Category: Training & Community

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Training & Community

Speak Effectively At Conferences By Sheen Brisals

SpeakEffectively

In this post, I review the 2025-04 early release of Sheen Brisals’ self-published 2025 book Speak Effectively At Conferences.

Table of Contents

Introduction

This year I’ve hit double digits in my speaker profile (I know, right – how did that happen?! – Ed). And, as with my tech career, I’m always looking for ways to improve my public speaking skills.

The internet is full of advice and suggestions, but I often wonder if they’re valid and trustworthy. I also ask questions of myself. Have I picked up bad habits? Am I practising my own advice?

So when I found out about Speak Effectively At Conferences it seemed like a good investment. After reading it, I want to reflect on my expectations and the insights gained from the book. Before I dive in, let’s take a moment to learn about the author.

The Author

Sheen Brisals is an experienced engineering leader with a career beginning in the early 1990s, including roles at Oracle, Lego and, most recently, Sky. He is an international speaker, an O’Reilly author and an AWS Serverless Hero.

The Book

From the Speak Effectively At Conferences blurb:

Speak Effectively At Conferences…goal is to make everything about speaking at conferences known to you. It aims to familiarize you with the entire process, grow your comfort level, raise your confidence, and transform you into an effective speaker!

Speak Effectively At Conferences is published on Leanpub, a self-publishing platform where authors can release their work in stages and get feedback. It is currently available at a suggested price of $20, with discounts for students and low-income readers.

As of June 2025, Speak Effectively At Conferences is an early-release eBook. I am reviewing version 10 of the book, which was published on 11 April 2025. The book is still undergoing editing and review, and the content will be updated as this process continues. The final release will also include page numbers and an ePub version.

Motivations

This section examines my motivations for buying and reading Speak Effectively At Conferences.

Boost My Knowledge & Skills

So far, I’ve been very fortunate to have access to some great speaking-focused resources, such as:

Speak Effectively At Conferences offered an opportunity to validate skills and learn from an expert. Sheen is renowned for his speaking expertise, and his book provided a great chance to explore his knowledge and insights.

Build My Confidence

Speaking of knowledge and skills, anyone reviewing my speaker profile, community involvement and career history might conclude that I am reasonably confident in using and applying them.

The reality is quite different. While I can claim to be more confident now than I was when I started this mad journey, there’s still much to work on as part of a pursuit that’s essentially endless.

As I connect with more speakers at various events, I’ve noticed that managing confidence and anxiety is a factor at all experience levels. Speakers often enjoy sharing tips with one another, so I was eager to discover what suggestions Speak Effectively At Conferences could provide. Ultimately, it could at least confirm whether others share my current habits and strategies.

Define A Roadmap

Currently, I find myself in an unexpected position as a speaker. On one hand, I can’t really call myself a new speaker anymore as my speaker events list is now in double digits. On the other hand, I don’t feel that I have enough experience to call myself an experienced speaker.

I’m seeking resources to help me advance to the next level (whatever that is). But I find myself struggling to identify what that looks like and entails. What should I measure and develop? What separates my counterproductive habits from my unique selling points?

Ultimately, I don’t know what I don’t know. Well, Sheen does! My hope with Speak Effectively At Conferences was that it would share some of his decades of experience and expertise, and might guide me towards answering some of these questions.

Book Review

In this section, I’ll summarise the various parts of Speak Effectively At Conferences and examine what stood out in each.

Part 1: Your Knowledge

Part 1 of Speak Effectively At Conferences begins before any words are spoken or slide decks are produced. It explores the historical significance of public speaking and its role in supporting basic human instincts like public gathering and group learning. Sheen examines how public speaking fosters knowledge, skills and trust for both the audience and the speaker. Additionally, the section addresses common mental barriers that new speakers may encounter.

Having built up the case for speaking, Sheen examines how to build credibility as a speaker. He explores several approaches to this, offering support and guidance on getting started. Not everyone enjoys writing or can film content, so this broad overview is a valuable addition.

