Teach the Geek: Public Speaking and Communication Skills for Technical Professionals

Michael Ciannilli - NASA Program Manager and Speaker Michael Ciannilli is a program manager at NASA. I first learned of Michael at the 2022 Influence conference, hosted by the National Speakers Association. He was one of the general session speakers, and after his presentation, I asked him whether he’d be willing to be a guest, and he graciously accepted. We chatte about how he ended up on the Inf...

Mechanical Engineer turned Leadership Speaker Jon Rennie Jon Rennie is a mechanical engineer who transitioned into running manufacturing businesses. He’s now a leadership author, podcaster, and speaker. I’m interested to learn more about how a mechanical engineer became a speaker and author. You don’t hear that every day. Also, what type of work did he do coming out of school? Was it what he expec...

Dr. Conny Lin, the toe-wiggling neuroscientist Dr. Conny Lin is a manager, founder and neuroscientist. She works as a development manager. What does mean? We’ll be sure to find out. She founded the non-profit HirePhD. What is that? Let's ask her. She studied neuroscience all the way to the doctoral level. Why? She has an answer for that. And she wiggles her toes in select situations. You'll defini...

Andres Vargas: from engineer to planner I learned of Andres Vargas from his participation as a speaker at the 2022 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) convention. While he worked as an engineer for some years, he’s now a planner. I don’t know what planners do, so I’m definitely going to ask him about that. I’m also interested in his involvement with SHPE and what his plans are with t...

Angie Li - UX product designer and career coach Angie Li is a UX master certified product designer. I don’t know what that means, so I’ll certainly ask her about what that entails. What does UX entail anyway? I often wonder if the answer depends on who you ask! She’s also a career coach for those who want to get into UX design. We chatted about how she got into UX design and what her clients can e...

Aliza Carpio: Director of product and Tech Evangelist Aliza Carpio is a director of product and a tech evangelist. Whenever I think of evangelism, I think of church, but I’m pretty sure church has nothing to do with what Aliza does. She’s also on the advisory board of DevNetwork, a global community for technical professionals. We chatted about what got her into tech evangelism, her work with DevNe...

Angie Trueblood: From biology teacher to podcast guest strategist Angie Trueblood founded the Podwize Group to help people get booked as guests on podcasts. She’s also host of the Go Pitch Yourself podcast. But it wasn’t always this way. She was a biology teacher at one point. Dissecting frogs to podcast guesting strategy? Quite the switch, and quite the episode! __ TEACH THE GEEK teachthegeek.com...

Joy Goswami talking corporate engagement, biology, and singing Joy Goswami works in academia in corporate engagement. To me, that means that his institution partners with industry to advance technologies developed at his institution. I’m sure he’ll correct me if I’m wrong. He’s also a director on the AUTM Board, with AUTM standing for Association of University Technology Managers. We chatted about...

Frank Agraz, Illuminating Engineering Society President, talks public speaking Frank Agraz, in addition to working as a director of Engineering, is also president of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). I had no clue there was such a society, and I certainly had no clue that lighting professionals existed. We chatted about what lighting professionals do, what he does in his day job, and how...

Dr. Shawna Pandya: Current doctor, future astonaut Dr. Pandya has many titles. Medical strategic research advisor. Vice president of immersive medicine. Chief instructor of operational space medicine. There are even more titles, but I like keeping this paragraph short! We chatted about her titles and how she came to have them. We also talked about how public speaking has helped her in these roles....

Melissa Paciulli: Engineering to Coding School Director Melissa Paciulli is Executive Director of the Kenzie Academy from Southern New Hampshire University. It’s an online coding and tech school that offers certificate programs in software engineering, UX design, and cybersecurity. Why be in school for years when you can be in school for months? Sounds good to me! We chatted about how someone with...

Ginger Scoggins - owner & engineering consultant Ginger Scoggins is the co-owner of Engineered Designs, Inc., a consulting engineering firm. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services are all within scope. She’s also president-elect of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). We chatted about her journey into engin...

Dr. Madeleine Oudin - Cancer and epilepsy researcher Dr. Madeleine Oudin, a biomedical engineering assistant professor, focuses her research on how cancer spreads throughout the body. She's also an epilepsy researcher. She organizes scientific meetings, too. In fact, she's doing one for the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS). We chatted about her decision t...

