What if you could conquer your fear and step into the world of public speaking within the Salesforce Ecosystem? Join us for a captivating dialogue with the esteemed Janet Elliott, Manager of Solution Architecture at Kicksaw and Salesforce MVP, as we unravel the mysteries and challenges of efficient public speaking. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, tips, and strategies that will help you kick-start your speaking adventure, regardless of where you are in your Salesforce journey.
We begin by delving into Janet's inspiring journey from a non-coding background to becoming a PD-1 and how she managed to overcome her fear of public speaking. Janet speaks passionately about finding a topic that not only fuels your passion but also has the potential to inspire others. Stressed is the importance of possessing a strong point of view when presenting, assuring listeners that everyone has something to share.
The conversation then shifts gears to focus on the importance of developing comfort when public speaking. In an interesting comparison, we discuss the process comedians typically undergo when crafting material for specials on popular platforms like HBO or Netflix. Janet emphasizes the value of attending Dreamin' events as a primer for presentations, and the art of developing an engaging session from an approved title and description. Janet also shares invaluable advice on using your own knowledge and experiences to create engaging content. So, don't miss out on this episode as we navigate the exciting world of public speaking in the Salesforce ecosystem.
What if you could conquer your fear and step into the world of public speaking within the Salesforce Ecosystem? Join us for a captivating dialogue with the esteemed Janet Elliott, Manager of Solution Architecture at Kicksaw and Salesforce MVP, as we unravel the mysteries and challenges of efficient public speaking. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, tips, and strategies that will help you kick-start your speaking adventure, regardless of where you are in your Salesforce journey.
We begin by delving into Janet's inspiring journey from a non-coding background to becoming a PD-1 and how she managed to overcome her fear of public speaking. Janet speaks passionately about finding a topic that not only fuels your passion but also has the potential to inspire others. Stressed is the importance of possessing a strong point of view when presenting, assuring listeners that everyone has something to share.
The conversation then shifts gears to focus on the importance of developing comfort when public speaking. In an interesting comparison, we discuss the process comedians typically undergo when crafting material for specials on popular platforms like HBO or Netflix. Janet emphasizes the value of attending Dreamin' events as a primer for presentations, and the art of developing an engaging session from an approved title and description. Janet also shares invaluable advice on using your own knowledge and experiences to create engaging content. So, don't miss out on this episode as we navigate the exciting world of public speaking in the Salesforce ecosystem.
And now the number one audio program that helps you to hire, get hired and soar higher in the Salesforce ecosystem. It's the Salesforce career show with Josh Matthews and Vanessa Grant.
Josh Matthews:All right, welcome everybody. You just heard my name. My name is Josh and I run the Salesforce recruitercom and co-host this show with my friend Vanessa Grant. Let's get a quick intro from you, Vanessa.
Vanessa Grant:Hi, it's Vanessa Grant. I've been in the Salesforce ecosystem for 13 years and doing this show for at least a couple of years now. Love supporting people in their Salesforce journey.
Josh Matthews:Yes, you do. You do a great job of it too. We're also joined by a lot of our regular panelists. That includes Peter Ganza, jason Zikawitz, we've got Fred Kedena, and we have a special guest, janet Elliott. I've had a chance to only very briefly meet Janet, but go ahead and say hi, janet, and introduce yourself.
Janet Elliott:Hi everyone, thanks for having me, janet Elliott, here. I am the manager of solution architecture at a consulting firm called KICSA, been in the ecosystem since about 2011. Salesforce, mvp and all sorts of other fun stuff, including speaking at multiple events, which is a topic that's near and dear to my heart, and I'm happy to be speaking about that today.
Josh Matthews:Well, we're so happy to have you here. Yes, you've been a speaker at Dreamforce, at TDX. I think I got to meet you at Tahoe Dreaming, which is you're on the committee for organizing that. You're part of Legends of Low Code Just a dream guest to have on board. We're very stoked to have you here. Now Vanessa is going to introduce the talk.
Vanessa Grant:I'll just say from my own experience I do a lot of speaking, I've been in the conversations but Janet's been an inspiration to me on my journey for sure, One of the first people that I really connected with in the Salesforce ecosystem. When I first saw her present on speaking at Salesforce conferences at TDX I probably not even this year, I think it was last year. Really, she's so warm and helpful for folks like me that are on their speaking journeys.
Josh Matthews:Well then, you picked the right guest. Then, Vanessa, because that's the topic. Why don't you go ahead and share with everybody what our topic is today? Then we're going to take just a moment to share some updates, some housekeeping and announcements, and then we're going to dive right in.
Vanessa Grant:Well, today I really wanted to bring Janet on to discuss how folks can get started speaking in the Salesforce ecosystem, helping to develop their brand and speak about their journeys. She has really great insights on how really anybody at any point in their journey can get started. I'm really excited to have this conversation today.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, we've been running this show for over three years and we've never covered this topic. We've talked plenty about okay, what do you do it's your first time attending a Salesforce conference or Dreamforce or something like that how to get the most out of it. We've never really discussed how to actually get up on that stage, on that podium, and share your knowledge and background and experience with folks. This is going to be a fun topic. We're going to get right into it. Right after these important announcements from us, a couple cool things going on. First of all, we've got Dreamforce is just less than two weeks away. It starts two weeks, or, if you're listening to this as the podcast, it's going to start less than a week from listening to this. If you're listening to the live program right now, it's going to start on the 11th excuse me, the 12th of September. So just around the corner, vanessa is going to be presenting three times. Vanessa, can you share with us what your sessions are and how people can find them to register?
