Feeling nervous. Having jitters. My hands are sweating. Oh, my God, in 5 minutes, I will present to the public for the first time in my life. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not an introverted person. Not extrovert either, more of a mix between these two, depending on the situation. But, a few seconds into my speaking debut, and first few sentences, I can hardly recognize my own voice…

感到緊張。 發抖。 我的手在流汗。 噢，天哪，我將在5分鐘內首次向公眾展示。 我會誠實地說，我不是一個內向的人。 也不要外向，這要視情況而定。 但是，在我的演講首次亮相幾秒鐘後，加上最初的幾句話，我幾乎聽不到自己的聲音……

Fast forward 60 mins and I’ve officially become a public speaker! What would a fresh public speaker do first after the presentation? Well, drink 2 liters of water, feeling drained and exhausted after talking for, more or less, 60 minutes without break.

快進60分鐘，我已經正式成為公開演講者！ 演講後，新鮮的演講者首先會做什麼？ 好吧，喝2升水，大約60分鐘不間斷的通話後，感覺筋疲力盡。

I needed a day or two to clear my mind and share my thoughts with others, hoping that my experience will be useful and encouraging for all of you who are thinking to publicly present but are not sure if you have what it takes to do that…

我需要一兩天的時間來清理自己的思想並與他人分享我的想法，希望我的經歷對所有想公開展示但不確定您是否有足夠能力的人都非常有用並受到鼓勵……

一切如何開始 (How it all started)

Somewhere in mid-May, my fellow countryman and one of globally most respected SQL Server experts, Milos Radivojevic, sent me a link about the New Stars of Data conference and suggested to submit a session. I used to bother Milos whenever I needed some in-depth explanation related to SQL Server, but I wasn’t sure if I’m competent enough to present something to a group of people.

5月中旬某個時候，我的同胞和全球最受尊敬SQL Server專家之一Milos Radivojevic向我傳送了有關“新資料之星”會議的連結，並建議提交會議。 每當需要與SQL Server有關的深入解釋時，我都會打擾Milos，但是我不確定我是否有能力向一群人介紹一些東西。

However, Milos encouraged me to submit a session, I did it, and at the end of May, I’ve received an email from the organizers (Ben Weissman and William Durkin) that my session was accepted! Wow, I felt both flattered and surprised at that moment, but it was just the beginning…

但是，米洛斯(Milos)鼓勵我提交一個會議，我參加了。5月底，我收到了組織者(本·魏斯曼(Ben Weissman)和威廉·杜爾金(William Durkin))的電子郵件，我的會議被接受了！ 哇，那一刻我感到既受寵若驚又感到驚訝，但這僅僅是個開始……

The whole idea of the conference was to give a chance to new speakers on Microsoft Data Platform topics, but with one important mitigating circumstance: every one of us will get a mentor — seasoned speakers, who will work with us on session preparation.

會議的整個想法是給新的演講者提供有關Microsoft Data Platform主題的機會，但要有一個重要的緩解環境：我們每個人都將得到一位有經驗的演講者作為導師，他們將與我們一起準備會議。

I was lucky enough to be paired with Wolfgang Strasser. Besides being a Data Platform MVP and true Power BI expert, Wolfgang was positive and supportive from the very beginning, which meant a lot to me as a newcomer. We held online meetings every Wednesday and Wolfgang gave me a bunch of priceless tips — not specifically related to my session only — but for speaking in general!

我很幸運能與Wolfgang Strasser結伴。 除了是資料平臺MVP和真正的Power BI專家之外，Wolfgang從一開始就很積極並給予支援，這對我來說是一個新手。 我們每個星期三都舉行線上會議，Wolfgang給了我很多無價的小貼士-不僅與我的課程特別相關，而且還包括一般性發言！

For example, how to use additional tools, such as ZoomIt. Then, a recommendation to prepare a short “To-Do” script before the presentation begins, or how to stick with timings without violating session flow.

例如，如何使用其他工具，例如ZoomIt。 然後，建議在演示開始之前準備一個簡短的“待辦事項”指令碼，或者如何在不違反會話流程的情況下遵守時間安排。

Since I honestly believe that practice makes perfection, I’ve done multiple rehearsals (somewhere between 12–15). After “brain-storming” with my mentor and shaping the session, the day has come: on Friday, August 14th, 2020, I’ve presented for the first time!

由於我誠實地相信練習可以達到完美，所以我進行了多次排練(大約在12到15之間)。 經過我的導師的“頭腦風暴”並組織了會議之後，這一天到了：2020年8月14日，星期五，我第一次參加了！

緊張不是可恥的！ (Being nervous is not a shame!)

I’ve started with little jitters. I could even feel the nervousness in my voice while speaking the first few introductory sentences. I was not afraid of doing something wrong within my presentation — I practiced so much, that I was truly confident. I was more concerned about the things I couldn’t predict, like: what if my Internet crashes?! Or, what if my hardware/software stop working during the session?!

