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#132 - Rock the Tech Stage With Public Speaking and Killer Demo - Oscar Santolalla

Summary

In this episode of Tech Lead Journal, host Henry Suryawirawan speaks with Oscar Santolalla, author of “Rock the Tech Stage” and “Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo,” about mastering tech presentations and product demonstrations. Oscar shares his journey from electronic engineering and entrepreneurship to becoming a sales engineer and public speaking expert, highlighting how his early startup failure due to poor communication inspired his deep dive into presentation techniques.

Oscar breaks down the essential elements of a successful tech presentation, which he identifies as passion, storytelling, and interaction. He emphasizes that speakers should always choose topics they are genuinely passionate about, as this energy is contagious and forms the foundation of an engaging talk. For storytelling, he advises “humanizing technology” by using personal stories, customer stories, or even fictitious role-play scenarios to make complex technical content memorable and relatable. Interaction, especially crucial in virtual settings, involves using polls, response questions, and rhetorical questions to engage the audience and maintain their attention.

The conversation delves into practical tips for delivering killer product demos. Oscar stresses the importance of creativity in crafting a “wow moment,” meticulous scripting (with separate columns for what you say and what you do), and extensive rehearsal to achieve a flawless presentation. He outlines a clear demo structure: introduction for credibility, context setting, the core demo with its scripted wow moment, and a closing that reiterates key points and includes a call to action.

Additional insights cover presentation slide hacks, such as starting with pen and paper to organize ideas before opening slide software, using templates for consistency, and maintaining a dedicated file to accumulate interesting visuals and stories for future talks. Oscar also shares a less common but vital tip about voice technique, learned from his podcast guests, including breathing through the nose to prevent dry vocal cords and practicing vocal exercises to improve resonance and sound quality.

Oscar concludes with three pieces of technical leadership wisdom: seek opportunities to speak publicly (starting with leading meetings), become a mentor to help others in their careers, and persistently fight for causes you deeply care about, such as digital privacy in his case.

Recommendations

Books

  • Rock the Tech Stage — Oscar Santolalla’s book on delivering amazing tech presentations, covering ten key skills including passion, storytelling, and interaction.
  • Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo — Oscar Santolalla’s first book, focused specifically on the art and structure of performing effective product demonstrations.

People

  • Katie Bouman — Cited as an example of a speaker with contagious passion, known for her TEDx talk about the algorithms behind the first image of a black hole.
  • Panos Panay — Mentioned as a VP at Microsoft known for his passion and excellent presentation skills when showcasing Surface products.
  • Steve Jobs — Referenced multiple times as a master presenter whose demos and keynotes were analyzed for their creativity and flawless rehearsal.

Podcasts

  • Time to Shine — Oscar Santolalla’s own podcast, focused on public speaking and how to deliver talks, where he interviews experienced speakers and coaches.
  • Let’s Talk About Digital Identity — The company podcast of Ubisecure, which Oscar hosts as part of his sales engineer role.

Tools

  • Rock the Tech Stage On-Demand Course — Oscar’s online course, an actionable companion to his book, offering templates and step-by-step guidance on topic selection, talk structure, and writing winning proposals. A discount code ‘techleadjournal’ is offered.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:03:02 — Introduction of Oscar Santolalla and his background — Henry introduces Oscar Santolalla, author of books on public speaking and product demos, and host of the Time to Shine podcast. Oscar shares his career journey from electronic engineering in 1999, through various roles in networking, cybersecurity, development, and product management, to finding his fit as a sales engineer at Ubisecure. He describes the sales engineer role as involving technical presentations, product demos, and hosting the company podcast.
  • 00:09:12 — The origin story of Oscar’s books on public speaking — Oscar recounts the failure of his first startup, attributing it to an inability to sell and communicate effectively. This inspired him to later analyze the presentations of tech leaders like Steve Jobs. He wrote his first book on product demos, initially crowdfunding it on Indiegogo. After self-publishing, he was contacted by publisher A-Press, leading to the republication of his first book and the opportunity to write his second book, “Rock the Tech Stage.”
  • 00:13:11 — The three essential elements of a great tech presentation — Oscar distills his analysis into ten key presentation skills but highlights three as essential: passion, storytelling, and interaction. He explains that passion is foundational and contagious, citing examples like Katie Bouman. Storytelling “humanizes technology,” making complex topics memorable and shareable. Interaction, especially vital for virtual talks, involves using questions and polls to engage the audience and looking at the camera to create connection.
  • 00:23:40 — Translating passion into action and overcoming mindset barriers — Oscar addresses how to move from having passion to actually giving a talk. He identifies imposter syndrome and fear of rejection as common mindset barriers. His advice is to start small by sharing stories with friends and colleagues, speaking in internal meetings, and focusing on the supportive people rather than potential critics. The key is to begin sharing and gradually build confidence.
  • 00:26:01 — Tips for incorporating storytelling into tech product demos — Oscar provides specific advice on using stories in product demos. He lists different story types: real customer success stories, creator stories (about the product’s founders), personal stories of using the product, and even fictitious role-play stories. He gives the example of former Cisco executives using actors for engaging, invented scenarios on stage, demonstrating that creativity can effectively showcase a product’s value.
  • 00:29:14 — Practical framework for delivering a killer live product demo — Oscar outlines a structured approach to product demos. He emphasizes the need for a creative “wow moment” that highlights a key benefit. The structure should include an introduction (establishing credibility), context setting, a scripted core demo (with columns for speech and actions), and a closing that reiterates the demonstration and includes a call to action. He stresses that extensive rehearsal is non-negotiable for important demos.
  • 00:35:01 — Presentation slide hacks and preparation techniques — Oscar shares best practices for creating presentation slides. He advises against starting directly in slide software; instead, organize ideas with pen and paper first. Using slide templates ensures visual consistency. A unique tip is to maintain a dedicated PowerPoint file as a “swipe file” to accumulate interesting screenshots, news clips, or visuals over time, creating a valuable resource for future talks.
  • 00:39:01 — The importance of voice technique in public speaking — Oscar shares a counterintuitive insight from his podcast guests: the critical role of voice. He explains that the voice is an instrument that needs care. A key tip is to always breathe through the nose, not the mouth, to prevent the vocal cords from drying out, especially when nervous. He also recommends doing vocal exercises designed for speakers to improve resonance and sound quality.
  • 00:42:39 — Oscar’s three pieces of technical leadership wisdom — Oscar concludes with three pieces of advice. First, find opportunities to speak publicly, starting with leading meetings. Second, become a mentor to help others in their career paths. Third, always fight for the causes you care about most, using his own advocacy for digital privacy as an example. He encourages listeners to submit speaking proposals, as event organizers are eager for new voices.

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Tech Lead Journal
  • Author: Henry Suryawirawan
  • Category: Technology
  • Published: 2023-05-08T12:00:34Z
  • Duration: 00:48:46

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] My top tip is very simple, speak topics that you are passionate about, which many people

[00:00:06] actually somehow violate that rule.

