Getting up on stage

I enjoy performing. Don’t ask me why. I can’t explain it. You could say it’s something to do with the rush, or the perception of adding value or entertainment for other people. I want to tell you a few stories about my adventures in performing. Do you want to improve your performances? I’m available for free consultations on improving technical presentations.

During High School

I was involved with nearly every extra curricular activity I could sign up for. I was in the school concert band; I played trombone. I can legitimately say, “this one time in band camp …”. I was the fat kid in school, there weren’t many other kids fatter than I. I once got up in front of my whole school dressed up in a Santa suit and played Jingle Bells on the trombone. Talk about a nerve racking, getting out of my comfort zone experience. I got a laugh at least. I was in an Auslan signing choir (Australian Sign Language) and a singing choir too. In the signing choir we would often perform to retirement homes in the area and our signature song was, “I believe I can fly” by R Kelly. I could still sign to that song. What does a signing choir performance look like? Check out this example on YouTube;

Watching that makes me want to sign up to an auslan class and pursue deaf poetry.

I was also in a musical. It was called Wolfstock, it was a 1950’s themed musical about a 16 year old boy called Jay, his parents had sold his soul to the devil and had to get to wolfstock (aka woodstock) before the next full moon or else he would remain a warewolf. I played Wolfman Jack in act 2; a character based on the DJ host by the same name, I even had my own song. I’m sure the musical was terrible. My mum has it on tape somewhere. I’m sorry mum for putting you through all of my horrible performances in school.

During Uni

I ran my own radio show on a community radio station called, “chat with an engineer”. I would interview engineers in our community and chat about the work they did. It was to help raise the profile of Engineering. I didn’t have the budget for the training course so I asked Engineers Australia if they’d paid for me to do the course. They did and I’m forever grateful for that. My biggest success was interviewing 2012’s Young Australian of the Year; Marita Cheng. She was visiting a high school as part of a Robogals visit and we were able to organise an interview.

I also started the Robogals Chapter in Tasmania. Robogals is a student run group who promote engineering and technology to young kids through lego robotics workshops with the goal of increasing female engineers. I taught robotics to over 1000 kids in tasmania in the 1.5 years I was involved with Robogals with next to no funding and while going through my first bout of chronic depression. I can’t understand how I was functioning, I wasn’t passing uni so let’s just say I wasn’t functioning very well. Teaching is another type of performance that I enjoy.

Professional Presentations

During my professional career the main performances I’ve been involved with are presentations. My most nerve wracking experience was getting up in front of the whole company during an all hands and talking about my struggles with depression. Getting that venerable in front of such a large crowd is another one of those big, “getting out of my comfort zone” experiences. It’s definitely made giving technical presentations easier. Interviews are another performance. A lot of people hate interviews, in a weird way I enjoy them. Having that opportunity to talk about my passions in software testing is what I enjoy. I am narcissistic. I remember doing a first year psychology 101 personality test during uni, I scored very highly on the narcissistic scale and I’m ok with that. It’s only an issue when it’s combined with a lack of empathy.

I’ve been involved with a few community bands since moving to Sydney. The Sydney homotones and Sunday Assembly being the main ones. I’m not actively involved with any now but I would love to join a community swing band. Or do some taiko drum classes. Or learn how to play the double bass. Garhhh, I can’t decide.

My favourite presentation has been my talk at YOW! Connected last year on using robots for mobile testing;

I was able to combine my passion for music, robots and mobile testing. #Winning at life.

I’ve collected a bunch of hints and tips on giving presentations. Reach out to me at sam[AT]thebughunter.com.au if you’d like a free consultation.

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