Burt Dicht: Engineer and Historian Burt Dicht is the first guest in Teach the Geek history to have an engineering degree and a history degree. I was definitely interested to find out how that came about. To label Burt’s working history as interesting would be an understatement. He has worked as a finance director for a congressman. And he has worked for two engineering associations, American Socie...

Engineer and Professional Speaker Emily Nichols While Emily Nichols is a professional speaker, she didn't start out that way. For years, she worked as an engineer, but now her goal is to equip technical teams with human skills so they can be better problem solvers and leaders. We chatted about her life as an engineer, her transition to being a speaker, and the definition of human skills.  To...

Software engineer and podcaster Patrick Akil Patrick Akil is a software engineer and host of the Beyond Coding podcast. He got a degree in Information Studies. I'd never heard of such a degree, so I asked him about it. I also found out what drew him to software engineering and the motivation for starting his podcast. His views on public speaking was a topic of discussion, too.  __ TEACH THE G...

From the military to the speaking circuit with Dr. Jenn Donahue Dr. Jenn Donahue is a number of things. A retired US Navy captain. A civil engineer. A university lecturer. A motivational speaker. I think she even walks old ladies across streets in her spare time.  We spoke about her time in the military, her business JL Donahue Engineering, and her foray into motivational speaking. To learn m...

Developing creativity with Dr. Oana Velcu-Laitinen Dr. Oana Velcu-Laitinen is an academic turned solopreneur and author of the book “How to Develop your Creativity at Work”. She works with scientists and technology professionals on applying their creativity in their work. We chatted about her transition from academic to self-employment, her interest in creativity, and the ways she sees technical p...

Engineering the San Diego tech scene with Neal Bloom Neal Bloom is an engineer turned marketer turned investor turned podcaster. He’s lived many lives, like a cat. He’s also a cheerleader for the San Diego tech community. We spoke about his lives as an engineer and marketer, primarily the reason for making the switch, the companies he has invested in, and his Tacos and Tech podcast.    F...

Civil engineer to Entrepreneur with Sam Lytle After working for years in industry, Sam Lytle founded Beyondware to develop better 3D visualization tools for civil engineers. It’s always interesting for me to speak with those who go off and do their own thing. We chatted more about Beyondware, the work that Sam did before Beyondware to prepare him for the entrepreneurship journey, and the ways in w...

How to make a geek speak with Dr. Karen Corbin Dr. Karen Corbin is a scientist and founder of Geeks that Speak, whose goal is to help those technical backgrounds translate complex scientific information in a way that is accessible to a broad range of audiences. In other words, geeks suck at talking to people, and Dr. Corbin helps them suck less. We talked about her work history, specifically what...

Building belonging with engineer and DEI advocate Dr. Meagan Pollock Dr. Meagan Pollock is the founder of Engineer Inclusion, using engineering thinking, process improvement and research–based strategies to help companies reach their business goals. She started off as an engineer, though, so I was really interested to learn about her transition from engineering to consultant. She’s also a speaker....

From mathematical engineering to professional speaker with Sunjay Nath Sunjay is a professional speaker whose main topics are leadership and performance. Would you believe that he started out with a degree in mathematical engineering? When I first saw he got a degree in mathematical engineering, I thought it was a typo (did he mean to say mechanical?). I’ve never heard of mathematical engineering,...

What's LEED, Eric Oliver? Eric Oliver is a professional engineer and LEED expert. What’s LEED? I definitely wanted to find out. He founded his company, Earthwide LLC, to provide energy and sustainability consulting services. He’s also president-elect of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). We chatted about his role with AEE, his journey to entrepreneurship, and the ways in which public speak...

Cybersecurity engineer and speaker Comfort Uduebholo - public speaking for engineers Comfort Uduebholo is a security engineer, a mentor, a speaker, whatever she wants to be. She’s an active member of the Women in Cybersecurity, and she speaks on technical and non-technical topics. We chatted about her journey to become a security engineer, her volunteerism, and her speaking topics.   To reach...