration.
Here is one of the sites I used as a reference: 25 worst nicknames in NBA History
And if you were wondering more about that yearbook picture I refer to, here it is (I don’t remember being that much of a Surge fan):
May 18, 2012 Leave a comment
Through recent discussions with interviewers such as HR managers, Project Managers and Technical Hiring Managers, I’ve compiled a list of first-hand tips to job candidates. I hope they are helpful to you.
“[A] stumper for more entry level individuals is the ‘where do you see yourself in 5 years’? Many times (most times) it is ‘manager’. Given that they are probably interviewing with the manager, they should think what the manager wants them to say which is more ‘an expanded role in what I am interviewing for’. This stumps many of the interviewees. Remember, the interview is about the company not about the interviewee.”
Pat Tokarcik – HR Director – ShurTech Brands, LLC
“There is one piece of advice to the experienced or inexperienced that I’d pay forward – [get] Gallup’s Strengths Finder & set out some realistic development goals as part of self discovery.
I didn’t think about the book when we discussed ratings the other day, and it’s a pretty important piece of advice that was recommended to me & I’ve been successfully deploying in my ‘self discovery’ phases of life. I wish someone would’ve told me that after college. Nevertheless, interview advice for college grads, especially recent college grads, is to focus on strengths and deploy those for confidence. If you gain confidence through preparation or whatever gets you to that ‘I’m ready’ feeling, then you are going to more easily control your behaviors on the ‘stumping’ questions or even the relatively easy ones. It’s also being comfortable that you don’t know everything and don’t have to, giving the interviewer a chance to draw their own conclusions on that.”
Lacey Strete – Special Projects Analyst – Construction Software Technologies
“Bring portfolios of your work if you have it and be prepared to discuss what is included. Interviewers are focused on a variety of your attributes. If I find an entry level candidate who exhibits confidence in their abilities (even if they need to be fine tuned from a technical standpoint), but who also has confidence in their communication skills and can speak to what they have created, I see potential for a future mentor/manager. Candidates who can fill those roles in the future are incredibly valuable.”
Natalie Stuller – HR Manager – WS Packaging Group
“I’m reminded of an interview I did a few years ago. I asked a guy about a specific version of a program or application, and his response was something along the lines… ‘I did xxx which is similar in the past, and since it should be the same principles, I could adapt to figure it out. Plus if I have specific issues I can always use Google and figure it out.’
I thought it showed his ability to work outside of the box and solve his own issues, and he turned out to be one of the few people on my team who could.”
Jeff Strempel – Consultant – Accenture
Of course, there are some tips already on the Internet that can be very useful for interviewees.
In this YouTube clip, Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur, speaks for a minute or so about having candidates self-rank themselves.
Lastly, this YouTube clip was produced by Toastmasters, an international organization helping members to be better public speakers. Here are 5 key tips to interviewing for a job.
January 1, 2012 Leave a comment
Enjoy this speech I gave about Fantasy Football Playoff time. In this speech, I focus on using body language and gestures during the presentation.
May 4, 2011 2 Comments
Since October I have been attending Toastmasters meetings and occasionally giving speeches to improve my public speaking ability.
Below is my 4th speech:
- Ask your boss & peers which certifications are valuable.
You don’t want to waste time obtaining a certification that will not ultimately help you to achieve your goals. Ask your boss to find out about certifications that would aide in advancement within your current job. Ask peers to find out which would provide opportunity outside of your current employer. Ideally, you should choose a certification about which you have some relevant knowledge already. Otherwise, the preparation process will be significantly elongated.- Research the governing body’s website or magazine to determine what is required. Find out:
a. The format of the test (e.g. multiple choice, essay, etc.)
b. Recommended training materials (e.g. text books, practice tests, etc.)
c. Additional requirements (e.g. years experience, a verbal presentation, etc.)- Study
a. Obtain the recommended training materials
b. Review fundamentals
c. Spend extra time learning new concepts- Practice Tests
a. Take practice tests to get familiar with the testing environment
b. Write down notes about surprising answers and concepts with which you struggled
c. Schedule the official exam when ready and confident. In many cases, your company will pay for the exam fee.- Cram: study for an hour or two right before the test.
Focus on those concepts you struggled with as well as facts & formulas that will be beneficial to have memorized. No matter how much you study before-hand, always cram. It’s important to have that information in short-term memory going into the test. Trust me, you don’t want to fail a test because of something trivial that you would have known if you had just done a quick review of the material before the test.- Pass the Test
a. Many certifications last a lifetime
b. Update your resume
c. Now you can add those letters after your name on your business card
I have only been attending for 7 months, so I have plenty of room for continual improvement. However, I have already been helped by the members of my Toastmasters club to use fewer filler words and display fewer nervous ticks. I hope to become more comfortable, so that I can focus on my message while on stage instead of being so nervous my mind goes blank.
Toastmasters is useful because of the feedback given at the end of a meeting. It is helping me develop a sense for how long (in time) someone is speaking (including myself). I get to learn what I did well and what are areas for improvement. In the specific video above, I received the suggestion to not look back at the PowerPoint presentation but instead to create speaker’s notes to keep in front of me. My presentation could also have been helped with a personal, specific example.
I am looking forward to improving my public speaking by giving more speeches, receiving the feedback of others, videotaping, and personally reviewing my speeches. In fact, I look forward to improving the quality of my videos. I apologize for the poor video quality this time (I used a digital camera from 2004). To record my voice, the best option I brainstormed (that was mobile and not very distracting for the audience) was to use a blue tooth headset with my iPhone, call into a Free Conference Call number, and record the call. I later merged the audio and video. If anyone has any cheap, wireless recommendations for microphones that will work with my iPhone I am open to trying them.
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