When I’m presenting to a large audience, I have three internal states: “I’m screwed.” I have not yet begun the presentation, but I’m imminently starting. This phase sucks. Every possible screw-up I’ve ever performed or could perform is running through my mind and my gut instinct is a sensible “just fucking run for it”. This… more
It had all the signs of a good meeting. And I hate meetings. We were: Talking about a product we loved In great shape from a feature, quality, and schedule standpoint A group that historically did not kick ass A group that was kicking ass. The slides looked great and the dry-run was flawless, so… more
You’ve taken some hits. Being taken apart by the execs because they could smell you weren’t prepared. The slide deck you loved that the audience ignored. That guy… snoring. In the front row. However, you’ve also hit it out of the park. The unexpected standing ovation. That seven-slide deck that turned into an hour of… more
I live in the mountains and in the mountains you need a chainsaw. Strangely, the time of year it’s the least fun to be outside is when I use the chainsaw the most. This is a result of holiday vacation, trees conveniently falling during winter storms, and short windows of time the county of Santa… more
Cloud computing is yet another name for services that have existed for a really long time. Here’s the 2008 IEEE Internet Computing quote regarding Cloud Computing: “Cloud Computing is a paradigm in which information is permanently stored in servers on the Internet and cached temporarily on clients that include desktops, entertainment centers, table computers, notebooks,… more
I can turn a phrase. High school journalism is where I discovered this. Mrs. Wickett kept bringing stories to me in my junior year “Needs a clever headline.” I’d read the story and throw out a terse, clever headline. No clue where this ability come from. If I actually think about how I pick the… more
It’s the calm before the presentation storm. Over the next three months, I’ve got four different presentations at Webstock and SXSW. I’m also the best man at a wedding in Washington, all of which means I’m spending most of my down-time thinking up things I’m going to say in the future. If you’re looking for… more
I recently spoke at Yahoo! about the book, and, for this presentation, I adapted the Agenda Detection and Meeting Creatures chapters into a piece about how I assess agendas and people in the first 10 minutes of any meeting. Early on in the presentation, I asked the audience, “What are the things you are supposed… more
It’s WWDC season and that means Keynote. Lots of it. Today is Sunday and I’ve clocked 6 hours of Keynote and I’m ok with that. Keynote doesn’t get in my way and Keynote doesn’t piss me off, so I’m taking a break from endless slides to give Keynote some credit and to give you some… more
As soon as you decide to become a professional nerd, either via a university degree or simply because you sit up all night writing Python to scratch your particular technical itch, you think you absolve yourself of having to stand up in front of a group of people to make a presentation. And you might… more