Vanessa Grant:Sure, If you go to the Dreamforce website, you should be able to filter on sessions. Just write Vanessa Grant and my session should come up. I'm actually speaking four times. I'm doing one session twice, but I'm doing how to prepare your Salesforce org for an AI future, how to leverage AI for discovery sessions, doing a panel with Pallavi Agarwal from Candor Consulting and Katka from PWC, and also doing a session on my own on how to find your path in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Josh Matthews:Incredible topics. We were talking just a little bit before we launched the live program here. I mean, that's a lot of work for you to put this stuff together. How much? Just a quick question how much of this stuff is innate? How much of this material for the presentations have you had to really do some deep dive and research on?
Vanessa Grant:Well, I think it depends on which topics get picked. Some of the ones I feel like I could just go on stage and speak for 20 minutes because they're things that I'm passionate about. I've been doing the Salesforce career show for at least a couple of years now, Finding your path in the Salesforce ecosystem. I've been doing mentorship in this show. I can speak on that forever, If anything. The challenge is how do I edit myself? Thankfully, I have other folks like Tristan Lombard, who's also on with us today, to help edit me and focus my message. Getting that support from folks is helpful in that regard.
Vanessa Grant:I have a great speaking partner, Tom Bassett, for my Preparing your Org for an AI Future. Tom is really great in that. He's very complimentary to my presentation preparation style. We've had a running meeting for weekly for the last month to get us there. That's been really good for practice and to really prepare how we want to lay things out, what message we want to send, and panels of panels so that one's a little bit easier Even then just trying to get a sense of what we want the audience to leave with. There's a lot of preparation that really goes into all of them. Dreamforce is the biggest stage of the year, and so you want to make sure that you're memorable for all the right reasons.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, it's so true, so true, all of it. Well, we've got some additional announcements, some fun things that are going to be happening at Dreamforce. I'll just tell you a quick story. I got a phone call from a wonderful woman named Sarah who's the vice president of marketing for a Salesforce partner called Cercante. They're hosting what they're calling marketers home, or home of marketers. I could be botching this, and if so I apologize, but they have rented a restaurant for the week of Dreamforce called Pink Elephant Alibi. It's just about a block north of the Moscone Center and they've got a big tent out front and they're having events all week long with a focus on marketing professionals, people who are involved in marketing, cloud and Part-Ot. They reached out to Vanessa and myself to request that we be a part of their event and actually produce a live podcast there during Dreamforce, and so we're going to do it. Now, I think there's a conflict with one of Vanessa's presentations, so it might just be me, but we also have three other panelists who are part of Cercante or our consultants in the ecosystem that will be on that podcast show and you're invited to come and join us. There will be an open bar, there'll be food and some really wonderful, bright, smart people that you get to rub elbows with and you'll get to meet me as well. So I hope that you can make that. The link to register for that is on my ex Twitter whatever you want to call it page, so you can follow me at the JoshForce, and if you go there and just scroll down a little bit, you'll see two events. One of them is the live podcast that's happening at 2.30 on Thursday. That's 2.30 Pacific time on Thursday, the 14th.
Josh Matthews:Okay, now, when I was talking to Sarah, I said you know what would be really cool Maybe next year, if we could get a bunch of content creators, other people who are running podcasts, blogs and vlogs that support the ecosystem, wouldn't it be great to have a party? And she said well, yeah, we can do that on Wednesday. I was like you're kidding me. She's like no, full, like open bar food, like it's going to be awesome. So just last night I reached out to a number of content creators. We so far have, I think, five other bloggers, vloggers and podcasters who've agreed to come. I expect we're going to get another three to five to come, but this is a time when I'm not going to be on the mic. We're just going to be rubbing elbows and saying hi and making friends. So if you'd like a chance to say hi to me in person and Vanessa because I believe Vanessa is going to be able to make it will both be there. Fred Cadena and his co-host on his podcast, they're going to be there. We've got Jonathan Fox from his YouTube channel he's going to be there, and a number of other impressive, talented contributors to the ecosystem. The link for that is also going to be at the JoshForce right on Twitter, so you just scroll down, find the link, click it, go ahead and register and we'll look forward to seeing you there.
Josh Matthews:And then one final update I just had a session.
Josh Matthews:It's not for Dreamforce, but it's for Florida Dreaming.
Josh Matthews:So I've got a session announcement I'll be presenting in Clearwater Florida.
Josh Matthews:It's literally right on the beach. So if you've never gone to a small regional Salesforce event and you're going to pick one place to go for the year that's not Salesforce and you like the beach, then you would want to go to Florida Dreaming because it's going to be held not in Orlando this year but in Clearwater Florida, on one of the barrier islands, right there at the Sheraton, right on the water and my session is going to be negotiating skills for Salesforce professionals, and I hope that I get to meet tons of wonderful listeners both at Dreamforce and also at Florida Dreaming. Okay, that's it for announcements, and we spent 15 minutes 10, 15 minutes on this, so it's a lot. The only other thing I want to say is I recently went to the Life Sciences Dreaming event that was hosted in Fort Lauderdale. It was its first year, it was small but it was delightful, and while there, I got a chance to meet one of our panelists and regular contributors, peter Ganza. Peter, say hi to everybody real quick.
Jason Zeikowitz:Hello everybody real quick.
Josh Matthews:Okay, it was so fun to meet Peter in person and get to hang out and spend time together and go to some sessions together, so thanks for going to that event. Traveled all the way from Canada to go to this event and it was truly a delightful experience. Cheesecake Larry was there. Hey, larry. Larry's on the show right now, so it's great to see Larry. If you want to see pictures of me and Peter and me and Larry, you can just go to LinkedIn, because I posted them up there. Okay, let's get down to business, vanessa. What's our topic today? And let's dive right in. Go for it.
Vanessa Grant:So we have Janet Elliott here to talk about starting your Salesforce speaking journey and, janet, maybe we can start with hearing about yours.