Part 2: The Stage

Part 2 of Speak Effectively At Conferences focuses on the various aspects of the conference ecosystem. Sheen’s expertise is immediately apparent as he divides conferences into four (Four! – Ed) distinct groupings and examines the differences between them. These groupings all make sense – I’d just never thought about conferences in those terms before!

Sheen also explores various speaking venues, both common and uncommon. I can already tick a few off my list, including a warehouse and a cinema. However, I think I’m still a way off speaking in a ballroom!

Part 2 also examines the facilities and technology available to speakers, ranging from audio and visual equipment to private and backstage facilities. These tools vary depending on the venue – for example, don’t expect a teleprompter at a user group event. However, the right tech can make or break a session – something I can personally attest to, having been an attendee, speaker and stage manager (kinda – Ed)! I now have a persistent mistrust of HDMI cables.

Finally, Sheen comments on some of the perks of public speaking. I can imagine he gets asked about this a lot! Some of his experiences match mine – I’ve been invited to two speaker meals so far, although my nerves got the better of me for the first one! This section emphasises the themes of humility and modesty from Part 1 while considering these perks. Ultimately, public speaking isn’t about you; it’s about your audience.

Part 3: Content is King; Context is Queen

Part 3 of Speak Effectively At Conferences focuses on the lifecycle of a session, from creation to rehearsal. It begins with idea generation, curation and development. I use my Second Brain for this, and it appears that Sheen does something similar!

Then there’s a whole chapter dedicated to submitting talks, which is probably the star of the entire book for me. The Call For Paper (CFP) process has a fair amount of mystery attached to it, and rightfully so as the process should be as fair as possible. Sheen has been on both sides of the CFP process – both as applicant and reviewer – and the chapter fully reflects his wealth of experience.

Sheen also discusses how to handle CFP rejections, so don’t approach this chapter expecting hacks or a checklist for success! This is a common experience for most speakers – indeed, my Data Pipelines and Step On It sessions currently have rejection rates of 30% and 40%, respectively. So this is a thoughtful addition.

Part 3 then focuses on designing the talk itself. Sheen discusses essential elements such as the structure, flow and composition of a presentation. He then moves on to exploring slide design choices, offering creative tips and addressing common pitfalls. Part 3 ends by examining the rehearsal process. I personally have strong opinions about rehearsals that are built around another mantra of mine:

“The audience is making time for you, so make time for them.”

So seeing Sheen’s approach is very welcome. It seems we both rehearse in hotels!

20241002 HotelSmall

It was hard to summarise this part of Speak Effectively At Conferences – there’s loads of great advice that I don’t want to spoil or misrepresent! I already see this part as the one I’ll return to most often. Most of my bookmarks led to pages here, and the advice is credible, informative and relatable.

Part 4: The Delivery

Part 4 of Speak Effectively At Conferences focuses on the act of delivering sessions. It begins by focusing on physical stance, breathing, and vocalisation, followed by exercises for mentality and concentration.

Sheen then turns his attention to preparation. This is an area with many facets, ranging from the technical and personal to the administrative. Drawing on his own experiences, Sheen offers guidance that helps readers identify what is most relevant to their current needs.

Finally, Sheen emphasises the importance of delivering a compelling session by sharing strategies for engaging the audience and improving stage presence. He offers tips for audience interaction, including how to set expectations, a framework for addressing audience questions and, equally importantly, managing off-stage interactions with the audience. This aspect often discourages many individuals from speaking, so it is reassuring to see it included.

Part 5: Life As A Speaker

Part 5 of Speak Effectively At Conferences discusses what happens after the screens go dark and the audience departs. Sheen explores themes of reflection and introspection, focusing on recognising both strengths and areas for improvement. This section also discusses feedback, highlighting what speakers can offer to the organisers and what they can receive from attendees. Learning how to give and receive feedback is an important skill, and it is an area that I need to develop.

To close, Sheen explains how he organises and shares his content. This is essential for both current projects and past materials. A well-structured and reliable warm storage system is easy to navigate, simple to access and share and effective for version control. Additionally, a legacy storage system serves as a valuable and robust knowledge repository, is easy to back up and provides guidance for the development of future content.

