Discover Your Expertise
Worried about not having something unique to say because you're not a so-called "expert" or are new to your industry or role? You'll learn how to easily extract your expertise.
At some point in your career you will have to speak at an event or to a group of people.
That group could be your colleagues, customers, employer, or even potential investors!
It's a great opportunity to be heard, showcase yourself, and your work.
You're excited, but there are butterflies in your stomach.
Like many people, you worry about:
- Having something unique to say
- Not being a so-called "expert"
- Being new to your industry or job role
- Audiences tuning out while you speak
- Impressing your peers or your boss
- Having a vibrant presence
- Your nerves getting the best of you
- Sweaty palms, shaky legs, a crackly voice
Introducing, Present!
The ultimate public speaking guide from tech speakers Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin who will teach you how to:
Confidently Share Your Knowledge
Nerves getting the best of you and causing you to have sweaty palms, shaky legs, and crackly voice? You'll learn how to manage those nerves and have a vibrant presence!
Level Up Your Career
Speaking gives you an opportunity to be heard, showcase yourself, and your work.
Praise for Present!
This book was incredibly helpful, inspiring and relatable, and has in effect made me a more confident and charismatic public speaker.Eileen Carey CEO and Founder, Glassbreakers
If you want to get over the fear factor & connect with an audience then read this book.Dan Martell Serial Entrepreneur
A must-read for anyone serious about growing their public speaking skills.Mary Ann Walsh Former VP of Macromedia
Who You’ll Learn From
Poornima Vijayashanker
Poornima Vijayashanker is the founder of Femgineer and is an avid public speaker who gives talks around the world on topics ranging from engineering to entrepreneurship. She has a monthly web show called FemgineerTV sponsored by Pivotal Tracker. Watch the show and a number of her talks on the Femgineer YouTube Channel.
Poornima has also been an entrepreneur-in- residence at 500 Startups, a lecturer at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, and the founding engineer at Mint.com, where she helped build, launch, and scale the product until its acquisition in 2009.
Poornima holds degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.
Karen Catlin
Karen Catlin is a leadership coach and advocate for women in the tech industry. She coaches professionals in public speaking, and in 2014 she delivered a TEDx talk: "Women in Tech - The Missing Force." Karen is on the Board of Directors of The CLUB, an incubator of women leaders. Through Brown University Women's Launch Pad, she mentors young women about to start their careers.
Formerly, Karen was a vice president at Adobe Systems. In 2015, the California State Assembly honored her with the Wonder Women Tech Innovator Award for outstanding achievements in business and technology and for being a role model for women.
Karen holds a degree in Computer Science from Brown University, and is on the Advisory Board for Brown's Computer Science Diversity Committee.
POORNIMA & KAREN HAVE GIVEN INSPIRING TALKS AT COMPANIES INCLUDING:
Get inspired with our quick tip video lessons.
Daily videos to help you take action and become a better speaker.
Watch more on youtubeHere’s what you’ll learn:
Part 1: Get in a speaker state of mind
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
How public speaking will catapult your career in ways you never knew were possible.
CHAPTERS
- Chapter 1:
- Get Ready to Transform Your Career
- Chapter 2:
- Keep It Conversational
Part 2: Create your talk
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
How to uncover your hidden expertise even if you don't consider yourself an expert. Plus a step-by-step process for creating a talk with stories that will hook audiences, and how to write a proposal that is sure to get you into speaking events.
CHAPTERS
- Chapter 3:
- Find a Topic
- Chapter 4:
- Identify Your Ideal Audience
- Chapter 5:
- Tell a Story
- Chapter 6:
- Pitch Your Talk
- Chapter 7:
- Develop Your Talk
- Chapter 8:
- Practice
Part 3: Deliver like a pro
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Get over your stage fright and present like a pro, no matter how nervous you are or what your experience level is.
CHAPTERS
- Chapter 9:
- Get Over Stage Fright
- Chapter 10:
- Style Your Talk
- Chapter 11:
- Create Stunning Slides
Part 4: Finishing touches
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Appear polished and poised on presentation day in front of any audience. You’ll learn how to finesse Q&A sessions, handle tough audiences, and attract audiences to your talk.
CHAPTERS
- Chapter 12:
- Finesse Q&A Sessions
- Chapter 13:
- Handle Heckers and Tough Audiences
- Chapter 14:
- Prep for Presentation Day
- Chapter 15:
- Promote Your Talk
Part 5: Special talk formats
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Leverage your talks and increase their reach. Learn how to adapt your presentation for different formats and online mediums, plus attract a wider audience.
CHAPTERS
- Chapter 16:
- Lightning Talks
- Chapter 17:
- Long-Form Talks
- Chapter 18:
- Panels
- Chapter 19:
- Webinars and Podcasts
BONUS MATERIAL: Becoming a meeting maven
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Get buy-in from your boss and teammates, even if they've said no before! You’ll learn how to present requests and proposals at meetings to get what you want like more vacation time or persuade your team to pursue a multimillion-dollar initiative.
INTERACTIVE BUNDLE: Video tutorials
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Each chapter has references to the interactive bundle, which contains video tutorials and additional resources to turn you into a presentation pro!
“I implemented a few of their Q&A strategies in a recent talk, and was amazed at how it made the audience more engaged.”Tammy Butow Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Bonus: Advanced Audio Trainings
We interviewed expert speakers and coaches, and asked them to reveal advanced strategies to help you take your speaking to the next level.
You can listen to a few of the interviews below for free. The rest are part of the Pro Package.
Manage your accent and use it to your advantage
As a native Spanish speaker, Lucila has learned how to embrace her accent and not let it stop her from presenting & pitching. She'll share how she got started and how you can too.