Janet Elliott:Oh sure, thanks for having me. I'll sort of recap it. It's been going on for a lot of years here, but I think an important aspect of my speaking journey is I sort of started backwards in that it was 2019. And I hadn't really thought about speaking. What prompted me to do it was I wanted a free ticket to Dreamforce. Our company was sending people but I wasn't guaranteed to go and I thought the only way I can be sure that I can go is to submit a speaking session.
Janet Elliott:Never had spoken on Salesforce before, wasn't super involved a little bit, but wasn't super involved in the community at that point, and it was really just a Hail Mary in order to try to go to Dreamforce. And then our session got accepted A theater session talking about data migrations for a developer audience, 200 people videotaped, like it was the whole shebang. So it was quite a jump into the deep end in speaking for me. But what was interesting about it was it sort of pulled the bandaid off and like I spoke, we spoke for 40 minutes. I spoke with a co-presenter and the real revelation behind that was oh, I did it Like I got it out of the way, I did it. It was successful. People had questions and then that's sort of what gave me the bug to start speaking was just jumping into the deep end and doing it and feeling successful about it.
Vanessa Grant:So that was the beginning and so right after that first speaking session, did you start seeing any changes in the trajectory of your career, did it?
Janet Elliott:impact your career in any way Interesting not initially. And then, of course, covid happened and there were so many virtual events. I spoke at another event right before the shutdown happened and then I started speaking at virtual events. There was virtual dreaming and all these other virtual ones, and that's when I started really upping my game and joining more of them, and I think it was that started just name recognition, networking, getting to know people, getting feedback that's kind of when that started to happen.
Vanessa Grant:And so I know that certainly you've given me tips on my sessions. When I started on things. How did you get involved in actually going from being the speaker to mentoring folks in the space?
Janet Elliott:Interesting. It kind of goes along. So I speak on two different topics. Currently. I speak on speaking this topic, finding your voice, and then also some of you may know that I speak on going from a non-coding background to PD-1.
Janet Elliott:And one of the lessons I learned from that original speaking session is that I was not speaking on something I was very passionate about. I mean, it was like data migrations they're awesome, but it's not something I feel passionate want to inspire people. So I spoke on that topic a couple more times and then I stepped back and I said I need to speak about something that I'm passionate about, that I can tell my personal story. I found that when I went to sessions where people had their personal story and how it affected them, that was a much more impactful session. So I thought what can I share about my journey that might be helpful to other people? And so what's funny is, I started speaking on the PD-1 topic and then realized what benefit I was getting from speaking. I was inspiring people, I was meeting people, it was definitely enhancing my career, and so through that journey I decided that if I can help inspire people to speak, it might have the same impact for them.
Vanessa Grant:And you touched on helping people find their voice. How do you recommend that people find their voice if they're trying to speak but maybe don't feel like they have something to say or they're not sure what to talk about?
Josh Matthews:Yeah, that's a good question. I like that one.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, I think I came. I started to get involved in the community more heavily in about 2018. And what it prevented me from doing that earlier and it's the same thing with speaking was I was positive that everybody knew more than me, and I just was afraid to go into a community meeting or speak on a topic because I was sure I wasn't the expert on it. And what I came to realize in speaking is that and I talk about this in my presentation there's a spectrum of experience in the Salesforce ecosystem and for somebody, it's their day one, and maybe you've already had your day one and you're on day two. Well, you have things you can share with them.
Janet Elliott:So I think a light bulb went off, that you're talking about your journey, you're somewhere.
Janet Elliott:There's nobody who's the ultimate top of the journey, who knows everything, and so that whatever you have to share, wherever you are, whatever you represent, whatever experiences you have, that information is helpful to other people.
Janet Elliott:So, after speaking a couple of times and realizing that people weren't going to ask me questions that I wasn't able to answer like a super hard technical question or something like that, that it was a friendly audience, that really helped, and then seeing the difference and doing a presentation that was very technical, very dry, that I didn't really have a good story behind. It was just I was presenting a technical topic, I didn't really have a point of view about it, and then coming to the realization that if I spoke about things that other people inspired me to take on like PD-1 and becoming an architect that maybe I could be motivating to other people. So that distinction between talking about something I wasn't passionate about and something that I was and that I had a perspective on made a big difference. So, understanding that you identify something you're passionate about, if you've gone through a journey or you're passionate about it, then that's going to speak to somebody else and then also, once you do it once or twice, you start to, of course, gain some confidence from it.
Vanessa Grant:I actually have a story to share. You're inspiring me to tell one of my early speaking stories. So back in the clubhouse days I used to get on these linked-in panels and somebody said at one point well, if you're interested in speaking, write the word speaker in your headline and then people will ask you to speak. And I was like, huh, that's interesting, even if I've never spoken before. Ok, so I went that route and people started noticing it and I went to a webinar and there was like a business analysis one that Tony V Martin was running, and there was a guy from the IIBA, which is the International Institute of Business Analysis, that says hey, I'm looking for people to speak to my group in Texas. Is anybody interested? My friend, anita Smith, said, oh, vanessa's a speaker, she would be glad to. And this is before I had done any speaking sessions. I was like, oh god, oh god, ok, sure I'd be interested. And so this guy reached out to me and he said cool, I can put you in this week It'll be the week after this other guy speaks on Salesforce business analysis. And I did a LinkedIn search and it was this guy, carl Brundage, who is an MVP and probably 30-something times certified and I freaked out. I immediately was like you cannot put me on the week after the god of Salesforce. Like, don't do it, I'm too freaked out. And I ended up backing out.