Thoughts

In this section, I share my thoughts on the book and how it aligns with my motivations for reading it. As the book is currently subject to change, I may revisit some of these sections in the future as needed.

Structure & Scope

The structure of Speak Effectively At Conferences is logical and well thought out, covering the entire lifecycle of a session from initial development to final retrospective. I found certain chapters particularly interesting, and they were easy to find and complemented the surrounding content. I’ve placed several bookmarks throughout the book that I’m already revisiting now, and will continue to refer to in the coming months and years.

I feel like the book’s title doesn’t do it justice. Speak Effectively At Conferences almost sells the book short, as its advice goes far beyond the conference circuit. People might see this book’s title and think it doesn’t apply to them, but Sheen’s insights are equally valid at meetups, internal presentations and many other social settings. That’s not to say every speaker will benefit from every chapter – some may not aspire to present at re:Invent; others may be content with their idea curation. However, the book’s layout and tone make it easy to find and extract the advice that fits a speaker’s specific needs.

Style & Personality

Sheen’s writing style closely reflects his personality. The book is written in a conversational and approachable manner. Many chapters incorporate Sheen’s real-world experiences, not all of which are positive. This blend of honest and credible advice, alongside an inviting tone, brought many key insights to life for me.

In fact, I found myself mentally reading several sections in his voice. If you’re reading this, Sheen, an audiobook version might be a great idea!

Takeaways & Reflections

Learning about Sheen’s speaking journey has given me valuable perspective and guidance for my own speaking goals. I found myself nodding in agreement in some parts and recognising improvement areas in others.

My main goals as a speaker have always been to improve my communication skills and build my confidence. Speak Effectively At Conferences reaffirms that speaking, like any skill, requires time, practice and a willingness to fail. Sheen’s humility and openness are evident throughout, and his willingness to share his less polished moments with his proud ones makes the book all the more impactful.

Summary

In this post, I reviewed the 2025-04 early release of Sheen Brisals’ self-published 2025 book Speak Effectively At Conferences.

Speak Effectively at Conferences is a valuable resource that offers practical advice for speakers at all levels. Sheen draws on decades of experience to provide practical guidance, whether creating a first presentation or practising a keynote speech. I plan to refer back to it often and am very pleased with my purchase.

Sheen is currently actively working on the book. The final version will be available on Amazon and other booksellers. Follow Sheen’s LinkedIn for the latest developments.

If this post has been useful then the button below has links for contact, socials, projects and sessions:

SharkLinkButton 1

Thanks for reading ~~^~~

Categories
Training & Community

Three Mantras For The Anxious New Speaker

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In this post, I share three mantras for the anxious new speaker and some helpful resources for session development that I’ve used this year.

Table of Contents

Introduction

This year has been a whirlwind! After presenting my first in-person session at AWS Community Summit London in April, I’ve since spoken at user groups, a paid event and even internationally!

This hasn’t come easy for someone as naturally anxious as me. I work procedurally in many areas, which doesn’t lend itself fully to organic and spontaneous pursuits like public speaking.

I use mantras during exercise when I need quick guidance that’s easy to recall, and after London I realised that a similar approach while speaking would calm my nerves and refocus my attention. These mantras have since become invaluable, so now I’ll present them here.

Firstly, I’ll share three mantras that have guided me through developing, presenting, and evaluating my sessions. Following this, I’ll add some helpful resources for session creation, slide deck development and delivery mindset.

Mantras

This section contains three mantras for the anxious new speaker that I’ve used this year.

No One Wants You To Fail

I begin with some imposter syndrome goodness. Public speaking offers rich ammunition for imposter syndrome sufferers, like:

  • “The audience will be full of experts and I don’t belong in front of them.”
  • “No one will enjoy my session or find it useful.”
  • “No one will take me seriously.”

But the reality is very different. Audiences want speakers to succeed because it creates a more enjoyable and informative event, fostering better knowledge sharing and a positive atmosphere.

