The Latest: Lessons From Behind the Podium 🎤

👋 Welcome to the February edition of The Latest, a deep dive into the public speaking nuggets I’ve gained after 25 years as a teacher, presenter, and workshop facilitator. 

• This month, I explore what is front of mind as I engage in public speaking across a broad range of platforms: Leading team meetings on Zoom, teaching or facilitating a workshop, participating in panels, being a podcast guest, and my latest passion — keynote speaker.

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🙋‍♀️ Lesson 1: People Learn From Stories 

Ever tell a joke and feel like it falls flat, or you miss the punch line? That’s me. Every time. So when I tell you it’s important to tell a story during your public speaking, I share this with absolutely a deep understanding of how hard it is to get the timing, cadence, and details right on a story or joke. Here’s what I’ve tried to help make it easier.

• Ask people to imagine themselves in a situation that ties to your topic. Walk them through a guided thought process – through their own story. This is how I started my keynote at the National Conference on Student Assessment last summer, one of my best presentations ever. 

• Keep stories in your back pocket. Have a couple of examples for each main point that you will make in your presentation. Make sure that they fit your audience, but mix it up to keep things fresh. 

• Keep it real with some self-disclosure. Tell some stories about yourself, because people want to get to know you. Not all the stories need to be about you, though, so keep it humble and balanced. 

• Share stories from others, but with care. De-identify names and any place-revealing details for confidentiality. You can even say that you are protecting privacy, and are giving the key info but people should not read into things in ways that you don’t want them to.

📲 Lesson 2: Podcasts Can Be a Growth Experience

I love me a good podcast. They keep us company during a long commute or just when we’re trying to get those extra steps in. As a podcast guest, however, I have learned a lot about the nuances of what it takes to be a good podcast host, as well as how to prepare for the recording experience. (The Uplift with Carole Chabries was amazing!)

• Absolutely send the questions ahead of time. While it’s important to have a live and free-flowing conversation, the preparation (especially with interpreters) requires a road map for where the host hopes to lead the dialog. 

• Consider making a recording (from video) that can be uploaded to YouTube. I know that my audiences access information using a variety of modalities. For those who want to know more about me and the topics I cover, both the audio and video (and transcripts!) can make a huge difference. 

• 30 minutes is a sweet spot. Podcast length that is more than 30 minutes of actual conversation, at most 40, seems to be an ideal length of time to explore deeper issues and have the audience learn both about you and your work.

💻 Lesson 3: Use Simple But Powerful Slides

You’ve heard the complaint: Death by PowerPoint. It’s the sinking feeling when someone launches into their presentation and there is a slide packed to the gills with single-spaced text. What I’ve learned:

• One main concept per slide. My slides have become more and more focused over the years. There are some basic ideas I try to convey on a slide, but the rest is me, sharing and providing examples for people about the basic idea. 

• Create your slide “brand” with a standard set of slides with various layouts. This makes it far easier to prepare your slides because your structure, color scheme, and layout are ready for you. I have a slide brand for the courses I teach, another for National Disability Center meetings, and then a third for presentations about disability, ableism, and accessibility. 

• Use template slides. The things you always repeat — “time for a discussion”, Q & A, or even just “thank you!” — are much easier with standard slides you can just copy and paste. If there is content or a definition you use often, make a template slide for that as well. 

• I keep the text on my slides to a minimum. I use the slide notes to provide written comments that I can use for sending out information to people in advance or to help me with preparation. 

✅ Lesson 4: Tap the Power of Your Own Accessibility Guide 

When I started to get really busy with different public speaking opportunities, it became absolutely necessary to put a “green room” guide on how to think about accessibility when booking me as an event contributor or speaker. I (re)discovered some nuances during the process of creating mine. 

• There is no one-size-fits-all for access. The people, the format, and the venue all make a difference. When asked what access means, I usually respond with “It depends.”

• Making the guide is empowering. For someone who is in the public eye, having confidence and feeling secure in the accessibility of an event is huge. The guide helped me feel stronger as a disabled presenter, “taking up the space” that I need to do my best. 

• Event coordinators can share the load. There’s a lot of explaining that needs to be done in some of these event-planning meetings. Having an online resource that everyone can read and refer to cuts down on the back and forth. 

🧡 Lesson 5: Stay Connected to Your Home Base 

Every month, I do several presentations or speaking gigs that are for the good people here at The University of Texas at Austin. This ranges from giving a presentation to the students in my department to providing a workshop on the power of collaboration in research. While it can sometimes feel like a lot when you are also doing presentations on the road or with external groups, I find that it helps me stay grounded. What I’ve learned:

• I accept at least some requests from student journalists. They need to practice and it helps keep me on my toes! The topics are always related to current events that push me to be connected to what young people are thinking about. 

• I invite my collaborators to join me. Especially when sharing a topic that is part of a collaborative project, I make sure there are learning and sharing opportunities for my students and colleagues. 

• Amplify the local work on social media. Part of what I try to bring is the value of my online community to amplify the work of the local organizations I support through my presentations and workshops.

🙌 And Finally…Q1 and Q2 Are Off and Running! 

Here’s a sampling of where you’ll find me this spring. 

• Online Disability and Access presentation for the Disability Employee Resource Group at the Center for Reproductive Rights

• Deaf Capo screening and Q&A at the Rehabilitation Psychology Conference to celebrate Disability in the Arts

• Faculty guest for brown bag lunch for the students in the Health Science Scholars Program at UT Austin

• Hosting Townhall Events with the National Disability Center for Student Success — an exciting opportunity to learn about this new IES center and its community outreach!

• The American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting is a key mentorship space both for me and my students. I am looking forward to reconnecting with scholars across many disciplines! The program is open for guests to review. Check it out!

• The National Conference on Student Assessment is a great way to engage around accessibility and assessment issues. This is at the heart of the work I do with accessible standardized assessment on many task forces across the country. 

📆 Booking now for Q3 and Q4 2024!

I love being a part of critical conversations around disability, ableism, and accessibility.

• Do you need a speaker or facilitator for an Employee Resource Group, conference, or podcast? Reach out, and let’s see what we can build together.