Mother always said “If you don’t have something good to say about someone, then don’t talk about them”. I wish I had listened to her. What about our profession? Do you have something to say about it? Can you improve it by talking about it? Can you degrade it by talking about? At Aquaterra we are talking about ways to improve our profession. We have decided to move from a passive role to an active role. This transition will impact many facets of our business. One very import opportunity to improve the profession is to share what you know with your peers.
I often provide seminar instruction to groups of my peers. It may be a meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Architects, the Solid Waste Association of North America, or some group of that nature. When I was younger, I looked on these opportunities with great trepidation. I think that early on, my problem was vanity. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be impressive! Well guess what; I was right. My initial efforts to present to others were feeble attempts to convey the message that I was smart enough to tell the audience something. BUT, at least they were attempts. With each attempt, I improved in my presentation methods, my self confidence improved, and the focus of my presentations changed from me (and what I knew) to the subject matter. I’m still not real good at it, but I do enjoy it, and I believe that some of the messages that I have attempted to convey have permeated to some extent.
I usually speak about some aspect of the engineering profession that should be reconsidered or scrutinized in some manner. Sometimes it is a simple presentation of basic concepts of geotechnical engineering. Whenever I speak to an audience, I use the event as a precious opportunity to convey a message that is important to me; then I consider ways to convey the message in a way that will be entertaining to some extent, all the while conveying the message.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the presentation from my perspective is watching the audience feedback during the talk. I typically will be in front of a small group, say 20 to 50 people, so it is easy to watch the reactions of my audience. Even subject matter that is interesting to the group (as evidenced by something like a head nod, or a smile) is always combined with the other type of head nod, the fellow falling asleep. I don’t get discouraged, but if more than 10 percent of the audience is going into the sleep mode I know that I need to change things up. I have learned to use this feedback to forge the direction of the presentation. Much like a quarterback may come to the line of scrimmage and change the play based upon the defensive strategy. It is invigorating to do this.
Enough about me; I said all that to set the stage for us all to consider the need to share our knowledge. At Aquaterra, we have established a part of our mission to exceed the expectations of our peers, and we should be giving back to our profession in whatever way we can. A very obvious way is in sharing our specialized knowledge and the benefit of our experience with our profession. Everybody who reads this should personally consider a way that they could do that. We all have specialized knowledge or experience that could benefit our company or our profession. Look for those opportunities. Most times, they won’t come to you. Instead you should let others know that you would like to speak, provide a paper, or whatever method that you can share with the group.
Many people in Aquaterra already do that. As a result we can be proud that Aquaterra is already working to improve our profession in this manner. Let me refute the misgivings that others who do not actively make professional presentations may have that keep us from doing this.
Misgiving No. 1 - I have nothing significant to talk about.
You are probably selling yourself short if you think that is true. If you have a significant amount of experience, think about what that experience has taught you that could benefit others, with less experience. If your experience is not vast, you may have specialized education or training that would benefit your peers. Share something important from that educational background. If you do not have either a strong experience background or specialized education, perhaps you should set your sights on a subject matter that interests you and would benefit your peers, and plan to acquire the knowledge and/or experience that you need to present on the subject in the near future.
Don’t think that you must present to a crowd of many people either. If you currently do not speak in this manner, consider opportunities to speak at your local office during a lunch presentation opportunity. Perhaps giving a lunch and learn to the company as we do monthly would work for you.
Misgiving No. 2 €“ No one asks me to present a topic at a conference.
Remember, be active, not passive. So many professional societies and related organizations try very hard to find interesting subjects to present to their peer group. Don’t keep your specialized knowledge a secret. Find a group that would benefit from the topic that you want to share, identify a person responsible for planning this, and volunteer. It is easy to do.
Misgiving No. 3 - I get too nervous to make presentations.
That is an excuse that we all can make from time to time. Go back to what I shared about my early efforts to present. Remember, it is not about you, and shift the focus to your subject matter. That could remove the stage fright right away. Go about the task of being confident that you have a topic that is interesting and that you understand well, rehearse the presentation so that you will not find yourself out on a limb, and then do your best to get your point across. Here is a tip. Rehearse the presentation so that you have it memorized, then try to ad lib to some degree, with the confidence of knowing that you can go right back to the script if you are in trouble. The mere shift of the focus from you and how you will do to the subject to how it will be understood will remove this stage fright issue.
If you still can’t get over that fear of public speaking (some folks just can’t do it), consider alternative means. The internet has opened up a new opportunity for us to share our knowledge, and Aquaterra has a blog space that would be perfect for various presentations that you may share with others. Get with our IT folks and figure out what you would need to do to post a blog, and that is a start at sharing your knowledge with your peers. Maybe your subject would be more appropriate to Aquaterra only. If so, we can post it on an internal location that we all could see and even discuss if appropriate.
Misgiving No. 4 €“ I can’t take the time to prepare a presentation.
This is the more difficult one to refute. We are all busy, and much is asked of our time. What I can say to encourage you here is: Sometimes we need to set a priority to meet an important objective. When I encounter the need to go above and beyond the time that I feel I can give, I find myself thinking back to my college days. My professors didn’t see any problem with expecting a tremendous effort to accomplish a project, prepare for a final exam or something like that. They didn’t go confer with my other professors to be sure that I wasn’t spending too much time on school work. None of them said to us “whoever has to work to pay your tuition can skip this assignment, because you probably don’t have enough time.” However, many folks didn’t take the time to do it, and they didn’t pass the course. That is what it takes. Sometimes we must give it the old college try to get an important assignment completed. Developing that first presentation would be such an important assignment.
Misgiving No. 5 €“ I don’t know how to prepare a presentation.
You may have a great topic for a group that would really benefit from the discussion, the confidence that public speaking will not be an issue, and you are willing to invest the time, but you may not have a good understanding of the way to convey the message. Today, that problem is not as difficult as in the past. With computer software that makes putting a professional looking presentation together as easy as typing, that learning curve is short. Aquarterra has many people who are well-versed in such methods. If this is your misgiving, find one of these people, and they will share their knowledge with you. (Hey, that could be a good presentation to give: How to prepare a presentation!)
Now, here is the personal encouragement. There are several very good things that you stand to derive from your step into the arena. I have found an immense sense of satisfaction in my efforts to prepare and present on various topics. If you want to really learn something, teach others about it. You will come out of the effort with a great deal of confidence in your knowledge of the subject matter, and you will derive a great sense of accomplishment. I have often encouraged others to make talks of this nature, and, in that encouragement, I tell them that when they stand before the audience, they are the expert until proven otherwise. By that I mean, when you are at the podium, you bring a credential of knowledge with you, kind of like what the Wizard of Oz gave to the scarecrow. Step up and earn it, and the audience leaves the meeting knowing that you are an expert.
OK, so now you know that I have asked you to consider improving our profession by finding opportunities to share with your peer groups about subjects that are important to us. If you have read this far, don’t close this document and forget about it. Take a minute (60 seconds), and think about a means for you to accomplish this request. Do you have a subject that would be beneficial? If not, can you set about the task of developing one? Can you get past the fear of public speaking by focusing on the subject? Can you set aside a little extra time to develop the presentation? If you don’t have the ability to develop the presentation on your own, can you get some help you put it together?
Do the best that you can to get a “yes” answer to these questions. It is the next step in your professional development, and I guarantee it will be a rewarding experience. I look forward to hearing it.