Vanessa Grant:And I will say, a big turning point for me in my speaking journey was Anita saying listen, if I had seen the god of Salesforce speak I don't know that I would have felt that what he was talking about was attainable. So it's important where, if I heard you speak, that might just be a few steps in between me and you where might seem attainable. So the idea that no matter where we are in our journey, we still have an audience that would benefit from it. There's always gonna be somebody just a few steps behind. And same thing with Carl. He's got an audience of folks that might be 20-something certified or whatever it is, but to not let that intimidate you, that you don't necessarily have to be 30 times certified and be an expert on everything to speak about where you are in your journey.
Josh Matthews:You know it's so true. I'm just gonna jump in real quick because I was lucky enough just last Thursday to see Lori Tibbetts speak. Lori's an RN and she spoke at Life Sciences Dreaming, and Lori is your speaker working. Are you here right now? I am, hey, Lori. So hey there, I'm so glad you came to our show. So on Thursday was that your first speaking engagement for Salesforce.
Lory Tibbitts:In person yes.
Josh Matthews:In person. Yeah, so you know like is any of this resonating with you, and what it was like for your very first time.
Lory Tibbitts:Oh my God, yeah, definitely. Actually, last year, even before I got certified, vanessa, apparently, well, she had been promoting my workshops about portfolio building and then eventually she wanted me to set up I believe it was a New York world tour or something like that, vanessa and I was like who am I? Why should I present? Those are the thoughts that I gave to my mind, but she was so encouraging, but I was also still studying for the admin in Sam and I was really in the introvert.
Lory Tibbitts:So I made it a plan in my head to target doing something like that this year and I'm glad that I finally got it done. And I also was referred to Gmail yet by Vanessa. When I was discussing with Vanessa the topics that I wanted to present, and Jane also provided me with a lot of tips. Thank you, jane.
Josh Matthews:That is so cool because I had no idea when I was sitting there in your session which, by the way, was fantastic, and it was all about how to design and create your own portfolio, right, particularly if you're new, and she's done some trainings on this before. So very nicely done, lori, but I had no idea that there was a connection between you, janet, and Vanessa, and you probably didn't think that connection was there when I was sitting there in my blue suit, right. So that's pretty cool. Right, yeah, yeah.
Vanessa Grant:Janet, enabling all of us to pay it forward. So thank you, janet.
Josh Matthews:That's right. That's right. Speaker enablement. That's all I was going to say.
Janet Elliott:No, I think, Vanessa, you made such a good point.
Janet Elliott:I really like the way you framed it about like degrees of separation. One of the things I've seen well, one of the things that inspired me to take on my architect journey was things like Rad Women Code or Ladies to be Architect, and I saw women in tech, people from a non coding background, you know, who had similar backgrounds to me, and I think that's what's important about a diversity of speakers from every aspect of diversity that you can think of, because I've had people come up to me and say, oh, I have a similar whatever and you're inspiring me because I see myself in you and I've had that. I think we've all had that experience where we see a lot of speakers. I mean speaking is there's a lot of sessions and stuff in Salesforce, but there's certain speakers we connect with because we see ourselves in them, and so it's one of the reasons I like to promote people speaking, because we need every voice out there to share their experiences and it really helps validate and it's going to inspire somebody.
Josh Matthews:It will. And I'll add to that too, janet, something that I learned maybe four or five years ago from someone who's in my respect, who's very good at marketing, and he was talking about LinkedIn and getting out there, you know, writing your blogs and creating new posts and just putting the information that you know, putting your knowledge forward and not stressing about it so much, because the reality is, you know, especially when you're if you're new and fairly unknown not quite, you know, famous you, that's the opportunity to make all your mistakes, right. So it's way better to make a bunch of speaking mistakes. Or, you know, on your first session, now, it was different for you because you had like 200 people there and that's a lot of folks in a live session. But I could tell you, my first speaking engagement not ever but in the Salesforce ecosystem was so tiny, it was that Tahoe, I think I had like 10 people in there, like it was tiny.
Josh Matthews:You know, meanwhile, this show is probably going to have a reach of about 400 people are going to listen to this. So a lot different, right, but you can make those mistakes when you're brand new. So it's really about getting out there and do it and learn something from it while you're educating other people. So let's keep going with you, janet. Like, please continue your story, because it's fascinating the way you landed into this speaking role. And then that massive discovery that you had about, like, oh my God, like what if I talked about something I'm passionate about, right? Like, keep talking a little bit about that.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, when I was presenting this, when I was preparing this presentation on speaking for the first time that I did it, that was a huge revelation. As I thought back, because I did this data migration presentation a couple times, just wasn't really into it and then, once I discovered what I wanted to talk about, this was the key difference for me Preparing the presentation was so much easier. Doing the one on data migrations was so it just was. It was a lot of work, of course, as Vanessa mentioned, for Dreamforce, but speaking on something that I'm passionate about just made it funner to do and that's what kind of kept me going.
Janet Elliott:I didn't see it as like a lot of labor. It was more just putting my thoughts down on paper and putting my experiences down. So as I did it, I saw, I saw that come to fruition and then just always looking back and trying to perfect it, adding new perspectives, talking to people, updating it, it just really made a difference. So the platform developer one, one I've done a lot of times I'm doing it again at Salesforce this year at a campfire and then I thought, oh, what am I passionate about speaking? And so that presentation again was a lot easier to put together because it was something I was really I was really interested in. So identifying that made a big difference in me identifying topics to talk on.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, finding your voice is really about accessing your own knowledge, isn't it? I mean, that's part of it anyway. I mean, if someone asked me to start talking about surfboard designs, pipes like tobacco pipes, I'd be fine. I can talk for hours on both of those topics or careers, right. But if you asked me to talk about data migration, that puts me in a position of an unskilled substitute teacher who's having to learn the curriculum and try to somehow be smarter than the students who've been studying it all semester. It's probably not going to come off that great. So what other advice and recommendations do you have for people to find their own voice, Because it's not just subject matter. Sometimes it's your voice, right, Like your actual voice.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, I thought of two things, one I just wanted to mention. I was just thinking about this whole passion thing. A lot of things that I talk about are involvement in the community and career trajectory and that type of thing which, in a way, is easier to be passionate about than maybe a step-by-step tutorial on how to do something in an org. I did do a technical presentation at TDX and I don't know that I was passionate about the topic, but I had an experience or a revelation in handling it. I had a story to tell about why I used it and what difference it made. So even if you're not finding a topic that you're so gung-ho about, like I might be about speaking, you're talking about a technical topic, your revelations that you had when you were using it or how it impacted somebody, you can find that in it.
