From Geek to Star #25 - develop your SHINE through Public Speaking

If you missed the previous episodes, you can access them online here.

🗓️ This Week – Episode 25: Public Speaking as a Catalyst for Growth

You may think public speaking is only for TED Talk stars or natural extroverts. But for us tech professionals, it’s one of the fastest and most powerful ways to grow your confidence, credibility and visibility.

In the SHINE framework I wrote about previously, public speaking sits at the intersection of S (Soft Skills) and N (Network). It’s about learning to articulate ideas clearly, connect them with others, and make your expertise visible inside and outside your company.

The good news? You don’t need to wait for a big stage - on the contrary, you can go step by step over time. 

🎯 Start Small - Build Big

Here’s how to start developing your public speaking muscle right where you are:

1️⃣ Start small. Volunteer to share a sprint demo, a project takeaway, or a retrospective summary in your team meeting. The audience is already friendly and you’ll get immediate feedback.

2️⃣ Structure your story. Every good talk, even a two-minute update,  needs a “why it matters” and a “what changed.” This structure keeps you focused and your audience engaged.

3️⃣ Record yourself. Whether it’s a Zoom presentation or your phone camera, watch it later. Don’t look for perfection, look for clarity, rhythm, and energy. Improvement comes from awareness.

💡 Why It Matters for Your SHINE

Public speaking does more than improve communication. It strengthens your ability to simplify complex ideas, to inspire collaboration, and to position yourself as a thought partner - all essential qualities for senior technical roles whether in management or in expertise tracks.

As engineers, we spend years optimizing systems but rarely practice optimizing our message.

Speaking forces you to clarify your thinking and empathize with your audience. Those are the same traits that make great architects, tech leads, and leaders. When you teach or speak about something, you remember it better. Speaking reinforces learning, it literally makes your knowledge “stick.”

And there’s a hidden bonus: by making you more visible, it is also positive for the company you are working for. Which in turns helps the company realise that your value is higher as you create positive branding for the company - while you also nurture your own professional branding. This will help you reaching higher compensation over time.

And, let's face it, you can not count only on your company for your career progression. If (touch wood! 🪵) your company should make you redundant tomorrow, growing up your professional branding will still be yours to help you bounce. 

🧭 How to Take It Further

If you want to accelerate your journey:

• Offer to run a lightning talk at your next team meeting or internal meetup of your company. Pair up with a colleague to give a joint talk, it’s less intimidating and more fun.

• Join a community like Toastmasters or local tech guilds / tech meetups to practice in a safe space.

• Ask your manager about the possibility of presenting in an external event. This one depends on the culture of your company and how much your manager himself / herself is paying attention to this. But if you don't ask, chances are you won't be identified, and it does not cost you to ask. 

• Be a panelist in a discussion panel: this is less stressful than being alone on stage as you are talking part of a group. 

• Be a moderator in a discussion: a little more stressful than being a panelist as you have the responsibility to make the discussion insightful. But this is also a very interesting exercise if you do it well in terms of structuration. It is also a great opportunity to get insights from the panelists if you prepare the session with them well - I usually like to do 1-1 to hear from each of them, then create the discussion flow and regroup all panelists before the panel session to ensure an insightful and smooth discussion.

• Speaking on stage alone: this one usually comes after you’ve gone through one or more of the previous ways. 

Each of these steps will grow your SHINE faster than you imagine.

✨ Reflection

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises” as Demosthenes, considered to be one of the greatest public speakers of all times, said back in Ancient Greece. And did you know that he is known for having trained to talk with pebbles (small stones) in his mouth to overcome some speech impediments? A way to go indeed! 

On your side, what would you talk about if you had 20 minutes on stage tomorrow to share something that truly matters to you?

🙏 I’d Love to Hear From You

How do you feel about speaking in public? What’s one small speaking goal you could take on this month?

Reply to this email, I read every note.

You can follow me on LinkedIn for more reflections and “behind-the-scenes” thinking between newsletters. Don't hesitate to engage discussions there in the comments to also start showing and sharing your thoughts publicly - this will help your own SHINE. If you want to know more about how I can support you 1-1 to thrive in your tech career, have a look at my offerings here.  

P.S. Referral Pilot 🚀

Forward this email to one engineer friend you appreciate and who may benefit from this as part of the “sharing is caring” mindset! Put a nice forward word, a good opportunity to connect or re-connect. 

✨ May the SHINE be with you!

From Geek to Star by Khang | The Way Forward