Technically Speaking Anniversary & 2016 Speaking Goals

A year ago Chiu-Ki and I met up in Copenhagen and decided to start a newsletter about public speaking in tech. Technically Speaking has been going ever since. We’ve learned a bunch about speaking  (of course!) which we’ve shared with our readers. But also about running a sustainable project, and (gasp!) self promotion.

A year in, 2000 subscribers is in sight, we started getting sponsors for each issue (we’re currently booked out a month in advance), which is great because it turns this from passion-project to sustainable. We’re starting to experiment with branding – our stickers were a hit, and we launched an anniversary tshirt (available until November 24).

I’m really proud of what we’ve done over the last year. The best thing is hearing from people – especially women – that it’s encouraged them to speak!

To celebrate, we asked our readers to join us in setting their public speaking goals for 2016. We won’t ask people to do anything we won’t do ourselves, so here are mine:

• Six talks (currently 3 planned, 1 in negotiation).
• Speak on three continents (2 planned).
• Give a keynote.

Some of my 2015 public speaking highlights:

• 14 total.
• 5 countries, 2 continents.
• Maximum in one month: 6 (a bad idea, FYI).
• Breakdown: 3 CfP / 3 private / 6 invited / 2 workshops.
• Prepped a more technical talk (unit testing FTW!)
• Gave my first workshop.
• Moderated my first panel.
• Did an unstructured Q&A on a technical topic.
• Returned to a conference I spoke at in 2014 and gave the sequel to that talk.
• Closed day 1 of the last @NSConf.
• Closed day 1 of a conference I would never have thought I’d speak at (thanks, @jsconfeu!)
• Stuck to my values and refused to speak at an event without a proper Code of Conduct (OK maybe this was more of a lowlight).

Things I’ve written about speaking this year:

• The Woman Speaker Slot
• The Year of Being Visible
• Giving a Talk and a Workshop – in Two Days
• The Story Behind The Newsletter
• Uncomfortable Conversations About Money
• Technically Speaking – From Conference Proposal to Submit
• Panel Discussions and Dissent
• Codes of Conduct and Worthless Manfeelings
• Moderating My First Panel
• On Recent Events

Thanks to everyone who had me speak this year, and so much love to all the people who I got to hang out with again or meet for the first time. I’m really excited for what I’ll do as a speaker in 2016, and what Chiu-Ki and I will do together and with our community. I hope you’ll join us, if you haven’t already, and subscribe.