I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to speak at CodeMash this past week. One thing I’ve noticed is that pretty much every time I speak (regardless of where it is), people will come up to me and offer feedback, advice, etc.

Personally, I really appreciate this. I’ve done my share of speaking over the years (both technical and non-technical), so I don’t think that I’m a bumbling idiot, but I certainly am aware that I have a lot of room for improvement. My biggest fear when giving a talk is that people won’t understand or I’ll say something wrong and no one will ever let me know what I’m doing wrong.

So I don’t care if you have been speaking for 20 years or if you have never given a talk in your life, I appreciate your feedback and especially your suggestions. If you come up to me and say, “That talk was terrible,” I might not be so happy! But if you come to me and tell me what I can do to improve, I’ll all ears.