Lucila Campos
CEO & Founder, Funnely
How To Speak About Your Work Authentically
Denise starts by sharing why speaking complements the work you do, and is especially important if you run your own business or consultancy. She also shares strategies for marketing yourself to conference planners, how to speak about your work authentically and fearlessly, and helpful tips on how to negotiate your speaker fee.
Listen to the full interview below:
Denise Jacobs
Speaker and Author
Attract more customers and talented employees
Claire will teach you why it's important for CEOs & Founders to speak in public. She'll also show you how speaking in public helps attract customers and recruit employees, and how to present your product and company without sounding like you’re selling from the stage.
Claire Lew
CEO, Know Your Company
Champion Ideas That Move People To Take Action
Holley believes that everyone can be a confident communicator by being thoughtful and intentional about his/her messaging and purpose. Holley will teach you how to understand and engage with your audience, improve communication on teams, and champion your ideas to compel people to take action.
Listen to the full interview below:
Holley Murchison
Founder of Oratory Glory
Develop a vibrant presence
Elissa believes everyone is capable of having a vibrant presence, even those who are introverted or shy. She helps public speakers become more attune to the energy in their bodies, so they can open up pathways for confident and easy communication that previously seemed impossible.
Listen to the full interview below:
Elissa Weinzimmer
Voice & Movement Coach
Deliver Killer Keynotes
Julia will share tips for how to calm pre-speech nerves and improve audience connection, and get over your concern about being an "expert". She'll also show you how to structure stories that will appeal to your audience, and handle feedback you receive.
Julia Wojnar
Founder, Unleash Your Presence
What readers are saying about
Present!
"Never has there been a one-stop shop for all these different interesting tidbits. Not only that, the book also has lots of real-life examples that are helpful."
A self-described introvert, Heather definitely gets nervous speaking in front of people, but she overcomes this with a strong conviction that she is helping every person in her audience by empowering them to learn new things.
Read more >
Heather Tovey
Web Developer
"If you have passion for something, the thing that becomes urgent is to share this passion. You want to speak about why this is important to you."
After watching a recording of one of his talks, Sebastian realized that even though there was nothing terribly wrong, there was still room for improvement. Sebastian picked up Present! looking to find help in reaching the next level in his talks.
Read more >
Sebastian Gębski
Software Engineer Manager, Technical Architect
"Public speaking is like chess. It feels very simple, but the nuances of execution can be challenging and it takes practice."
Therese recommends reading Present! because it explores the personal experiences of the authors, but in a way that makes them generally applicable. Also, she has found it useful to help her find an area where she can feel comfortable, practice it, and then refer back to it if she wants to do something different...
Read more >
Therese Pocrnick
Agile Coach/Solution Architect
"When I read your book, I felt like you read my mind. I wish I had it a year ago when I started out. I've seen a lot of people volunteer, go up on stage, and do so badly because they just didn't prepare. They're not aware of all the things that go into the preparation."
Yash Prabhu is an Android developer who leads a team of four at DramaFever — a Warner Bros. company that specializes in streaming international media content. In late 2014, Yash first tried her hand at public speaking, giving a five-minute lightning talk. She thought, "Hey, it's only five minutes—I can do that!" She quickly realized that even those five minutes required a lot of preparation!
Read more >
Yash Prabhu
Senior Software Engineer & Android Team Lead
Ready to conquer your fears and take your speaking to the next level?
SOFTCOVER
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- 279-page Soft Cover Book
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If our guide doesn’t help you become a better speaker, we'll happily refund your money!
Want to buy multiple copies for your team?
Learn about volume discountsInvite Karen & Poornima to speak to your employees
WHAT YOUR TEAM WILL LEARN
Help your team become better communicators and presenters. Karen and Poornima will share the best strategies and techniques from Present! and address questions and concerns your employees have.
WHAT A TALK INCLUDES
- 1 hour in-person talk onsite at your company
- 100 copies of the book Present!
While there are a lot of public speaking coaches out there, employees at Adobe found Karen and Poornima's talk immensely helpful because it was targeted at helping people speak on technical topics. Karen and Poornima shared techniques that were relevant to beginner and intermediate level speakers. Attendees learned how to present technical concepts to an audience at varying experience levels, manage stage fright, come up with a topic, submit a proposal, and deliver a polished presentation.Ellen Vanderwilt Senior Brand Strategist
Unlike most advice on public speaking, which tends to be focused on general best practices, Karen and Poornima's is targeted to address the needs of a speaker who is interested in presenting technical concepts. The employees at Atlasslan enjoyed learning how to convey technical concepts to audiences at various levels, and from different cultural backgrounds. I'd highly recommend this talk for beginner to intermediate level speakers.Amanda Bruemmer Senior Talent Development Manager
I've heard Karen and Poornima speak many times, and I always learn something new. I implemented a few of their Q&A strategies in a recent talk, and was amazed at how it made the audience more engaged.Tammy Butow Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Employees at Altera (now part of Intel) wanted to know how to present technical concepts in an easy-to-understand manner to customers (internal and external), and when training and onboardlng their teammates. Hence, we chose to have Karen and Poornima speak to them. Karen and Poornima's talk was perfectly targeted at beginner to intermediate level technical speakers. Attendees learned how to manage stage fright, present technical concepts, and deliver a polished presentation.Stephanie Lum Global Diversity & Inclusion
Epiphany Green
KuisineIt was the most informative and successful speaking engagement that I have ever attended! I was able to take notes and utilized some of the tips that you gave us in a pitch the same night. Not only did my power pose relax me, but upon completion of my pitch I received several high-fives and praises compared to the pitch I had done one week previously. I cannot express how helpful your talk was.Kasey Kenkins