And it’s not like the session’s content is a secret! Consider delivering a session to a user group. The session’s abstract has likely been seen by a user group leader and several audience members before the doors even open. People know what they are getting into and are choosing to be there!

Audiences want to enjoy and benefit from the session, and they’re often patient, understanding, and forgiving when things don’t go perfectly. They’re not there to criticise or judge – they’re hoping the speaker succeeds and provides value.

AWSUGLeeds

People Are Watching The Slides, Not You

Flashback to April 2024 – my first in-person session at AWS Summit London. I was presenting midway through the day, and my anxiety brain entered high gear while waiting:

  • How should I stand?
  • What should I do with my hands?
  • How often should I look at the audience?
  • OMGOMGOMG

Anxiety brain then fixated on the various keynotes and TED Talks I’ve seen instead of focusing on my session. Great.

Then I had an idea. I started watching the audience. Some people were checking their lanyards and swag bags. Others were glancing at the passing crowds or grabbing a coffee from the nearby Serverlesspresso stand. But most were fully focused on the slides.

No one was fixated on the speaker.

Next, I watched the speaker. They looked up and down, occasionally gesturing. Nothing about their delivery felt like a finely choreographed routine.

In those moments, I realised that I was holding myself to impossibly high standards for my first in-person session. This wasn’t reality TV or theatre. This was a group of enthusiasts with common interests seeking knowledge. The audience wasn’t here to watch me. They were here to watch the slides.

That shift in perspective helped me so much. Without that mantra in April, there’s no way I would have been capable of doing Comsum (a filmed session in front of a paying audience) in September:

Every Minute Is A Victory

I said I use mantras during exercise earlier, and this one is pretty much a straight rip from those. Being a speaker (especially an anxious new speaker!) demands time and energy for tasks like:

  • Developing an abstract, submitting it to a user group or call for papers and awaiting the outcome.
  • Curating and preparing a session, updating and refining a slide deck and practising delivery.
  • Making sure you’re in the right place, at the right time with the right materials. And waiting for the day to arrive!
  • Delivering the session, maintaining flow and addressing audience questions.
  • Evaluating the session, tweaking the content and reflecting personally on the experience.

It would be easy to look at all this, nope out and spend your time elsewhere. So every minute spent on a session, from inception to post-delivery, is a victory.

AWSUGLiverpool

Resources

This section contains some helpful resources for session development.

New Stars Of Data Library

New Stars of Data is an event dedicated to mentoring and promoting new speakers in the Microsoft community. It is run by Ben Weissman and William Durkin, and is supported by a team of experienced speakers. I participated in NSOD6 in 2023.

New Stars Of Data has a Speaker Improvement Library supported by the Microsoft Azure Data Community. This library was invaluable during my New Stars of Data journey, and I still refer to it regularly for guidance and inspiration.

Here are some of my personal favourites from the library:

Cult Of Done

Next, let’s discuss Bre Pettis and Kio Stark’s Cult of Done Manifesto. I have previously written about the Cult Of Done, and actively use it for creative and professional tasks. The following CoD principles relate well to the anxious new speaker:

“Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.”

Cult of Done Manifesto Principle 2

In my experience, a session is never truly finished. Slide optimisations and delivery improvements often become evident during the presentation. Audience questions and comments may prompt revisions. And as technology and the cloud evolve, the session itself may need to change.

Currently, I’ve presented Building And Automating Serverless Auto-Scaling Data Pipelines In AWS five times this year. No two sessions have ever been the same. Each time has essentially been a draft!

“Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.”

Cult of Done Manifesto Principle 4

This is already pretty descriptive – an eloquent version of “fake it till you make it”. To paraphrase Tris Oaten, you’re watching me learn how to construct a session in real-time. You’re watching me learn to present in real-time, and how to submit abstracts, build confidence and answer audience questions in real-time.

This is a continual journey that even seasoned presenters are on. There is no shame in such a journey, so embrace it.

“Done is the engine of more.”