Janet Elliott:I think a couple of pieces of advice that I have is to stop and think about what is stopping you from presenting Sort of take inventory.
Janet Elliott:Is it that you're just not even sure what you would talk about? Like you just don't even have a topic. Like you don't know, or you're too nervous to get in front of some people, or maybe you think, like I started to share more personal journey type of information and I thought I don't know if anybody really cares about my personal journey, but I found that to not be true. Or maybe you feel like you're not experienced enough, or this is a big one for people. They think the audience is going to judge them, and so it's sort of taking inventory, like what is the thing that is stopping you from maybe going forward and maybe addressing that and again talking to other people who are speakers? If you can identify what's the thing that's stopping you from doing it and when I talk to Lori, sort of diving into what that is and helping mentors can help you sort of get over that and give you suggestions. So taking inventory is a big suggestion that I have. And then the other thing is some initial lessons.
Josh Matthews:Can you just clarify what you mean again by inventory, just so that no one's lost.
Janet Elliott:Oh sure, in my presentation I have those items listed, like taking an inventory in your mind, like what you can just say, like I don't I'm not a speaker, I don't know how to start this journey Just stopping and thinking about what of those things that I mentioned, what is it that's stopping you? Is it that you're afraid to get up in front of people but you have a topic? Or is it that you don't have a topic but you'd love to get in front of people? Or you're afraid that you're not an expert enough? So stopping and sort of identifying, taking the inventory of what really is stopping you from doing it, will help you move forward on it. Like you can address that.
Josh Matthews:Like sure, I named the dragon, identify the roadblocks, all of those things. Yep, Okay, that's helpful. Thanks for clarifying.
Janet Elliott:The other thing that came about was sort of some initial lessons learned after I had spoken, like what made it easier, or revelations that I had. And practice of course Vanessa will back me up on this. I mean, you got to practice, you got to videotape yourself is a lot of work, but even after that initial time that I spoke, I suddenly felt like I belonged, like I'm part of the ecosystem, I have a voice, I felt like I belonged and that confidence comes with experience. If you're doing it over and over, you start to gain some confidence. So also just looking at other people's presentations, we've all gone to presentations where we're just blown away and we really connected that person and for me it was always people who had a good story to tell. They weren't just presenting you know a topic and reading bullet points, they had a perspective, and so I always try to suggest to people to bring your perspective and your voice to your, your presentations. So that's.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, that's where the color is, isn't it Right? I mean, otherwise it's just dry information and, for that matter, we could read it in a blog. You know, there's a reason why people are driven to not just rub elbows at these events, but actually, you know, witness the speakers live, versus maybe just watching a YouTube video. You know, there's something really personal about it and for the speakers who do make the journey more personal, you're just finding ways to connect with other people. We talked a little bit about this recently. It's that idea of being relatively vulnerable is what's actually going to help you connect with others.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, no, I think that's perfect and I think Vanessa is somebody who could definitely speak to that, because her presentations she does share about herself, or she does share funny stories or personal anecdotes, and I think that that really lends those sessions to be really enjoyable and informative.
Vanessa Grant:Aw, thanks. Yeah, as I was talking to Tristan earlier today and it's for me, I think just part of my personality is that self-deprecating humor and I thought it was really important to make sure I brought my personality into my speaking sessions. I don't want people to think I'm a different person when I'm on stage versus, you know, when I'm just in the crowd, like I am the same person and I make mistakes and sometimes, like I did a whole session actually with Jack McCurdy at Gear Set, basically talking through DevOps nightmare stories, so he brought the actual best practices and I would just share like, well, this is a nightmare that I went through. Please learn from my mistake. But it ended up being like a really useful session for people because they laughed. You know, I was at that portion. It does add a person I was building. Good, oh, you were there. Yeah, that was a good one, that was fun.
Janet Elliott:But then I think people could see themselves in you. They're like, if you only present a perfect model of something, then everyone thinks and this happens with the PD-1 talk that I do everyone thinks they're the only ones who one don't understand it, have problems with it, et cetera. And so when you bring that sort of humor to it and real talk, everyone's like oh okay, I'm not the only one here who's having these issues, because we all do.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, and it's like it's fun to you know I'm not a Facebook guy, but if I am on there I'd much rather see someone's burnt toast with avocado than their perfect, delicately balanced avocado toast. You know what I mean?
Janet Elliott:Like, keep it real, yeah for sure, yeah, so I mean I'm still trying to work on that vulnerability part, how much I share. I think Vanessa definitely does that better, but it's the key to a successful presentation, for sure.
Vanessa Grant:And so, janet, what kind of tips do you have for folks that are, let's say, you know? Actually, I would love to maybe put this into two categories First, tips for how to actually get the speaking session, and then tips for preparing your session once you've got it.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, I wish. I mean I feel like I have a couple items to add to this. I wish I had the secret sauce. I will tell you that once you have spoken, you're more likely to get more sessions accepted and I'm saying like you start to get a reputation as somebody who speaks. So that's one of the ways, but things like knowing your audience. So it's interesting.