我開始有點緊張。 在講前幾個介紹性句子時，我什至可以感覺到聲音的緊張。 我不害怕在簡報中做錯什麼-我練習了很多，以至於我真的有信心。 我更擔心無法預測的事情，例如：如果Internet崩潰了怎麼辦？ 或者，如果我的硬體/軟體在會話期間停止工作怎麼辦？

But, as the presentation flew, I felt more and more confident! In the end, I’ve quickly taken a look into the session chat and realized that people were enjoying it…And that was really satisfying!

但是，隨著演講的進行，我感到越來越自信！ 最後，我Swift查看了會話聊天，發現人們很喜歡它……這真的很令人滿意！

And even more satisfying was the moment when I realized that some “VIP” Power BI-ers, such as Matthew Roche from Microsoft, or Adam Saxton (Guy in a Cube), people that I have the utmost respect for, twitted some nice things about my session…

當我意識到一些“ VIP” Power BI員工(例如微軟的Matthew Roche或Adam Saxton(多維資料集的傢伙))時，我感到更加滿足，這些人是我最尊敬的人，他們wit吟著一些美好的事物。關於我的會議...

A few days later, I’ve got official feedback from the organizers, and it appeared that attendees (42 of them according to official resources) were really satisfied (or they were polite enough not to discourage a newcomer:))

幾天後，我收到了組織者的官方反饋，看來與會者(根據官方資源，其中42位)真的很滿意(或者他們很有禮貌，不鼓勵新來者參加：)

Now, while I felt quite flattered with those stats, I would have also liked to know which parts of the session were less convincing and how can I improve the content and presentation.

現在，雖然我對這些統計資料感到很受寵若驚，但我還想知道本次會議的哪些部分不太令人信服，以及如何改善內容和簡報。

Therefore, with each next session, I kindly ask attendees to fill a short survey created in Microsoft Forms, so I can understand what I’m doing fine, and which parts I need to improve.

因此，在下一個會話中，我懇請與會者填寫在Microsoft Forms中建立的簡短調查表，這樣我就可以瞭解自己的工作狀況，以及需要改進的部分。

我的關鍵接管 (My key takeovers)

• It was a great experience, definitely one of the best in my career so far
  這是一次很棒的經歷，絕對是迄今為止我職業生涯中最好的經歷之一
• If you plan to speak for the first time, try to find a mentor — trust me, it would be extremely hard (I won’t say impossible, but definitely extremely hard) to prepare the session properly without the assistance of seasoned speakers. Believe me — they’ve been there, done that! So, their tips and suggestions are the greatest benefits you’ll have from the preparation process
  如果您打算第一次演講，請嘗試尋找一位導師-相信我，如果沒有經驗豐富的演講者的幫助，正確準備會議將非常困難(我不會說不可能，但絕對會非常困難)。 相信我-他們去過那裡，做到了！ 因此，他們的提示和建議是您從準備過程中獲得的最大收益
• Speaking for an hour (or a few minutes longer), while keeping your focus at max level, is physically exhaustive — as I already mentioned, after the session, I drank two liters of water!
  一個小時(或更長的幾分鐘)的發言，雖然將您的注意力集中在最大的水平上，但身體上卻很累。正如我已經提到的，在會議之後，我喝了兩升水！
• Insist on feedback! That’s the invaluable resource to help you calibrate your session and see what is good and, more important, what is…less good:)
  堅持反饋！ 這是寶貴的資源，可幫助您校準會話並檢視什麼是好的，更重要的是，什麼是…不好的：)

• Plan time ahead for the audience questions — remember that your session is a 2-way communication between your audience and you. Try to keep answers short, and in case that there are too many questions, or you don’t know the answer from the top of your head (yes, you are allowed to say: “I don’t know”), consider coming back later to your audience with the answers to their questions. I did that by collecting all the questions and posting the answers in the separate blog post. I assure you that your audience will appreciate that

  提前為觀眾的問題計劃時間-請記住，您的會議是觀眾和您之間的雙向交流。 儘量保持簡短，如果有太多問題，或者您從頭頂不知道答案(是的，可以說：“我不知道”)，請考慮稍後將其問題的答案返回給您的聽眾。 通過收集所有問題並將答案發布在單獨的部落格文章中，我做到了。 我向您保證，您的聽眾會欣賞

• Practice makes perfection! Keep repeating this…It doesn’t matter how good you know a specific topic, practicing will boost your confidence and make your presentation more convincing
  實踐使完美！ 重複一遍……您對某個特定主題的瞭解程度如何都沒關係，練習可以增強您的信心，並使您的演講更具說服力
• Once again: It was a great experience, definitely one of the best in my career so far…Thank you, Milos, Wolfgang, Ben, and William
  再一次：這是一次很棒的經歷，絕對是迄今為止我職業生涯中最好的經歷之一……謝謝米洛斯，沃爾夫岡，本和威廉