[00:00:08] No matter how many presentations you have seen, there can be a topic that hundreds,

[00:00:13] thousands of speakers already talk about, but every person has a different stories,

[00:00:19] has a different experience, has a different perspective, insights.

[00:00:23] So just pick what you are really passionate about.

[00:00:30] Henry Suryawirawan Hey everyone, my name is Henry Suryawirawan

[00:00:35] and you’re listening to the Tech Lead Journal podcast, the show where I’ll be bringing you

[00:00:40] the greatest technical leaders, practitioners, and thought leaders in the industry to discuss

[00:00:46] about their journey, ideas, and practices that we all can learn and apply to build a

[00:00:51] highly performing technical business.

[00:00:53] And to make an impact in your personal work.

[00:00:56] So let’s dive into our journal.

[00:00:58] Henry Suryawirawan Hello again, my friends and my listeners.

[00:01:05] Welcome to the Tech Lead Journal podcast, the podcast where you can learn about technical

[00:01:09] leadership and excellence from my conversations with great thought leaders in the tech industry.

[00:01:14] If you haven’t, please subscribe and follow the show on your podcast app, and also on

[00:01:19] social media on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

[00:01:22] Henry Suryawirawan And to appreciate

[00:01:23] Henry Suryawirawan And to appreciate

[00:01:23] Henry Suryawirawan And to appreciate

[00:01:23] Henry Suryawirawan And to support my work, please subscribe as a

[00:01:25] patron at techleadjournal.dev slash patron, or buy me a coffee at techleadjournal.dev slash tip.

[00:01:31] Henry Suryawirawan My guest for today’s episode is

[00:01:33] Oscar Santolaggia. Oscar is the author of Rock the Tech Stage and the host of the Time to Shine

[00:01:39] podcast. In this episode, we discuss techniques on how to deliver a successful tech presentation

[00:01:45] and demo. Oscar broke down the elements of a successful tech presentation,

[00:01:50] and in particular, explaining in depth the three essential

[00:01:53] elements of passion, storytelling, and interaction. Oscar also shared some practical

[00:01:59] tips on how to deliver a killer product demo, some presentation slides hacks, and insights on how we

[00:02:05] can use our voice more effectively when delivering talks. I hope you enjoyed listening to this

[00:02:11] episode, and if you do, I would appreciate it if you can share this episode with your colleagues,

[00:02:15] friends, and communities so that more people can also learn from this episode. Please also leave

[00:02:21] a five-star rating and review on my website, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

[00:02:23] Let’s go to my conversation with Oscar after a few words from our sponsors.

[00:02:53] Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another new episode of the Techly Journal podcast.

[00:03:02] Today I have with me a guest named Oscar Santolaggia. Oscar has written two books

[00:03:07] around public speaking and doing tech product demo. So as you can tell,

[00:03:11] today, we’ll be talking more about public speaking, and also how to do product demo.

[00:03:15] Also, as a side job, like me, Oscar has his own podcast called Time to Shine, which is a podcast

[00:03:22] with a three-part title, but we’re going to talk about the How To Dai demonstration. So let’s get to the intro.

[00:03:23] theme around public speaking and how to deliver talks and things like that.

[00:03:27] So maybe we’ll touch on a little bit about his podcast as well and

[00:03:30] what he learns throughout that journey.

[00:03:32] So Oscar, thank you so much for this opportunity.

[00:03:34] Looking forward for our conversation so that we can get

[00:03:37] up-skilled about public speaking.

[00:03:39] Oscar Worsley- Hi Henry, it’s a pleasure talking with you.

[00:03:41] Thank you for the invitation.

[00:03:43] Henry Suryawirawan, So Oscar, let’s start with maybe telling us more about

[00:03:46] your background, your career journey, or any highlights, turning points that you

[00:03:49] think are worth to share with the listeners here.

[00:03:52] Oscar Worsley- Sure.

[00:03:53] Okay, we can jump to the year 1999.

[00:03:55] So it’s almost at the end of the decade and the century actually

[00:03:59] sounds very far from now at this point.

[00:04:01] At that year, 1999, I was graduating from the engineering

[00:04:06] school in electronic engineers.

[00:04:09] And at that time, if the ones remember, that was the telecommunication boom,

[00:04:14] which meant that biggest part of the world, they were putting so much

[00:04:17] infrastructure in fiber optics and also KTV.

[00:04:22] Mobile, obviously.

[00:04:23] The internet that had been already commercial for a few years in the early

[00:04:27] and mid of nineties was becoming massively available all over the world.

[00:04:32] So that was happening during those years.

[00:04:34] That was a time quite exciting for us.

[00:04:36] We’re studying electrical, electronic engineer, like me and my friends.

[00:04:40] So at that time I got interested in a couple of things.

[00:04:43] One was networking, which was very hot topic at that moment.

[00:04:46] And of course, cybersecurity.

[00:04:49] So I start having some jobs.

[00:04:51] I enjoy my very first years, professional years, networking, technical support.

[00:04:56] I find very excited solving problems.

[00:04:58] People have some problem.

[00:05:00] I, we came there, tried to find the solution and yes, we find the solution.

[00:05:03] So that’s very rewarding, having those feeling.

[00:05:06] So at that time, I thought my future would be becoming more and more a

[00:05:10] technical expert, like a networking expert.

[00:05:12] That’s how I saw myself for the future at that time.

[00:05:16] But there were turning points as something that you definitely want to hit and have

[00:05:20] probably heard from me.

[00:05:21] So I decided to look for a scholarship to study a master.

[00:05:27] Ultimately, I want a scholarship to come to Finland and to study a master.

[00:05:31] And the master was in, first of all, I switched from the electronic electrical to

[00:05:36] the computer science school in which the degree was in mobile computing and security.

[00:05:42] And the years later, I stayed in Finland and I found different types of jobs.

[00:05:47] When I tried development, it didn’t go so well into development.

[00:05:51] In my case, I also worked a few years for a product manager, also sales, until I found

[00:05:56] actually a type of job that really fit my skillsets the best and also my interests the best.

[00:06:02] And it’s the one I have today is a sales engineer.

[00:06:05] So the sales engineer role that today I have in the company I work is called Ubisecure.

[00:06:10] Yeah, somehow it has the combination of the skillsets in my interests, because for the

[00:06:15] ones probably not everybody’s familiar that role, I can give a briefing of that, a sales

[00:06:20] engineer.

[00:06:20] So the sales engineer, first of all, is mostly for a role that exists in software and technology

[00:06:26] companies, not only software, that have big products, complex products, typically B2B.

[00:06:32] So typically it’s not a consumer product.

[00:06:34] There are exceptions, of course.

[00:06:36] Because of that, the sales process, the sales cycle is long.

[00:06:40] So there are so many steps to close a deal.

[00:06:42] So in those steps, at the very beginning, it can be someone who is not technical at all.

[00:06:47] Just start the conversation with a customer, potential customers.

[00:06:50] But then there is a point in which a technical expert has to enter and has to absolve any

[00:06:57] possible questions from the customers.

[00:06:59] Every customer has a completely different set of requirements that have to be checked one by

[00:07:05] one and find a specific solution for them.