Janet Elliott:I did an experiment this year because I speak at Sales Dreamforce for several years now but I've never spoken at TDX and I knew that TDX was a much more technically focused, a little less career, a little less marketing and very technical. So I actually submitted a very technical topic, which I don't usually do, and it got accepted. So it validated that you have to understand what type of a session you're going to. Is it Dreamforce, is it TDX? Is it a world tour? Is it a Dreaming event? So really identifying the focus of that event. As far as Salesforce events are concerned TDX or Dreamforce I think we all know that if you're covering emerging Salesforce technology, they have a marketing purpose in mind, they have a goal and they're looking for sessions to support that goal.
Janet Elliott:So if you're thinking about emerging technologies, but then you can see what other people are talking about. Like, if you're submitting a session on Flow, you have 5,000 other people you're competing against. So find something unique, a unique perspective or how you solved it. How you solved it. When you're talking about technical things are always much more accepted because they're a practical application. So you did something for a client or you did something in your org. Maybe it's small I've seen presentations on very what you might consider like a minor thing, but it shows how they solved it and it's useful for somebody. And then just the practicalities, the abstract that you have, that you submit.
Janet Elliott:Those of us who have spoken know that you have to have a title and you're trying to make it catchy or interesting. And then you've got like 200 words to say what you're going to talk about and that's what you're submitting. You're not submitting a full presentation. In fact, I've submitted lots of things where I had no idea what I would, even my slides would even be. I just had an idea and I was looking to see if it was going to get accepted. And then the other thing is to take your sessions on the road there's user groups, salesforce, saturdays, those type of things to you know, to try it out and get some feedback on it. But I will underline all of that with. There's no secret sauce. Some of it's a look, depending on what they're looking for or the title that you have. So not to be discouraged if you're not. We all had sessions that I've had tons of sessions not be accepted, so just keep at it.
Josh Matthews:Yeah persistence yeah persistence and it's so true. I mean, I remember trying to get my first session I want to say it was at the Portland Dreaming or PDX Dreaming or whatever they called it, and it was a hard no, and we don't really want HR people and recruiters there and that sort of thing. You know, it's like whatever. You just got to blow it off and I certainly realized at that time well, maybe I've got some more things to learn either about how to present a session, request a session, and really I think an important part of this is understanding and staying on top of when these sessions are going on right, because they're always due dates and they can be many, many months before the actual event. So you've got to be, you know, johnny, on the spot. You know, keep a calendar of the events that you're most interested in presenting to know what those due dates are and be prepared to make it in by the time limit too. It can be as simple as that, you know. One thing that kind of came to mind, guys, when talking about this subject, is how do you? You know, like, how do you get comfortable? And, janet, when you were just speaking right now about basically going on a road tour and you know doing it on Zoom calls, web sessions, you know campfires like, whatever, like just present wherever you can. It just makes me think of the way comedians get ready for an HBO or Netflix special, right? I mean these guys they travel all over the country and they hit the tiniest little pubs and bars and you know little comedy clubs and that's where they test all their material and they're allowed to bonk there, because what's it going to be like 50 to 200 people, it's not going to be 2 million people like on their special. So that's where you can really hone your skills.
Josh Matthews:But if you've never done a presentation before, I'd like to share one suggestion, and that is come on shows just like this one. Right, be someone who raises their hand, start asking questions, start speaking up. Go to the webinars, type in your question, you know, raise your hand, ask something live. It's just about getting comfortable with being vocal, right? So, lori, for instance, you know you saw I was raising my hand and I might have asked a question or two in your session, and you know I already, of course, do speaking.
Josh Matthews:But for other people who aren't used to it, they're going from like no communication in front of a group of people to all of a sudden standing in front of anywhere from 10 to 200 people. It's a big, big leap. But you can get some warm-ups just by being on a show like this, and I think that case in point was part of Vanessa's story being on Clubhouse being a regular. You know just regular question asker, right, and then suddenly she's a default person. You know that when I didn't know something, I just asked Vanessa because she's got boots on the ground right, and then all of a sudden she's speaking. We've got a hand raised from Lori Go ahead, lori.
Lory Tibbitts:Hi, yes, I have a question for Janet. So I was lucky to be chosen for another speakership at Florida Dreaming, but this is for a workshop experience club. But the thing is so, after the Life Sciences Dreaming presentation which I will present the same topic in the Northeast Dreaming plus attending the Dream Force not speaking at Dream Force, but just attending I was thinking they're just all too close together. So what is her hated not pushing through with the Florida Dreaming I opted out? Will that hurt my chances? I did say that maybe next year I'll be better able to plan so that it's not too overwhelming. I'm afraid that I would not be able to give my best if I push through with it this year. Will that hurt my chances to submit the same topic for next year?
Janet Elliott:That's a great question. I'm involved in Tahoe Dreaming and was on the selection committee for the speakers there. I can tell you from my perspective there's lots of reasons that people dropped out. They had scheduling issues or they just didn't have time to prepare. I'll be truthful I don't think I would remember when you're from the next what reason somebody hadn't attended. I don't think that that's going to affect you at all. I appreciate the fact that you were honest with them. You're like I can't bring my best foot forward this time, but maybe next year. I think that they would appreciate that. I don't think that's going to be harmful at all.
Lory Tibbitts:I'm good Thank you.