Cult of Done Manifesto Principle 13

Every finished session offers something in exchange. This ranges from improved confidence and skills to increased momentum and drive. And the more abstracts written, the more sessions submitted and the more presentations delivered, the more you build a foundation for better talks, deeper insights, and greater confidence in your abilities.

Note that ‘more’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘more sessions’ here. ‘More’ can mean:

  • Personal growth
  • Networking with fellow enthusiasts and community members.
  • Development opportunities (you never know who’s in the audience!)

I’ll end it here, but many other principles apply. Be sure to check out the full manifesto and Tris’ No Boilerplate video for more insights:

Summary

In this post, I shared three mantras for the anxious new speaker and some helpful resources for session development that I’ve used this year.

Public speaking comes more easily to some than others. I never expected to find myself in this position, and I’m not sure I would have believed anyone who told me this is how 2024 would unfold! Mantras are powerful tools for calming nerves and building confidence, and if these don’t resonate with you then there are plenty of others to explore.

If this post has been useful, check out the button below for links to my contact information, social media, projects, and upcoming sessions:

SharkLinkButton 1

Thanks for reading ~~^~~

Categories
Training & Community

Shark’s Summit Session

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In this post, I discuss my recent Building And Automating Data Pipelines session presented at 2024’s AWS Summit London.

Table of Contents

Introduction

One of my YearCompass 2024 goals was to build a personal brand and focus on my soft skills and visibility. After participating in 2023’s New Stars Of Data 6 event, I wrote some new session abstracts and considered my next move. Then in February I saw Matheus Guimaraes‘ LinkedIn invite to submit sessions for 2024’s AWS Summit London event:

2024 04 09 LinkedInMatheus

I mulled it over, deciding to submit an abstract using my recent WordPress Data Pipeline project. At the very least, it’d be practice for both writing abstracts and pushing myself to submit them.

And that’s where I expected it to end. Until…

2024 04 09 GmailAccept

Just like that, I was heading to the capital again! And this time as a speaker!

My AWS Summit London (ASL) experience was going to be different from my New Stars Of Data (NSOD) one in several ways:

  • While NSOD was virtual, ASL would be in person.
  • I had four months to prepare for NSOD, and five weeks for ASL.
  • My NSOD session was 60 minutes, while ASL would be 30.

So I dusted off my NSOD notes, put a plan together and got to work!

Preparation

This section examines the preparation of the slides and demo for my summit session.

Slides

Firstly, I brainstormed what the session should include from my recent posts. Next, I storyboarded what the session’s sections would be. These boiled down to:

  • Defining the problem. I wanted to use an existing framework for this, ultimately choosing the 4Vs Of Big Data. These have been around since the early 2000’s, and are equally valid today for EDA and IOT events, API requests, logging metrics and many other modern technologies.
  • Examining the AWS services comprising the data pipeline, and highlighting features of each service that relate to the 4Vs.
  • Demonstrating the AWS services in a real pipeline and showing further use cases.

This yielded a rough schedule for the session:

  • 00:00-05:00 Introduction
  • 05:00-10:00 Problem Definition
  • 10:00-15:00 Solution Architecture
  • 15:00-20:00 Demo
  • 20:00-25:00 Summary
  • 25:00-30:00 Questions

Creating and editing the slide deck was much simpler with this in place. Each slide now needed to conform with and add value to its section. It became easier to remove bloat and streamline the wordier slides.

Several slides then received visual elements. This made them more audience-friendly and gave me landmarks to orient myself within the deck. I used AWS architecture icons on the solution slides and sharks on the problem slides. Lots of sharks.

Here’s the finished deck. I regret nothing.

As I was rounding off the slides, the summit agenda was published with the Community Lounge sessions. It was real now!

2024 04 24 AWSSummitSession

Demo

I love demos and was keen to include one for my summit session.

Originally I wanted a live demo, but this needed a good internet connection. It was pointed out to me that an event with thousands of people might not have the best WiFi reception, leading to slow page loads at best and 404s at worst!