[00:07:07] So all this is the job of a sales engineer.

[00:07:11] Some tasks are, of course, giving some technical presentations to explain the product in a

[00:07:16] more technical level.

[00:07:18] Also to do some product demonstration.

[00:07:19] Sales demos.

[00:07:21] So all in all, that’s the job itself.

[00:07:24] And I also do actually quite a few things in Ubisecure.

[00:07:27] I also take part of being a presenter in the product training.

[00:07:32] So we do product training and we’re also part of that.

[00:07:34] And also I am the host of the company’s podcast.

[00:07:37] So it’s a podcast called Let’s Talk About Digital Identity.

[00:07:40] I’m the host of that.

[00:07:41] So my role is very wide.

[00:07:42] There are several tasks.

[00:07:43] I enjoy very much doing that.

[00:07:45] So that’s what I do today in my day job.

[00:07:48] Thank you for sharing your story.

[00:07:49] I think it’s really interesting.

[00:07:51] So the thing that I picked from your sharing, the first is that if you didn’t find your

[00:07:55] passion job, I guess, right?

[00:07:57] So you started from developers, you also started from product manager, and then you

[00:08:01] found the true calling of your new role, which is a sales engineer.

[00:08:05] So I think the advice here for listeners is that don’t give up whenever you find a job

[00:08:09] that you didn’t probably thrive.

[00:08:11] Look for some other roles.

[00:08:13] And I think look at where it brought you, right?

[00:08:15] So you become like a public speaking expert.

[00:08:19] You also host a podcast.

[00:08:19] You also do a lot of product demos.

[00:08:22] I work with sales engineers a lot in my previous role as well.

[00:08:25] I think it’s one of the toughest jobs having to close the sales, especially if the product is a high expensive

[00:08:31] product and very complex.

[00:08:33] I think it’s never easy.

[00:08:34] So I really commend you for that.

[00:08:37] I guess, which brings me to the topic, right?

[00:08:40] You seem to be doing sales engineering and doing a lot of product demos.

[00:08:44] So you wrote the first book about product demo and the second book, which is about rock the tech stage, which is more

[00:08:45] about product demo and the second book, which is about rock the tech stage, which is more

[00:08:49] about doing public speaking for tech industry specifically.

[00:08:53] So tell us maybe the storyline.

[00:08:55] How did you come up with these two ideas of the book?

[00:08:58] Is there any storyline from your sales engineering role?

[00:09:01] Yeah, of course it came much earlier than thinking that one day we are sales engineers.

[00:09:06] So it’s also starts when I was still in, in Peru, just few years before coming to Finland.

[00:09:12] So I remember one moment we were walking down the stairs of a building, I was carrying my desktop computer.

[00:09:19] My keyboard, mouse, office furniture, as you can imagine, we were moving out of an office.

[00:09:26] That was a rented office that we were moving out because we ran out of money of paying that rent.

[00:09:31] During this around two years, actually, I was an entrepreneur with a couple of friends.

[00:09:36] We had a very small startup and that was actually the beginning of the end of that startup.

[00:09:43] My first startup that I had at that time.

[00:09:46] And looking back, it’s clear that we failed because.

[00:09:49] We were not able to sell, we were not able to sell our ideas to communicate effectively.

[00:09:55] So those were the main reasons.

[00:09:57] And that’s something that I felt like, no, this has to be better.

[00:10:01] I have to become a better communicator.

[00:10:03] And then it comes many years later where I was already in Finland.

[00:10:06] I was having one of these jobs that I mentioned when I was already in Finland.

[00:10:11] And I started to analyze the best talks, the best presentations, the best keynotes, the best product demonstrations from.

[00:10:19] The most famous speakers in the technology industry at that times.

[00:10:24] There are people like Steve Jobs, Jack Dorsey, Mikko Hyppinen here in Finland.

[00:10:28] So people who have really excellent and inspiring presentations.

[00:10:32] So I started going very deep into analyzing why their talks were so good, why their demos were so good.

[00:10:39] So soon I, as I was creating all this tactical advice based on that, I decided to write my first book.

[00:10:46] So that was like, okay, let’s try this.

[00:10:48] So I started.

[00:10:48] Yeah.

[00:10:49] This.

[00:10:49] This book, I call it Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo.

[00:10:52] And I decided to create a crowdfunding campaign in Indiegogo.

[00:10:56] And it went for one month, doing my best to promote it and sell it and get attention with my book fund.

[00:11:02] And I got around, I think nearly 20% of the goal, which was not sufficient to continue with the project.

[00:11:09] Clearly it was not.

[00:11:10] So I had to make a decision if I give up and I give the money back to my supporters or find my way to continue.

[00:11:18] So I decided to continue.

[00:11:19] And the following year I was self-publishing the book.

[00:11:22] So I self-published the book, which was of course a small victory at that time, something achieved.

[00:11:27] Yeah.

[00:11:28] So it was good.

[00:11:28] I had the first version of that book, but something completely unexpected happened.

[00:11:34] A few months later, one executive from a publisher called A-Press contacted me.

[00:11:38] They fund this crowdfunding campaign.

[00:11:40] They found the video on Indiegogo.

[00:11:42] And also they realized that I had finished the book.

[00:11:45] So I had my website for my book.

[00:11:46] So they decided to contact me and told me, oh.

[00:11:49] We realized this.

[00:11:49] So would you be interested in having a call with us and to discuss the possibility of you write another book or we can actually republish this book?

[00:11:58] So that was the beginning.

[00:11:59] I republished the book with them and that led me the opportunity to have the second book, Wrote the Tech Stage.

[00:12:05] So that was, let’s say, my journey of how I became a writer of these books.

[00:12:09] Both of them very focused on the technical audience, technology industry, how people can, in the first one, how to create great product demonstration.

[00:12:18] And the second one is marketing.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:19] Much more general, how you can, how I call it, rock the tech stage, have really amazing presentations that will inspire people.

[00:12:26] Wow.

[00:12:26] Thanks for sharing the story.

[00:12:27] I think it sounds really interesting, right?

[00:12:29] You started by Indiegogo campaign, a crowdsourcing platform, and then you decided to self-publish and then A-Press, the publisher, found you.

[00:12:37] I think you didn’t have to go through all this tech selling, I guess, to publish your book.

[00:12:41] But I think it also tells a journey where you actually know the elements, how to probably sell your so-called tech products, right?

[00:12:48] Which probably is a good segue to bring this topic.

[00:12:51] So what do you think are some of the elements of a great tech product demo or great tech speak?

[00:12:57] Because you said that you have analyzed multiple people who have successfully delivered keynotes or product demos.

[00:13:03] So maybe if you can highlight some of the key elements that you think are most important for us to know about public speaking and tech demo in general.

[00:13:11] Yes.

[00:13:12] So, yeah, I would refer more to my second book, Wrote the Tech Stage, because in that one, I really started to pay attention.

[00:13:18] What are among every single skill or trick or secret that the speakers have in the repertoire?

[00:13:25] So what are the top?