Josh Matthews:I also think, guys, you can go ahead and submit a session idea to, for instance, a Dreaming event, but if you've never even been to one, if you've never sat in and watched folks like Vanessa or Janet or Lori give a presentation and got absorbed, a sense of the atmosphere, what the groups are like, what the audience is like, I think you're doing yourself a little bit of a disservice. So maybe step one is actually go to an event if you've never been to one too.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, I think that's a really, really good point, because I can tell you that this might not be an encouraging thing, but I think it's a factual thing. If you haven't been to a Dreaming event, you don't know your subject matter that well, or you haven't practiced, and you give up and give a presentation, people will have an opinion of that. So you want to be prepared and you want to put your best step forward and it might be that the next year people say I don't know, they didn't seem that prepared or it wasn't the best presentation, and that type of situation might follow you. So I think that's really valid, josh, that you you know the people are realistic with being familiar with where they're presenting.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, Now, Vanessa, you had some a couple other really good questions for Janet. Can you go ahead and just reshare those with us?
Vanessa Grant:Oh, so I was asking about once you get the session, how do you, how do you actually put it together? Because a lot of times we get these accepted when it's really just a title and 200 characters, but how do you turn that into a compelling session?
Janet Elliott:I'm just laughing because, yeah, I've submitted so many things where it's gotten accepted and then I'm like, oh wow, I really have to put pen to paper. Now I figure this out. I think and I'm interested in your take too, vanessa my process for any sort of developing anything that I'm writing is, you know, coming into it. I would have had a perspective is something I'm passionate about. So I just throw up some slides or like a whiteboard and I just start writing ideas down. I'm not a linear thinker, I'm more of a, like abstract thinker. So I try to think of well, no, here's a good, here's a perfect example of this.
Janet Elliott:When I was thinking of my PD1 presentation and I was like, okay, I'm going from non coding to platform developer one, what do I want to say about that? Like, what's my point? And then I developed these four in writing out all my information and like here's all the things I went through and all the thoughts that I had. I developed it into motivation, mindset, mastery and mentor. Those were my four like topics and then I built everything around that.
Janet Elliott:So it does depend on how you develop things, but for me it's throwing everything out and then seeing how I can categorize that into different slides and then, once I have that basis around it, you know, I start developing the slides, but I don't worry about perfecting the slides right away. I start thinking about my talk track and I record myself over and over and over again talking through it and then I watch myself and then I think, oh, I need to adjust this, and I just keep, I keep talking about it and I just keep recording myself and doing the presentation to sort of perfect what I want to do, and then it's the very last thing I do is to sort of perfect the slides. That's the last bit is just making them look good. So I think it depends on your preparation method and I'm curious how you. I'm curious what your preparation method is.
Vanessa Grant:Well, a lot of my early talks were mostly with co-speakers and actually I think I think that's a good thing to bring up in general, that if you are nervous about getting up there by yourself, find some, you know, just ask somebody to speak with you. The first time I actually got on stage is because Tracy Green asked if I wanted to do a session and submit it for Tahoe and I felt like I was getting asked for the prom. I was so like wow me. But having somebody to brainstorm with initially I found really helpful, because sometimes while you're talking you can kind of find where that common ground is in the message that you want to share with an audience.
Vanessa Grant:In general, though, I think the way I tend to approach it is I'll start kind of bulleting out the things that I think are important to possibly cover in the session. I'll start kind of generally throwing them into slides and then maybe doing like a really preliminary run through in my mind, and as I do that I kind of find stories and jokes along the way and then I start rearranging slides so that it's more of a cohesive start to finish. That tends to be my process and then I'll edit along the way where I'm like I have a section like kind of takes the feeling away, or what's the feeling that I want to give people at the end? Do I want them to feel motivated, do I want them to feel like they know more? What are the takeaways from this particular session and have I really driven those home? So a lot of editing in mind, because I do tend to ramble.
Janet Elliott:No, I think that's really important and I was going to add that, and then you said that was not only keeping the audience in mind, but when you're developing the content, what is the point of your right? What are the takeaways? Like, write that last slide first. Do you want them to be motivated to go take something on? Do you want you know, like, what are the takeaways? And that really helps drive your content.
Josh Matthews:It should, yeah, like that should be the guiding light at the end of the day, Like, if I like to think to your point, janet, okay, I'm going to be talking for 20 minutes or I'm going to be talking for 45 minutes, whatever it is, what's the most important thing people should walk away with and what's the second most important thing and what's the third most important thing? And then, what are the actual you know, never mind concepts what are the actual actions that they should take? And how do I encourage them to take those actions quickly? Because otherwise, if they're spending three days listening to 10, 15, 20 different sessions, you know, unless they're really good at note taking and most people are not, that's a fact, you know something's going to be lost, right? So, making sure that that one, two, that first, second, third tier of what's most important to convey and, ideally, some sort of action step that they can take very quickly, immediately, whether it's set a calendar event for themselves to learn this or focus on that, or study this, or connect with that person and this person is really, really critical. Jason, go ahead.
Jason Zeikowitz:Yeah, yeah, I love to add that in. I was about to add that in myself to not only have in your mind what that you want to put in their mind, really focusing on that as the focal point to build everything around to that destination. Also, what action to take. I love that advice this way. Okay, I know this, but what can I do about it? How can I get started, especially if it's a journey going from zero to PD one? What can I do now? How can I start? And where?
Jason Zeikowitz:I've heard that also before is from the Toastcasters podcast. So if you're listening to this, not live, you're a podcast listener. There's also another great podcast, the Toastcasters podcast, the podcast of Toastmasters, and that's another great spot to. If you're daring enough to build your speaking legs, it can be. I know people have been intimidated by it, but it's really meant to be a very welcoming place. I just started to go and it's meant to be very encouraging.
