Diego Berrueta

I often found myself delivering presentations and talks. Some time ago, I used to talk amateurishly on Free Software, mostly for the general public, even to people untrained on computers. I made several of these presentations, and I keep track of them. These opportunities have been a great training and have given me lots of experience. Some people is afraid of public speaking. Even when I did my first presentation, I wasn't afraid. Nowadays, I've learned to be confident and relaxed. I know I'm not a great speaker, but I can do a decent job, even I'm learning to deliver presentations in English.

Nowadays, I often deliver presentations, but no longer as an amateur. Today, when I speak, I know I'm the image of my employer. I make efforts to communicate effectively, but also to create a nice impression on the audience. As I used to do in the first years, I like to spend sometime to properly prepare my presentations in advance, to write down every word of my speech. I usually essay several times. Unfortunately, sometimes I don't have time to do things "by the book", so I've also learned to act without a script.

One thing I do is to watch and learn from others. There are some people I admire for their excellence with presentations, and sometimes I watch them on tape. Of course, one of those is Steve Jobs (I blogged about him before, do you remember the "reality distorsion field"?). I also like the presentation by Al Gore in his movie, although both Gore and Jobs play in a different league, with lots of resources at the tip of their fingerprints. Today I discovered another great speaker, Lawrence Lessig. His method is daring, and it has been named after him. I think I wouldn't be able to reproduce his style, but anyway, it is very interesting to learn something new. Anyway, watch him on stage and judge by yourself.