[00:13:26] So I said, OK, I will find the top based on my analysis and I will go deeper into those for the book.

[00:13:32] So the 10 that I have in the book are, I will read it.

[00:13:36] The first is story.

[00:13:38] We have killer demos, closely related to my first book.

[00:13:41] Metaphor, data visualization, passion, props, presentation hacks, interaction.

[00:13:48] Staging and memory.

[00:13:50] So those are the 10.

[00:13:52] Now, obviously, every speaker combines a few of them.

[00:13:56] It’s very rare that somebody uses the 10, but most of them have at least three very, very strongly.

[00:14:01] They really are good in at least three, four of them.

[00:14:04] And there are different combinations, of course.

[00:14:07] I’ll start with the three essential secrets, and then we can go to one of the most, let’s say, advanced.

[00:14:13] Because there are some that are more basic that you have to have and others who are more advanced if you want to.

[00:14:18] Go in one direction, specific direction.

[00:14:20] So for me, the three more essentials are, first of all is passion.

[00:14:24] Second is storytelling.

[00:14:25] And the third one is interaction.

[00:14:27] Now, passion, actually, to be very honest, when I had to deliver a book proposal to a press, I had 10 of these secrets and passion was not there.

[00:14:37] At that time, I didn’t feel it’s something that we have to pay attention.

[00:14:40] But actually, when I started going deeper with the interviews, with the more analysis, yes, passion is in.

[00:14:47] Every single speaker needs passion.

[00:14:48] And the success of speakers have it.

[00:14:50] Now, in terms of passion, there are two names, for instance, I can mention this one lady called Katie Bowman.

[00:14:56] She was the leader of the team of computer scientists who created the very first image of the black hole, which was unveiled, I think, 2019, if I remember correctly.

[00:15:08] So she appeared in TEDx two years earlier.

[00:15:12] And she gave an amazing talk, not only explaining complex topics.

[00:15:17] These algorithms.

[00:15:18] Image processing.

[00:15:18] thing etc to a wide audience very eloquent but also she made it with an enthusiasm that you very

[00:15:24] rarely see in speakers and she was so passionate talking about the project itself with the hope

[00:15:30] that that would become a successful project and also how she loved the space technology etc so

[00:15:35] she was really impressive on that and i also noticed in some interviews when she’s interviewed

[00:15:40] the way she speaks yeah that passion is contagious and there’s one executive in microsoft that is

[00:15:46] also very often praised about his passion not only about his good presentation skills but his

[00:15:52] passion he is the vp of the microsoft surface family of products on the tablets and other

[00:15:58] devices so these are two persons that really stand out and how you make sure that you show

[00:16:04] passion on your presentations and my top tip is very simple speak topics that you are passionate

[00:16:11] about speak topics you are already passionate about which many people actually

[00:16:15] someone

[00:16:16] how violate that rule because sometimes for work or for any other motivation we end up talking

[00:16:22] topics that are for instance trendy maybe some trendy topic you might think okay this is trendy

[00:16:26] i should know about this topic then i should also talk about this topic which is it’s a trap it’s a

[00:16:32] dangerous trap doing that the business that you just talk about you’re really passionate about

[00:16:36] no matter how many presentations you have seen or know that they have been there can be a topic that

[00:16:43] hundreds thousands of speakers already talk about

[00:16:46] every person has a different stories has a different experience has a different perspective

[00:16:51] insights so just pick what you are really passionate about because if you are passionate

[00:16:57] about something you already have the stories it’s something you’ve already been talking with your

[00:17:01] friends colleagues most likely you can easily find the story you easily find the motivation

[00:17:05] that will lead you to success so that is the first one the first of these top three secrets if you

[00:17:12] call it the second one now you capture the attention of the audience you capture the attention of the

[00:17:16] audience with your contagious passion but also you want that at the end of your talk people also

[00:17:22] remember what you say and the best tool for people to remember what you say is telling stories telling

[00:17:29] stories particularly in the technology industry i often call that we have to humanize technology

[00:17:37] with stories because often talking about technology can be dry it’s difficult often it’s complex it’s

[00:17:43] dry it’s difficult to connect it’s abstract it’s difficult to connect it’s abstract it’s abstract

[00:17:46] so that is very difficult to connect if you speak just literally trying to explain concepts in that

[00:17:52] way so the best is to connect with the stories that’s why i call it humanized technology also

[00:17:58] stories a good reason to use stories is because they are memorable what you want is that people

[00:18:03] not only like your story remember your story but they start retelling your story to others

[00:18:08] retellability of your stories and another element to use the stories is because people your audience

[00:18:15] wants to know

[00:18:16] you as a person so take that opportunity to tell also about yourself show who you are show your

[00:18:23] motivations why you are speaking why you are doing the job you do why you are in that project

[00:18:28] because the more people know about you the more people will like you and the more they like you

[00:18:34] they will be more willing to buy your product try your i don’t know tool api or just spread your

[00:18:40] ideas they will spread your ideas further if they know more about you of course storytelling is a

[00:18:46] huge topic so there are many things to learn you need for instance collect stories collect personal

[00:18:51] stories collect also someone else stories because you can use some other stories as well and then

[00:18:57] you will have to create some sort of plot to bring some excitement right so i think monday

[00:19:04] simplest plot is the setting challenge and resolution so you start with like the normal

[00:19:10] how things are normal for then there’s a challenge some problem and then there is a resolution so

[00:19:16] how you or your product is solving that product so it has to be some storytelling arc there so

[00:19:22] there are several elements there’s a lot of really great books about storytelling go very very deep

[00:19:27] so i absolutely recommend you to keep learning i mean there are so many of these books about

[00:19:32] storytelling that i recommend you to just to get acquainted with that because the tool is super

[00:19:37] important it’s probably the most important tool that you can use and then besides the stories

[00:19:43] one thing that has become also very important is that you can use stories to create stories

[00:19:46] and more important than ever especially in the last let’s say four years three four years

[00:19:50] that we are having a lot of remote presentations virtual presentation online conferences we need

[00:19:57] to interact with the audience better because it’s so easy in this virtual context that often you

[00:20:03] don’t see your audience you don’t see your audience so it’s very very difficult to know

[00:20:07] what they are doing to know if they are engaged how you can react so it’s very difficult in both

[00:20:12] directions for the audience for instance it’s more easy to get distracted

[00:20:16] or the presenter is also yeah it feels so weird not get the feedback not see the faces there are

[00:20:22] of course some tools that help you to do that one tool very simple is about use of questions

[00:20:27] you can use poll and response questions in which you ask there’s a question there is one talk by

[00:20:34] craig young he started with a question something like how many of you have been in a talk about

[00:20:39] writing code he posts this and of course some people raise their hand some say yes yeah that’s

[00:20:45] the response

[00:20:46] and then he said how many of you have been in a talk about refactoring code similarly you get some

[00:20:53] response from the audience and he uses that type of dynamic for the rest of the talk and then he

[00:20:59] uses a different type of question as well he says something like this what if you were optimizing

