Presenting at DevLearn: Six Things I'm Glad I Did, and Two Things I'll Do Next Time

This year I achieved a huge professional goal by presenting a session at DevLearn in Las Vegas. It's a few weeks later, and I'm still feeling fuzzy inside about it. It was by far one of the most valuable experiences I've ever had in L&D.

I've always seen connections between my personal hobbies and what I do for a living. And after years of being told that my interests were "too niche" or "not relatable" or "just plain strange," it was great to be able to connect video games and gaming culture with project teams, psychological safety, change management, and design thinking for my colleagues and peers. More than that, it was great to do it in a professional setting where someone had actually said, "Yes, that sounds like a valuable use of time."

I have never felt so cool in my entire professional life.

After I got home, I started thinking about my experiences and what I would do next time if I could. As a first-time presenter, I think this exercise is important to my growth, especially because I want to improve. In that spirit, here are the things I'm glad I did and the things I want to do next time. I certainly hope there's a next time.

I'm glad …

1. I frontloaded my research and reading. I was covering topics that had already been thoroughly researched and casting them in a specific context. By reading and absorbing research papers and articles before I started writing my presentation, I was able to make better connections and create better examples that helped bridge my content to my audience.
2. I set milestones and deadlines for myself … and kept them. I held myself accountable for completing big pieces of the puzzle by certain dates, such as researching topics, drafting sections, editing, a dry run (eek!), building graphics, and gathering screenshots. By the time the week of the conference approached, I was down to making final tweaks and adjustments. That was exactly where I wanted to be.
3. I asked for feedback on an imperfect draft. It's easy to convince yourself that what you've written is fantastic if you never show it to anyone. But this wasn't that kind of presentation. I wanted to make it valuable, entertaining, and insightful on a level I had never done before. When I realized that the best way for me do that was to actually deliver a draft of it, I was a little terrified. Thankfully, I work with awesome people, and fifteen(!) of them were willing to watch me deliver a dry run and give me feedback on it.  
4. I listened to the feedback. That dry run was rough. It was about 20 minutes too long and some sections fell flat. As I was delivering it, I was making mental notes about what I needed to change, but my audience saw so much more than I did. On the survey I sent them afterwards, they gave me presentation notes, content suggestions, encouragement, and pointed out things they liked and things that didn't connect well. I was able to create a much better presentation and hone in on the elements that were the most successful based on what they told me.
5. I got in the right headspace before I presented. Music has been a constant in my life. It helps me focus, find my groove, and boost my confidence. That's why I couldn't believe it when I checked my bag 45 minutes before my session and realized I did not have my earbuds. I had been so busy prepping for the day that I'd forgotten to grab them from my hotel room ... which was on the opposite end of the Mirage from the conference space. The Mirage is a huge hotel, but I know myself; this was something I needed. I hurried to my hotel room and grabbed the earbuds. Thanks to the 10 minute walk back to the conference listening to K/DA and BLACKPINK, I got to my session room ready to set up and in the best headspace I could be. 
6. I had a fly-by with impostor syndrome. The night before I was scheduled to present, I was suddenly gripped by the absolute certainty that I shouldn't be there, that my topic was ridiculous, and that I was about to embarrass myself horribly. Every negative thought I could have, I did have. I whipped open my laptop at midnight, desperate to find the fatal flaws in my presentation that I was suddenly convinced existed. Luckily, I had been up since 5am and I was too tired to focus, so after a few minutes I wearily closed my laptop and went to sleep. I'm glad this happened to me because when I woke up the next morning (presentation and confidence intact) I realized every invalidating thought I had the night before was refuted by the concrete evidence of the actual work I had put in to make that presentation as valuable and thoughtful as possible. It was a great reminder that only I know how hard I've worked on something, and it's my job to remind myself.

Next time …

1. I'll connect with my network more. This past year, I expanded my network enormously. I attended virtual conferences, connected with people on Twitter and LinkedIn, and generally developed a good foundation for being part of the wider L&D community. Doing this was valuable in general, but it also led me to resources and people that boosted my research and focused my efforts for my DevLearn presentation. I'm looking forward to doubling down on that. 
2. I may go deeper on a smaller topic. My presentation topic included some pretty big areas of focus, and that meant I had to limit the amount of time I spent on each one. This was great for trimming down my presentation and making sure I included only the the most important information I could find that was directly pertinent to my overall session topic. It also made it very clear that I could have picked one of the three major topics I covered (psychological safety, change management and design thinking), and proposed a presentation on that topic alone. It was good to see that the possibilities are out there. I'm looking forward to exploring them.

No matter what, I'll still be proud of my very first conference presentation.

I dedicated the year 2021 to focusing on stretch goals and doing things that scare me. Presenting at DevLearn fell neatly into both of those categories. I learned a lot about the L&D community, my topics and myself through this experience. I got to talk about topics I'm interested in, make connections, and, I think, contribute something to the profession and community that I love.

 

And seriously, I have never felt so cool in my entire professional life.