Public Speaking at Mambo Jambo
I worked on new things in my new job when we built a solution -> In a high-level overview, we built an end-to-end solution and created an automated orchestration service for our AI builds.
I presented the documentation and the solution in our meetings, and the guys from my team told me that I should present this at Mambo Jambo. Initially, I thought, “hell no,” because I can’t speak like a C1 English speaker, and I had never tried public speaking before.
After the challenge from the team, my goals pinged my endpoint in my head and I saw an opportunity to grow a little bit there.
Communication is one of the most valuable skills for DevOps Engineers.
We need to present our work, we need to clearly explain the issues, etc. This is something I am still working on, and it was not long before I realized this fact.
What is the Mambo Jambo? - it is a platform for public speaking where anyone can join the presentation if is interested in the topic. The topics/talks are about Azure, AWS, Front-End, and .Net and they are organized every month by ACTUM Digital. Events are onsite in Prague.
Informations about upcoming Mambo Jambo events -> follow this profile or check eventbrite
So I said yes, I will be presenting the solution that we create in our team.
I had two weeks to prepare the presentation and I already had some ideas on how to do it. I wanted to have something different than PowerPoint. That tool doesn’t fit me I like some for tinkering. My first idea was to give a presentation just in the terminal, but I quickly realized that the audience would not be such nerdy :)
I found an advanced slides plugin in Obsidian and I decided to give it a try. I spent a few evenings building the presentation. After I built the presentation I created a static web app in Azure and I connected the web app to my custom domain.
At Mambo Jambo, everyone had the opportunity to open the presentation on their mobile phones. And this was something where I saw the next opportunity. If people are interested in the topic, they can click on GitHub or LinkedIn to learn more about it or about me. This was why I decided to host the presentation on my domain.
Mambo Jambo Night
With my girlfriend, we did three dry runs and also one online dry run with my brother. Which gives me some confidence.
Still, I was nervous but in a really nice way and that way pushed me to stand in front of the people.. I always try to keep a positive mind in challenging events it helps me and also the team. I remember just one sentence that I said before the presentation. “If I don’t poop myself in front of the people, then no worries.” So always go to the toilet before))
The presentation went well, but there is so much space to improve myself, the speak, etc.
For the first time, I think it was ok. It can be always better and we always see the improvements in ourselves. If you do not see any, try to take feedback from others.
In the end, I am proud of myself for finding the courage. I was also really happy and grateful that a lot of friends came to check out my speech. Their presence gave me the power I needed to stand before the people.
As I mentioned, this was a new experience for me, and I don’t think it will be the last.
I enjoyed it!
The presentation is done, let’s move now to the certification. Certification progress is something that I would like to write next time.