[00:21:04] from the very beginning to be able to delete code that’s another question and in that question he

[00:21:11] doesn’t expect an answer he expects that the audience by hitting that question to say

[00:21:16] hmm what if okay let me think so that is the reaction that he expects from their audience

[00:21:22] and by having this reaction the audience will be more connected they connect back you engage back

[00:21:28] your audience so those are called rhetorical questions you don’t expect an answer you expect

[00:21:34] the audience to start reflecting and that’s the power to keep them engaged so those are the two

[00:21:39] main type of questions that you can use there are others besides that of course there’s a lot of

[00:21:43] interactive polls and more technicals we’re going to talk about that in a little bit but first let’s

[00:21:46] talk about how to engage the audience absolutely that is very useful of course and as far as the

[00:21:51] technology works because sometimes it doesn’t but yeah those are very good but i say the basics are

[00:21:57] very important and also one final thing about all this interaction especially in the virtual

[00:22:03] environments is that try to look at the camera because you only see the camera when you interact

[00:22:08] with a virtual conference tool as much as you can which is a skill that we are not trained for that

[00:22:14] we have not been trained for that i mean only the

[00:22:16] TV anchors the TV people there used to be looking all the time on the camera but the rest of us not

[00:22:21] so that’s the skill that we need to try and become better so these are i would say the top three tools

[00:22:27] passion storytelling and interaction wow i think when you explain all these three tips right i can

[00:22:33] relate to my public speaking experience as well so maybe if we can just go slightly deeper one by one

[00:22:38] passion i have experienced also before giving a talk on some topics or product that i wasn’t

[00:22:44] really passionate about i think the result was

[00:22:46] something different actually yeah you can tell if the speaker doesn’t have energy

[00:22:50] or you can also feel that you cannot engage the audience much better compared to if you are talking

[00:22:55] about something that you’re really passionate about so I think you give a very good tips such

[00:23:00] that we should actually give presentation or talk or demo if we are passionate about the topic or

[00:23:05] the product I mean you can try bringing up topic that you probably don’t have passion about but

[00:23:10] I think the people can tell and even for yourself you can also tell that the energy might not be

[00:23:15] there.

[00:23:16] it so for people who probably has a good passion but they don’t know how to translate that to a

[00:23:23] good result of a talk what do you think are some of the best ways to start because many people

[00:23:29] would have passions by itself right but they don’t have the courage to actually give the public

[00:23:35] speaking so maybe something around this how do you translate from the passion to a great talk

[00:23:40] okay yeah this would be more about i would say the mindset in which okay you have an interest

[00:23:46] something you have a fire inside you but the fire is just inside you there could be many reasons

[00:23:51] why you don’t do it it can be the imposter syndrome that feeling that yeah you have the

[00:23:56] passion you like to talk about this but think oh what happens if i send up speaking proposal

[00:24:01] and it’s rejected what if this happens or what happened if i go to the stage and i get a difficult

[00:24:06] question so i think it’s more about the mindset that people are thinking it’s stopping them from

[00:24:11] doing that that would be one main reason why people don’t do it

[00:24:15] what i would say is that it’s more about the mindset that people are thinking it’s stopping

[00:24:16] them from doing that that would be one main reason why people don’t do it what i would recommend is to

[00:24:16] start sharing some of these stories about what you’re passionate about start talking with your

[00:24:22] closest friend when you have a like a dinner coffee breaks with your colleagues so start

[00:24:26] talking gradually you can start talking in internal meetings with your colleagues as well so

[00:24:31] i think start talking and get some feedback because especially those struggle stories

[00:24:35] that you might have had when you for instance you had to learn something you had to finish

[00:24:40] one difficult project you got some lesson learned and that lesson learned and that lesson learned

[00:24:45] can be very valuable if you share with someone else so i would encourage to just start trying

[00:24:51] start showing and you will get feedback and always you will get supportive people you

[00:24:56] will see all with supportive people and that’s important yeah you touch on a very good point

[00:25:01] there are always supportive people right so don’t always think about the nay-sayers the negative

[00:25:04] talks that you might get that you think you might get that’s the keyword you might think you might

[00:25:11] get right so i think the most important thing is just try and do some studying try to lean in stop

[00:25:15] givingIPM ROBERT I think there’re lots of opportunities out there so start to think about that better.

[00:25:15] in a small scale and you touch on multiple times about telling the stories which is your second

[00:25:20] tips storytelling one of the challenge whenever we present some kind of a tech product or tech

[00:25:26] demo right it’s pretty dry so it could be like features over features maybe there’s a problem

[00:25:30] there’s a feature and this is how the product will solve it so is there any tips how can people

[00:25:35] convert this kind of presentation product features into something that is a more storytelling manner

[00:25:41] so is it always that whenever you present this kind of product you start with okay a story of

[00:25:46] a customer or a story of a persona but is there maybe such tips that maybe you can give maybe

[00:25:51] sales engineers out there as well maybe so that they can give their product demo product

[00:25:55] presentation much much better with storytelling it’s true if you want to let’s say from scratch

[00:26:01] you want to present introduce one product or one feature set and you don’t have anything let’s say

[00:26:08] you don’t have any story you don’t have anything interesting to call it

[00:26:10] you don’t have anything interesting to call it

[00:26:11] in a way first of all there are different type of stories i think you touch a little bit of that

[00:26:15] you can focus on your customer a real customer story that’s great not always you have access

[00:26:20] to a happy customer story but if you have it lay around make it sound more interesting that

[00:26:25] it really is i mean make it sound more exciting if you know already a happy customer story

[00:26:30] that’s one customer story it’s very powerful in this case it can be also the creator story so

[00:26:36] who created that product which can be as the founder of the company but not necessarily

[00:26:41] it can be just the person or the persons who were crucial in creating that product and it goes now

[00:26:48] with the motivation so not only saying okay this person started doing this project and the product

[00:26:54] happened but also the motivation i mean what were their motivations to start this product to create

[00:26:59] something so probably they had some own pains own problems they were trying to solve their own

[00:27:05] problems or problem for someone who they really care about so try to find that and that already

[00:27:11] you see it’s already creating a story it’s adding characters to a potential story so that’s very

[00:27:16] very useful and then you can also bring your personal story because you are using already

[00:27:20] that product you have experience using it trying it presenting it so it’s very likely that you

[00:27:26] already have some story related to that so there are different type of story you can use as i said

[00:27:31] customer story can be the creator story can be a personal story related

[00:27:35] to the product so that’s very helpful.

