Awhile ago, I wrote a post titled Why Speak? (go check out the post if you haven’t seen it). In my post, I gave some reasons why you should think about public speaking, if you’ve never done it.
Ned Potter (read his blog – awesome content!) commented, and asked “what about reasons NOT to speak?” So – here are some of those reasons!
Some Reasons to NOT Speak:
- Maybe you are terrified of standing in front of people (ok – sometimes a little practice will get you over this one. I speak from experience here!).
- You don’t have any ideas that you want to share. You might be an amazing librarian, but you just don’t think in terms of sticking what you do at work into a 30 minute – 1 hour presentation, complete with bullet points and an attention-grabbing call to action at the end. That’s ok!
- You don’t care, or just aren’t that invested/passionate about the topic. That’s a good reason to not speak about it! Maybe also a reason to re-think your job?
- One from Ned – “having too much else [to do] – feeling able to say ‘no’ to what is a good opportunity, because it’s just not the right time, is really important (and underrated).” I’d agree. For example, I’ve said no to presentations around the time my kids were born, and had to cut back on a lot when there was a death in the family. Sometimes life, family, rest, and self-care is more important than doing other things. Or maybe you simply have too many things on your plate – you’re already very busy. So why add on one more thing, even if it’s a great opportunity?
- One more from Ned: “I was also thinking about letting other voices be heard – as a white male I know I’m over-represented at Library conferences (among speakers) as it is. So I like to enquire, when I’m asked to speak, about who else is speaking. If the only other keynotes are also white males, I’d politely suggest they address this issue by getting someone other than me…” I think that’s a great idea, and definitely something to consider. I’d personally lean more on the conference organizers here. If a potential speaker is the one doing the asking … maybe you should re-think that lineup?
So again – reasons to speak, reasons to NOT speak. The same things could be said for reasons to write/not write. Not everyone should write a book/start a blog/do a weekly podcast.
But I’ll guess you DO have something (or a couple of somethings) that you are passionate about (ask Ned or me about drums sometime!). Focus on those things, and see where it takes you!
As an old white cis male, I’d put that last reason first–and as someone who’s spoken by invitation around 100 times,I’d suggest there’s another category: When to stop speaking and give other people their turn. At some point, I suspect some repeat speakers become “easy invites” for conference organizers, and that may limit opportunities for newer, more diverse, perhaps more challenging speeches.
As someone who’s helped organize a few conferences, spoken at many, and attended countless, dare I add:
Think about *not* speaking if what you’ve done is not new, not innovative, or not applicable to the needs of many other people. Do some research to see if the topic you’re considering presenting on is something that others really want and need to understand. Make sure you have something worthwhile to contribute.
I’ve seen people speak on really yawn-inducing topics, and on topics that a tiny fraction of colleagues need to know about. I’ve also seen folks discuss something they think is new, but isn’t.
Of course, conf organizers should be able to weed these out, but …
In short, to offer really useful presentations, ascertain that people actually want and need to know about your content. Don’t just do it to add a line to your CV.
Thanks for the comment Walt! Good additions/suggestions. I certainly love hearing from newer voices. One thing I like about some of the library technology conferences like Computers in Libraries is that they usually have a good mix. Yes, they still invite me to share stuff. But they also have a lot of people speaking that I have never heard of, and I always learn something from them.
Same at ALA events – I hear different/new/etc ideas there from people I’ve never met, which I appreciate.
I’ve definitely seen some of those presentations, and have wondered “why is this person speaking?” Good addition!