I’m doing a conference talk

I've always enjoyed going to conferences. Learning from people who have wisdom or cool stories to share. I'm excited to announce (to anyone who might stumble by my blog) that I'll be presenting at this year's API Summit 2023 by Kong myself!

This will be my first time presenting at a conference talk, and I'm a little nervous. I've presented many times at internal conferences and meetings, but this will by far be the biggest public speaking event I've done (so far). It's also a free, virtual, conference! So anyone can register to join the sessions.

It helps that my session will be focused on something I'm passionate about, and that I've spent the last two years of my career working on. I've also got a wonderful group of people to support me in preparing for success with this presentation!

My talk title: Sparking API Joy: A journey to confidently shipping APIs

I'd like to provide a little context on why this is such a huge step for me: growing up, people thought I was mute because I was so shy.

Anyone that knows me now will likely read that sentence again and wonder whose blog they are actually on, because I have definitely grown out of that. I have since developed a reputation for bringing people together, being a force which can get work done, and generally the opposite of quiet (in both social and work settings). Doing a conference talk is different though, I've been actively putting myself in positions where I can build my public speaking skills for years, and I'm excited (and very nervous) to take another step on this journey!

Who knows, maybe I'll become a regular conference speaker. 🤓