[00:27:35] the product you can also do a fictitious story like a role play story completely invented story

[00:27:42] you can also create that especially if you don’t find the real stories if you don’t find the real

[00:27:45] stories you can invent the story that’s another way so there are first of all the different type

[00:27:51] of stories that you can create now one example if you find it probably you can find it on youtube

[00:27:56] for instance a couple of persons who were really good at doing demos on stage and using those type

[00:28:02] of invented role play stories were from cisco gym group and oh i forgot who was the ceo of cisco for

[00:28:09] a long time so the ceo of cisco and gym group from cisco they were doing very cool stuff they

[00:28:15] were doing even some kind of actors there on stage doing these demos invent invented stories role

[00:28:20] play stories it was so engaged so interesting that yeah you can also do that wow i think those

[00:28:26] are some good tips so for people who your job is to sell tech products i think these are definitely

[00:28:31] great tips right

[00:28:32] first is of course find happy customer stories that is always gold right so you can always use

[00:28:38] this customer reference customer stories happy customer feedback and tell the stories during

[00:28:42] your presentations and also don’t forget you can also create fictitious stories right you build

[00:28:47] few actors few personas and you know tell why the product can actually help them so another thing

[00:28:53] that normally people do whenever they present tech product or tech kind of a service is that

[00:28:58] they will need to do a demo i still remember a couple of times i had to do

[00:29:02] demo and i still remember a couple of times i had to do demo and i still remember a couple of times

[00:29:02] i had to do demo sometimes it succeeds and many times it failed as well so people say the demo god

[00:29:07] is just not there so maybe can you tell us some tips how we can do our product demo much better

[00:29:14] especially real-time product demo not like recorded or pre-rehearsed right is there some

[00:29:19] tips that you can do maybe what we can do better yeah absolutely the product demos is one of the

[00:29:25] first things that really inspire me to go deeper into this world of the presentations and go deeper

[00:29:30] to create all those

[00:29:32] articles and the books ultimately so those first demos i saw were for people on stage because

[00:29:38] obviously i didn’t see those in sales meetings i saw them on stage on some videos i saw steve jobs

[00:29:43] elon musk miko hipon and panos pane also did very very interesting demos live so for me what i

[00:29:50] capture at that moment is that one of the most important elements is the creative that you need

[00:29:56] to create you really need to creative and buy something that nobody has done and it’s possible

[00:30:01] to create what i can do and it’s possible to create what i can do and it’s possible to create what i can do

[00:30:02] and it’s possible to create what i can do and it’s possible to create what i can do

[00:30:03] and it’s possible to create what i can do and it’s possible to create what i can do

[00:30:04] so a very fraction of the whole demo in which people will remember just those few seconds so

[00:30:10] it’s the climax of the whole demo and it’s something unexpected surprising where people

[00:30:16] see the benefit of the product so creativity is very important and of course that takes time so

[00:30:21] you can try to work yourself try to work with some colleagues brainstorm try to see

[00:30:27] okay we have this great feature of the product but how we do it that it will really resonate

[00:30:32] with people, people we really remember. So try to find the best possible way to show that feature,

[00:30:37] that one of the best features that you might have. So the creativity is very important. Try to find

[00:30:41] the wow moment. Another thing about proto-demos is that like any other presentation, it requires

[00:30:48] a structure. It has to be well structured. Actually, I can tell you that the genetic

[00:30:52] structure I put in my book about proto-demos is you need to have a beginning, you have a middle

[00:30:58] and an end. So in the beginning, one thing you can do is to introduce the presenter. So you

[00:31:04] introduce yourself or someone introduces you. But the important thing here is that that shows

[00:31:09] credibility, why you are the one person showing that demo. The other thing is the next thing is

[00:31:14] giving some context about where you’re coming. Because one error in some demos is that you see

[00:31:19] the speaker says, OK, now I’m going to show you a demo. And then the speaker shows the, let’s say,

[00:31:24] the browser and start quickly moving, blah, blah, blah, moving around and very quickly.

[00:31:28] And the audience is like, what? Wait a moment. When did you start? So it’s important that in

[00:31:34] very few words, just one or two phrases, you give some context saying, OK, we are going to present

[00:31:40] this feature in this context, something very, very short. So people have a bit of a clue what

[00:31:47] is coming, what is expecting. And then it comes the core of the demo in which I recommend,

[00:31:53] especially for very important demos, write a script. So write a script of the

[00:31:58] demo.

[00:31:58] Normally, I visualize the script in two lines. One line is what you say, because you have some

[00:32:03] phrases you are going to say. You don’t talk too much, but you have to say some while you are

[00:32:08] showing the demo. And on the other column, write down what you are doing, because you have to have

[00:32:13] it very clear what you are doing. So I have to put this password. I’m going to show this and hide

[00:32:18] this. So this kind of thing has to be written down. Otherwise, you will forget and you might

[00:32:23] show something that you didn’t show. So that’s a script. And of course, you rehearse as much as you

[00:32:28] can.

[00:32:28] There are stories, for instance, from Steve Jobs, in which he rehearses so much that people are just

[00:32:33] crazy. The engineers or the other colleagues are like, why are you rehearsing so much? But he was

[00:32:38] so ambitious in that the demo has to be flawless, flawless that, yeah, all the others get just as

[00:32:43] crazy. But for an important presentation, for an important demo, that is the way. You have to

[00:32:48] really rehearse a lot until it’s flawless. And he’s not the only person, actually. I find some

[00:32:52] speakers more contemporary who do this, for instance, live coding. And they have said in some

[00:32:57] interviews, yeah, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to do this.

[00:32:58] I rehearse it 100 times. That’s why it looks very flawless now. Yeah, so it is. You have to

[00:33:03] rehearse a lot. And the wow moment, as I said, try to find a moment that will stand out out of the

[00:33:09] whole demo. And to close, so in the closing, you can just finish the demo. Let’s say you finish

[00:33:15] the demo, you finish what you’re showing on the device or in the browser. One mistake is saying,

[00:33:20] okay, that was a demo. Thank you. So instead of doing that, you have to do two things. You can

[00:33:24] still do two things depending on the agenda. But one thing is reiterates,

[00:33:28] what you just shown. So saying a few words, I just demonstrated how my product excels in these

[00:33:34] features in this context. So just very shortly, reiterate what you just done, because it might be

[00:33:40] that some people didn’t get it completely. They saw it look cool, but they didn’t completely get

[00:33:45] it. So you help with that. And the very last thing, depending, of course, on the context,

[00:33:49] call to action in which you said, okay, now you have seen this. Now it’s time to,

[00:33:53] you can download my tool, you can buy a product, you can pre-order, et cetera.

[00:33:57] So that’s how a demo, I think, should end in most cases.

[00:34:01] Well, I think even your briefing sounds like a product demo already, right? It’s very,

[00:34:07] very encouraging for people. So I think I like in particular the writing a script where you

[00:34:11] provide two columns. One is what you say, and the second one is what you do. Because I also did a

[00:34:16] live demo, coding demo previously. Sometimes when you’re in the moment, especially when things

[00:34:21] doesn’t work right, you may actually forget what you need to say. Or the other thing, you know what

[00:34:26] you have to say, but you don’t remember. So that’s how a demo should end in most cases.

[00:34:27] So I think having these things definitely help. And rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. I guess that’s

[00:34:32] really key as well. Rehearse such that it becomes a natural thing. And maybe if I can just give one

[00:34:38] more tip is that don’t forget that you are showing this to the audience. So don’t just do the demo by

[00:34:43] yourself, right? And you do all the shortcuts with a very quick manner. People might be lost in all

[00:34:49] the sequence that you have done in a live demo. So another question that I have normally is the

[00:34:54] path P for any kind of tech presentation or presentation. And I think that’s a good question.

