I was never a regular on the SEO/Marketing circuit, but I’ve been lucky enough to give a few presentations at various events over the years. Some were unconferences and small meetups, including Digital People in Peterborough (DPiP). Others were in front of fairly substantial audiences at larger venues.
That all came to a halt in 2020, for obvious reasons. And since then, my family has stayed cautious about large social events, due to the ongoing risks to both the healthier among us, and those who are immuno-suppressed and higher risk. But having gone along to a few smaller gatherings, including DPiP, I decided to volunteer to step in when speakers had to change dates at short notice and a gap in the schedule appeared.
Despite the relatively short notice, I still had a decent amount of time to prepare around my existing work commitments and deadlines. So obviously, I then decided to spend four days being ill, which meant cramming everything into the time left when I’d recovered enough to sit at a computer. Fortunately I managed to finish all my work and have a few hours to put together a presentation lasting 20-40 minutes on ‘the biggest SEO myths: fact or fiction’ (I still need to check it for correct image attribution etc before sharing it online).
That only added to the nerves about speaking in front of people for the first time in more than five years, and also the first time I’d tried presenting in a mask to minimise the risk of airborne infection (we also take a portable HEPA filter with us to lower the risk when eating or drinking, but it has a fairly small range and does make a low noise which might have been picked up by the PA system).
But despite all of that, the talk seemed to go pretty well – I was talking for more than an hour without any issues, had a load of great questions to answer, and I think my teenage son now understands what I do for the first time.
I’ve been reminded why speaking can be great fun as well as a useful way to introduce yourself to people. And also that DPiP is an amazing network and opportunity to try speaking and presenting if you’ve never done it before, get nervous in front of people, or just want to try something out in front of a really welcoming and supportive bunch.
If you’re in Peterborough or the surrounding area, and fancy speaking or just attending the next DPiP meetup on the first Thursday of each month, you can find all the details, here.
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