Jason Zeikowitz:Be have a lot of coaching to give you that confidence. And another way you'll get that confidence is, besides speaking engagements and opportunities like we've been talking about making those rounds and all the different levels just finding people in the community, the Ohana people, who you can give advice to people, you can mentor. I found that out by actually asking for advice myself. I would go into all different events, seeing all the virtual events, meeting people there, connecting with them and asking them for informational interviews and, after doing this so many times, eventually got the people who they said. Well, I'm just starting to learn this too. I'm at day one. Well, I said, I'm at day two, so what can I share with you? So that was a big boost to my confidence, realizing that I'm at day two.
Josh Matthews:You got that right. That's good stuff, man. Yeah, I like it. I'll share also and this is this is often overlooked, I can tell you for a fact this is something that was overlooked by me. For years Now I've been doing presentations in the tech community, probably since around 2005, something like that 2005, 2006. But I wish I'd spent more time focusing on voice quality, tempo, pace, air volume all of these things that are really critical to capturing people's attention. Because I'm a native Northeaster, I talk about twice as fast normally as I'm talking right now. I tend not to pause a lot and if you want an example, just go to some of our earlier podcasts.
Josh Matthews:And then I watched this thing. It was a man named Arthur Samuel Joseph and this is one of the premier vocal trainers in the United States. He had a session during a Tony Robbins leadership event that I attended. I love going to those things, and by going to them I mean go to my living room, turn it on and it was so amazing what like how quickly and easily you can change your vocal quality and reduce your nerves and relax your jaw, relax your tongue, change the way that you're breathing. It does, like everything else, it takes practice and by no means am I there, but I do think I'm a little bit better and it didn't take that much time. So you know, that's definitely something I would. I would check out because a lot of people you might be like me.
Josh Matthews:I spent, you know, 49 years not liking my voice at all. Couldn't sing worth a lick. That's why I play piano and other instruments where I don't really have to sing. Fortunately, Casey likes my voice, no matter what. I sing almost every night here in the house playing piano.
Josh Matthews:But I didn't like it myself and it wasn't until following his program, getting his book and actually dedicating a little bit of time to practicing, that I got to a point where I thought, okay, like this is, not only is this just better for everyone else, it's actually better for me and I feel better about myself being on a show like this. So something to think about, because there's that physical quality of presenting when are you standing, when are you holding your hands, your body language. There's the vocal quality, there's the content, there's the order of the content, there's the messaging, and then there's your ability to connect with the audience, as Janet said, through sharing personal things and storytelling too. So there's a lot to this. So, Janet, with just maybe four or five minutes left, I love it if you could share other really critical and important things that will help inspire and motivate people and help guide them to feel more comfortable about pursuing some of these engagements, these opportunities to speak in public.
Janet Elliott:Go for it. Yeah, I think, like when we're talking about takeaways and I think about this presentation that I give on this topic the I know people aren't going to remember every little thing that I said, but I want people to take away you don't have to be an expert that there's a spectrum of experience and knowledge in the Salesforce system so people can benefit from that. And also the need for diversity of thought and perspective in our speakers. And as you were speaking, I thought of one other thing that people could do is it's kind of about finding your voice, and you can mention this too. You have to feel comfortable like speaking up and having an opinion about something. And sometimes that's scary, even just in a conversation, like I'm going to have an opinion on this and then people are going to ask me about it.
Janet Elliott:And one way to sort of take a baby step into that is maybe I'm linked in post. You know, start posting, not just start posting your thoughts, and see how people are reacting. That and you can sort of gauge and you can get engagement from people. So that not only makes you feel more comfortable like hey, I have an opinion on this or I have an experience with this, you get comfortable saying that. But also it has the benefit of now you're the person who's talking about that. You're seen on LinkedIn, so that when you go to submit a presentation, people are like oh yeah, I've seen her talking about that. I think he or they know what you know, know what they're talking about. So that might be a way to just start feel comfortable sharing your, sharing your voice with, with everybody in the ecosystem.
Josh Matthews:Yeah, know the objections, right, Like what would the dissenters say? And have a have a valid, thoughtful response to that. Guys, we always like doing a session isn't doing a debate, right, it's not, but it is trying. It is a moment in time where you're trying to convey information and convince people, right, because if you can't get, if you're talking and you're not convincing anyone, well then what's the point? Right? So understand, if you are picking a strong opinion or a strong perspective, you should truly know what the dissenters might be saying about that and have a valid way to what.
Josh Matthews:What I like to say is take the bullets out of the gun, right, you can address those issues concerns different viewpoints and perspectives early and often in your presentation. So it it takes those objections away and it's smooth sailing after that. You don't have to worry about that. We see this all the time on you. You know YouTubers do this all the time, right, they'll say things like now. I know, you know people are going to say this and they're going to say that, and they know it because they see the comments. These popular YouTubers will see all the comments and like just because I say this doesn't mean that, so I don't want to hear it in the comments, right? We see that all the time on YouTube. You can sort of do it in a probably a softer, more professional, nicer way when you're giving a session.
Vanessa Grant:So I want to be mindful of Janet's time. She's got a, she's got a run, but, janet, thank you so much for for being here with us.
Janet Elliott:Yeah, I always love talking on this topic and, as as as you know because you referred Lori to me and talking to people my, you know, my DMs are open on Twitter or LinkedIn. If you have a session that you want to run by me or or chat about this topic, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to. I'm happy to talk to you.
Josh Matthews:Fantastic. And for those who are listening on the podcast and can't see your, your Twitter handle it's at, it's me, janet. Underscore E, is that correct? Yes, okay, excellent, salesforce MVP. Manager of solution architecture at Kixoff 13 X certified Sacramento. Um uh, women in technology. Uh, member, um dream for speaker. Tdx speaker, janet Elliott, it's been fantastic having you on this show. You are welcome back absolutely anytime, and I sure hope that you and I get a chance to say hi in San Francisco in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much for being here.
Janet Elliott:Thanks for having me.