mindgraffiti

I know things have been pretty quiet on this site. I have been training a new person and attempting to keep up with busy season. My co-worker and I were invited to participate in the My Success Event this year, so I’m pulling together materials that will help me demonstrate my job and responsibilities.

A description of the My Success Event and its goals:

Designed to attract high school sophomores, the My Success Event aims to help retain as many young people as possible to meet the workforce needs of employers in the St. Joseph / Northwest Missouri area. To achieve this goal, the event will help students discover multiple possible career paths and provide area businesses an opportunity to promote quality jobs.

I used to scoff at the idea that I would need speaking and presentational skills. My train of thought used to be, “I’m going to be a web developer. Why would I ever have to give a speech? It’s not like I’m working at Google! And I’ll never have to talk to a customer, so why would I ever have to do a presentation?” Now I understand. Thanks to my past laziness in speech and classroom presentations, I have to work twice as hard at it today.

Don’t fall for the same stupidity as I did. I have been asked to give presentations for students in college and high school; asked to give a speech at an Angus event; asked to give impromptu speeches to clients who regularly tour the Angus Productions Inc. building; and I have even been asked to give long technical explanations over the phone to (gasp!) clients.

Give me a new server-side language or web technology any day. It is by far the easier task when compared to public speaking. Learning to speak clearly, offering concise examples and projecting confidence are skills I have been forced to work the hardest on, for the last two years. Who knew?

Popularity: 96% [?]