[00:34:57] Because I think the presentation in general is about slides, right? So any tips here how we can do

[00:35:01] much better product or tech speaking with slides? Yeah, slides are a tool that is very common.

[00:35:09] You don’t always have to use them, but it’s a powerful and common, very common tool. A few

[00:35:14] things. First of all, when you have to make a presentation, don’t start with an empty PowerPoint

[00:35:19] or Keynote or whatever slide deck. So don’t start opening a new document and start typing. So that’s

[00:35:26] how many people do.

[00:35:27] Actually, but start with pen and paper or some other ways in which you can take notes. You can

[00:35:34] organize your ideas. So make sure you organize your ideas first, make some basic structure. Then

[00:35:39] after that, when you have your points, you have an idea what you would like to show, then go to

[00:35:44] PowerPoint or Keynote and start creating the slide deck. So that’s for me, it’s essential to start

[00:35:50] that. Another thing that is very useful is also the template. So slide template, because that will

[00:35:56] help you to

[00:35:57] give the same style on the different slide, because if you want to create, okay, I create one more

[00:36:01] slide, then I have to copy paste the whole structure of that slide. So if you have template,

[00:36:06] there will be several slide types that you can just choose the title or quote or graphic. So

[00:36:14] different slides are just ready. The organization is ready. And the photo you want to insert is

[00:36:20] going to be in the right place. So this is very important. And I know that not many people do it

[00:36:25] that way. So it’s important.

[00:36:26] So try to learn about how to use the templates. One tip I can also give you is that you can have

[00:36:34] one PowerPoint slides file, just dedicated to accumulating interesting things. Because if you

[00:36:41] are going to have in the future, some talk, you might need some new stories, new visuals, new

[00:36:47] supporting material. It’s good if you have this slide in which you only connect information. For

[00:36:52] instance, today you read some news, someone shares with you interesting thing, take a

[00:36:56] screenshot, copy paste there. You don’t know if you’re going to use it in the future. Just

[00:37:00] accumulate this, the images there. That file might grow a lot, but the day you need for a new

[00:37:06] presentation, that image, oh, I should get the photo of this or the screenshot of this, might be

[00:37:12] already on that file waiting for you. For instance, in cybersecurity, there are the hacks. There are

[00:37:18] attacks in which suddenly, yeah, one service is down, one website is defaced. So if you know,

[00:37:24] you can go now, take a screenshot, keep it.

[00:37:26] Because that will be fixed in a few hours. Or if you want to talk about that attack in a few

[00:37:32] months, well, you don’t have that screenshot. So unless you save it for the future, you will not

[00:37:38] have it. So it’s just an interesting tip to keep in mind.

[00:37:41] Wow, that’s a very good tip, actually, especially for people who have to provide relevant stories,

[00:37:46] right? Especially coming from the new cybersecurity, right? Always have these things ready somehow in

[00:37:51] your electronic storage. I guess it could be the PowerPoint slides that you mentioned, right?

[00:37:55] It could be also like…

[00:37:56] All these LDR tools, or maybe even like note-taking apps. So I think that’s a very cool hack so that

[00:38:02] you can actually collect all this. And one day, if you need it, you can just search. Yeah, don’t

[00:38:06] forget that the tool must support searching. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to look back

[00:38:10] what you stored before. So thanks for sharing all these tips. I find it’s really relevant. And in

[00:38:16] your book, you have so many other tips. So for people who are interested to learn more about how

[00:38:20] you can give killer product demos or doing great public speaking, especially related to tech

[00:38:25] products, please feel free to share your tips in the comments below. And I’ll see you in the next

[00:38:25] video.

[00:38:26] Maybe check out the book. So let’s maybe touch on a little bit. You also host a podcast called

[00:38:30] Time to Shine, right? And the theme is around public speaking. So you have hosted this maybe

[00:38:36] for about two years now. Is there anything that you learned, interestingly, from the guest that

[00:38:41] you brought to the podcast? Something about public speaking, which might be counterintuitive to what

[00:38:45] we know normally?

[00:38:47] Yeah, I learned so much, actually, by having this conversation with several experienced speakers and

[00:38:54] coaches, such a wide variety of people.

[00:38:56] Actually, one of the things that not many people mentioned, I think even less in the technology

[00:39:01] industry, is about the use of voice. I was able to talk with a few voice coaches. Well, some of them

[00:39:07] specialize also in singing, but mostly in speaking. So voice is super, super important. Also, learn on

[00:39:14] my way how to have a better voice. One thing is, for instance, how to like your voice, or if you

[00:39:19] can call it love your voice. I mean, when I started the first recording of the podcast, I was like,

[00:39:25] yeah, that’s a good idea. And I was like, yeah, that’s a good idea. And I was like, yeah, that’s a good

[00:39:26] idea. And I was like, yeah, that’s my voice. Yeah, that’s my voice. But then, of course, you start

[00:39:31] improving. So you have had the experience. And then you start feeling, yeah, my voice sounds good.

[00:39:36] And I like my voice. But it’s important to learn more about your voice. So if you can also read a

[00:39:42] book about the voice, because it’s a musical instrument, it’s an instrument that so if you

[00:39:47] want to play, for instance, guitar, you need to tune it, you have to be in good shape, tune it,

[00:39:52] and then play. If you take a guitar that has been in the storage for 20 years, of course,

[00:39:56] sounds horrible. So your voice has to be in good shape. And a couple of things to have your voice

[00:40:03] in good shape. First of all, something is related to breathing. Something that happens often,

[00:40:08] more often than you might think, is that we tend to breathe by the mouth instead of the nose. So

[00:40:15] we should always breathe by the nose. One of the reasons is that when you breathe by the mouth,

[00:40:20] your throat, your vocal cords get dry, very quickly get dry. And that will make you tough,

[00:40:25] or will just feel that it is dry. I’m sure many of you have experienced that you’re speaking for,

[00:40:30] let’s say 20 minutes, and oh, I need to drink water because it’s super dry. And sometimes you

[00:40:35] notice some speakers are there at the stage and they’re speaking. So it’s because they are could

[00:40:40] be for bad habit, or could be for nervousness, because sometimes you’re anxious, when you’re

[00:40:44] anxious, you start breathing by the mouth. But this is something that you have to avoid at all

[00:40:48] costs. At all times, you should always breathe by the nose, try to be conscious, try to realize

[00:40:53] when you are breathing by the mouth. So that’s one thing.

[00:40:55] Very important. Always breathe by the nose. And the other thing that I’m sure not many people have

[00:41:01] give you as advice is to use vocal exercises, vocal exercises, which you might think is only

[00:41:08] for singers, but that’s not correct. I mean, I do vocal exercises as often as I can,

[00:41:14] because that also helps you to produce the sound that really resonates in your head and create

[00:41:20] nice sound. So that’s very important. If it’s something that you have not tried, I strongly

[00:41:25] recommend you to try some vocal exercises that are meant for speakers, not for singers.