So I recorded a screen demo instead. From a technical standpoint, this protected the demo from platform outages, network failures and zero-day bugs. And from a delivery standpoint, a pre-recorded demo let me focus on communicating my message to the audience instead of potentially losing my place, mistyping words and overrunning the allocated demo time.

The demo used this workflow, executed by an EventBridge Schedule:

stepfunctions graph

The demo’s first versions involved building the workflow and schedule from scratch. This overran the time allocation and felt unfocused. Later versions began with a partly constructed workflow. This built on the slides and improved the demo’s flow. I was far happier with this version, which was ultimately the one I recorded.

I recorded the demo with OBS Studio – a free open-source video recording and live-streaming app. There’s a lot to OBS, and I found this GuideRealmVideos video helpful in setting up my recording environment:

Delivery

This section covers the rehearsal and delivery of my AWS summit session.

Rehearsal

With everything in place, it was time to practise!

I had less time to practise this compared to NSOD, so I used various strategies to maximise my time. I started by practising sections separately while refining my notes. This gave all sections equal attention and highlighted areas needing work.

Next, after my success with it last time, I did several full run-throughs using PowerPoint’s Speaker Coach. This went well and gave me confidence in the content and slide count.

2024 04 27 RehersalReportClip

The slide visuals worked so well that I could practise the opening ten minutes without the slides in front of me! This led to run-throughs while shopping, on public transport and even in the queue for the AWS Summit passes.

Probably got some weird looks for that. I still regret nothing.

Practising the demo was more challenging! While the slides were fine as long as I hit certain checkpoints, the demo’s pace was entirely pre-determined. I knew what the demo would do, but keeping in sync with my past self was tricky to master. I was fine as long as I could see my notes and the demo in real-time.

Finally, on the night before I did some last-minute practice runs with the hotel room’s TV:

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On The Day

My day started with being unable to find the ExCel’s entrance! Great. But still better than a 05:15 Manchester train! I got my event pass and hunted for the Community Lounge, only to find my name in lights!

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The lounge itself was well situated, away from potentially distracting stands and walkways but still feeling like an important part of the summit.

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I spent some time adjusting to the space and battling my brewing anxiety. Then Matheus and Rebekah Kulidzan appeared and gave me some great and much-appreciated advice and encouragement! Next, I went for a wander with my randomised feel-good playlist that threw out some welcome bangers:

I watched Yan’s session, paying attention to his delivery and mannerisms alongside his session’s content. After he finished I powered on, signed in and miked up. The lounge setup was professional but not intimidating, and the AWS staff were helpful and attentive. Finally, at noon I went live!

IMG 3907
Photo by Thembile Ndlovu

The session went great! I had a good audience, kept my momentum and hit my section timings. I had a demo issue when my attempt to duplicate displays failed. Disaster was averted by playing the demo on the main screens only!

Finally, my half-hour ended and I stepped off the stage to applause, questions and an unexpected hug!

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Photo by Rebekah Kulidzan

Looking Back

So what’s next?

I was happy with the amount of practice I did, and will continue putting time into this in the coming months. I’ve submitted my summit session to other events, and the more rehearsals I complete the higher my overall standard should get.

I also want to find a more reliable way of showing demos without altering Windows display settings. Changing these settings mid-presentation isn’t the robust solution I thought it was, so I want to find a feature or setting that’ll take care of that.

Finally, I plan to act on advice from Laurie Kirk. She suggested speaking about a day’s events on camera and then watching it back the following day. This highlights development areas and will get me used to speaking under observation.

Summary

In this post, I discussed my recent Building And Automating Data Pipelines session presented at 2024’s AWS Summit London.

When writing my post about the 2022 AWS Summit London event, I could never have known I’d find myself on the lineup a few years later! Tech communities do great jobs of driving people forward, and while this is usually seen through a technical lens the same is true for personal skills.

The AWS Community took this apprehensive, socially anxious shark and gave him time, a platform and an audience. These were fantastic gifts that I’m hugely grateful for and will always remember.

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If this post has been useful then the button below has links for contact, socials, projects and sessions:

SharkLinkButton 1

Thanks for reading ~~^~~