還有一些“瞭解”的東西……(And few more “Good-to-know” things…)

• Carefully choose the topic of your session — avoid speaking about things (tools) you don’t know or you don’t know enough.
  仔細選擇會話的主題-避免談論您不瞭解或不瞭解的事物(工具)。
• Put your maximum effort to come up with the title and abstract that will be both appealing and informative. Try to attract people to get involved, but don’t fool them — your session needs to follow the key points from the abstract you defined
  盡最大努力提出具有吸引力和資訊量的標題和摘要。 嘗試吸引人們參與，但不要愚弄他們-您的會議需要遵循您定義的摘要中的要點
• Try to find the right balance between “depth” and “width”. It’s hard to cover everything in one single session, keep that in mind
  嘗試在“深度”和“寬度”之間找到適當的平衡。 請記住，很難在一個會話中涵蓋所有內容
• Define the proper expert level for your session — for technical topics, it’s usually between 100 (Beginner’s level) and 500 (Expert’s level).
  為您的會話定義適當的專家級別-對於技術主題，通常在100(初學者級別)到500(專家級別)之間。
• Try to find out more about your audience- when you’re presenting on-site, it’s not a problem to ask your audience to raise a hand to answer to your question, but the challenge with online sessions is that you can’t see your audience and people’s reactions. Therefore, I also prefer to ask attendees to fill a short poll in Microsoft Forms, by answering just one simple question: what is their level of expertise on the topic I present? That gives me better insight into the audience, so I can adjust specific parts of my presentation if needed.
  嘗試瞭解有關您的受眾的更多資訊-在現場進行演示時，讓您的受眾舉手回答您的問題並不是問題，但是線上會議面臨的挑戰是您看不到自己的聽眾和人們的React。 因此，我還希望通過回答一個簡單的問題來要求與會者在Microsoft Forms中進行簡短的調查：他們對我提出的主題的專業水平是多少？ 這使我可以更好地瞭解受眾，因此可以根據需要調整簡報的特定部分。
• Be careful when using demos in your presentation — you need to describe all steps you are applying, not just flying between windows. Additionally, while you are waiting for your, let’s say SQL query, to execute, make sure to “fill” the silence with some explanation or talking — don’t just leave it blank.
  在簡報中使用演示時請務必小心-您需要描述正在應用的所有步驟，而不僅僅是在Windows之間移動。 此外，在等待SQL查詢執行的同時，請確保用一些解釋或談話“填補”沉默-不要只是將其留空。
• Don’t forget to check all your technical prerequisites before the session — you really don’t want to realize that your hardware or software doesn’t work in the middle of the presentation
  在會議之前，請不要忘記檢查所有的技術先決條件–您真的不想在演示過程中意識到硬體或軟體無法正常工作
• There are really a lot more things to pay attention to — many books were written on this topic. Let me just briefly mention some of these things: eye-contact (for on-site sessions), dress-code, level of humor to be used, etc.
  確實還有很多事情要注意，關於這一主題的書很多。 讓我簡要地談談其中的一些內容：眼神交流(用於現場會議)，著裝要求，要使用的幽默程度等。

贏得人群... (Winning the crowd…)

To wrap-up, I’ll use a quote from this Paul Randal’s article, where he used a fantastic metaphor to Gladiator movie (yeah, I know you’ve all watched it at least 5 times). You can probably recall the scene when old, retired gladiator Proximo tells Maximus how to succeed in his battle: “I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom…”

最後，我將引用Paul Randal的文章中的引文，其中他對《角鬥士》電影使用了奇妙的比喻(是的，我知道你們都看了至少5次)。 您可能記得當年退休的老角鬥士Proximo告訴Maximus如何在戰鬥中取得成功時的情景：“我不是最好的，因為我很快就被殺死了。 我是最好的，因為人群愛我。 贏得人群，您將贏得自由……”

As Paul rightly concludes in his article: if your audience feels the pleasure of being there, being entertained, learning something cool and new, having that “a-ha” feeling after your session…then you, as a public speaker, did a good job and you’re on the right path to be considered successful.

正如Paul在他的文章中正確總結的那樣：如果您的聽眾感到在場，被娛樂，學習一些新穎新穎的東西，在會議結束後有一種“哈哈”的感覺……那麼，您作為一名公開演講者會做得很好。工作，您將走上正確的道路，被視為成功。

Personally, I hope that public speaking will become one of my regular activities. After the speaking debut, I was already booked for a few more engagements in the next period, so I’me really looking forward to those events with a lot of excitement.

我個人希望公開演講將成為我的日常活動之一。 演講開始後，我已經被預訂了下一個階段的更多活動，所以我非常期待那些激動人心的活動。