[00:41:30] Well, sounds interesting indeed. So I haven’t heard about these tips before. Every time I search about

[00:41:36] public speaking tips and tricks, it’s always about storytelling, data, slides, and things like that.

[00:41:41] I never encountered something about voice, how to actually do the breathing. So I think this is definitely very

[00:41:47] interesting for people who want to advance their techniques of doing public speaking. And especially for me doing podcasts, I

[00:41:53] believe it applies to me as well.

[00:41:56] How do we control our voice? How do we control our breathing? And how do we ensure that we still have the energy and passion to deliver what we are trying to say?

[00:42:04] So thanks for the tips. So, Oscar, it’s been a very great lesson about public speaking and presentation and product demo.

[00:42:11] I feel we can go on and on.

[00:42:12] But unfortunately, due to time, we have to wrap up pretty soon.

[00:42:16] But before I let you go, I have one last question that normally I ask for all my guests which I call the Three Technical Leadership Wisdom.

[00:42:23] So you can also think about it like-

[00:42:25] Three Technical Leadership Wisdom.

[00:42:25] Three Technical Leadership Wisdom.

[00:42:25] So you can also think about it like-

[00:42:25] public speaking leadership wisdom or something like that but this is something like an advice

[00:42:30] for us to think about and maybe could apply in our life and in our working situations

[00:42:34] so maybe if you can share your three technical leadership wisdom absolutely thank you yeah i’ve

[00:42:39] been thinking of this and keep some variety they’re not well connected each other but i will

[00:42:44] say that can be beneficial for many of you first starting with speaking it doesn’t matter where

[00:42:49] you are now so if you never spoke in public you are still junior in your career maybe you are

[00:42:54] advanced it doesn’t really matter find opportunity to speak it’s very important that you speak in

[00:43:00] public the more the better will help you in many ways can be internally in your team for your

[00:43:04] communication internally or if you want to be on the stage on the tech stage it will definitely

[00:43:10] help you so try to find simple opportunities and the easiest one was we are having meetings very

[00:43:17] often we have meetings very often so you can take the initiative of okay i’m going to lead this

[00:43:23] meeting okay

[00:43:24] i’m going to lead this meeting i’m going to be the one who opens the meeting talks about the

[00:43:29] agenda closes the meeting moderates in a way who speaks next so just doing those small steps

[00:43:35] lead a meeting or give a presentation internal presentation so start doing those small steps

[00:43:41] and of course i can tell you this something i didn’t tell but when you already have the motivation

[00:43:46] for speaking in tech events i can assure you that today there are event organizers who will be

[00:43:54] more than happy to invite you as soon as first of all they receive your proposal you have to send

[00:43:59] them a proposal because they are really hungry of hearing interesting topics new topics new people

[00:44:05] new faces new voices so yeah absolutely encourage you to send that speaking proposal that has been

[00:44:11] in your mind finish it and send it so that’s the first one the second one is yeah many people will

[00:44:17] tell you get a mentor but i would tell you yes get a mentor is good it’s very important but also as

[00:44:22] soon as you have some experience you can send it to them so that’s the first one the second one is

[00:44:24] become a mentor be a mentor and help others who are still they say behind you in the career they’re

[00:44:30] still having walk that path that you have so it’s very important i think it’s super important to

[00:44:36] help others to find their way in their careers because everybody has some difficulties so it’s

[00:44:41] very important to help others in the industry and anything you do in life so be a mentor as soon as

[00:44:46] you can you feel comfortable and the last one this is related to the passion the things that you truly

[00:44:54] value i think you have to keep fighting for the causes that you care the most that can be in your

[00:45:00] industry it can be also outside your industry for instance i work in ubisecure the main type of

[00:45:05] product is identity and access management and one topic very connected to that is the topic of

[00:45:10] privacy which for many people they say that this is a a lost battle big tech has won but me and

[00:45:18] many people refuse to believe that so we keep fighting for privacy of people not only from us

[00:45:24] who are tech

[00:45:28] but also for the least privileged people who don’t have a choice sometimes they just have to use

[00:45:33] whatever technical tools that are put in front of them so yeah that’s my fair advice always fight

[00:45:39] for the causes you care the most

[00:45:41] Wow very very beautiful set the third one i really loved it

[00:45:45] especially if you have passionate about it right don’t let the fire just disappear

[00:45:50] so fight for your cause and do the things that you believe in i think that’s a very

[00:45:54] very classic advice from many people but i think still stays relevant so oscar if people want to

[00:46:01] maybe follow you or they’re interested to learn more about doing this public speaking or tech

[00:46:05] demo is there a place where they can find you online or any resources they can go to

[00:46:09] sure thank you very much henry you can find me on twitter or linkedin oscar santolaja i will spell

[00:46:16] my name well oscar like the movie award that’s easy then santolaja is s-a-n-t-o-l-a-l-l-a oscar

[00:46:27] santolaja and you can also visit my website it’s rock the tech stage dot com and i have a special

[00:46:35] offer for your listeners in which i have my online course called rock the tech stage on demand which

[00:46:42] is an actionable course it’s a byproduct of my book rock the tech

[00:46:46] stage on demand which is an actionable course it’s a byproduct of my book rock the tech stage

[00:46:46] but it goes more into the how to do things with a lot of templates and how you can start from zero

[00:46:53] come up with your topic the best topic for you and how to structure a talk how to add all these

[00:46:59] skill sets passion and how are the storytelling much more in deep and finally how you can write

[00:47:06] a winning proposal that the events organizers are going to be happy to invite you so for that

[00:47:12] we have a 25 discount for you if you use the coupon code

[00:47:16] tech

[00:47:16] lead journal like the podcast tech lead journal and the website is rock the tech stage dot com

[00:47:23] slash on demand thank you for sharing that i’ll put it in the show notes definitely so i think

[00:47:29] many people would be benefited from this right and be able to use new techniques from you on how

[00:47:35] they can deliver their speech much better so thanks again for sharing that so oscar it’s been

[00:47:40] a pleasure thank you for sharing your story i think i learned a lot from you as well today

[00:47:44] thank you very much henry it was a real pleasure talking to you

[00:47:46] thank you for listening to this episode and for staying right until the end if you highly enjoyed

[00:47:56] it i would appreciate if you share it with your friends and colleagues who you think would also

[00:48:00] benefit from listening to this episode and if you’re new to the podcast make sure to subscribe

[00:48:05] and leave me your valuable review and feedback it helps me a lot in order to grow this podcast

[00:48:11] better you can also find the full show notes of this conversation on the episode page at tech lead

[00:48:16] journal and i’ll see you in the next one bye bye bye

[00:48:16] Journal.dev website, including the full transcript, interesting quotes and links

[00:48:21] to the resources mentioned from the conversation, and lastly, make sure to

[00:48:26] subscribe to the show’s mailing list on techleadjournal.dev to get

[00:48:30] notified for any future episodes.

[00:48:32] Stay tuned for the next Tech Lead Journal episode, and until then, goodbye.

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