Fireside with Voxgig

For Richard, Matteo Collina was an amazing colleague he had the pleasure of working with, and in this podcast, they get to talk about what they've been up to since. Matteo is well known from his Fastify project (https://www.fastify.io/) one of the fastest webservers written in Node.js. Matteo has just launched a start-up - Platformatic (https://platformatic.dev) and in this podcast he'll discuss h...

Asim Aslam is a CEO who codes. His company M30.com offers a universal suite of microservices, offering a full business logic layer for building applications; the purpose of microservices! This conversation openly and honestly discusses the challenges and experiences of maintaining open source projects but also of commercialising a start-up.

Welcome to the Voxgig Podcast. We talk to people in the developer community about developer relations, public speaking and community events. For more details, visit voxgig.com/podcast. All right, let's get started. Today my guest is Joe Drumgoole. Joe is a senior dev rel person at MongoDB. I first came across Joe when I saw him pitch a startup at one of the very early Web Summit conferences and I...

In this episode Richard speaks to Caelen King, Angel, advisor to start-ups and founder. They discuss advice for non-technical founders and domain experts seeking to build their MVP. Listen for two important learnings.

Richard chats with Ovidiu Matan a creator of technology events and conferences. Ovidiu sources speakers and content through his successful Today Software Magazine. Based in Romania, Ovidiu explained to Richard in February 2022 about the impacts of the pandemic on his business, the changes he was forced to make and which of these changes proved to be lasting pivots. about the changes he's made to h...

Willie Nicol is a life coach with an unusual background – he was a police officer in the Scottish police force for thirty-one years. In a Fireside Chat with Richard that crackled with dynamism, he shared his no-nonsense approach to life coaching. As a member of the National Speakers Association, he helps people overcome public speaking nerves and turn fear into fun. He chats to Richard about turni...

Mike Acker is a man on a mission to teach the world to speak without fear. He's written a bestselling book, Speak With No Fear, and coaches people all around the world to break down the fear barrier around public speaking. He reveals that public speaking isn't just about skill – it's about mental preparation. And it's about knowing who you are as a speaker. He also reveals a brilliant technique fo...

Christina Aldan is definitely a woman who follows her own path. She struggled with computers at college, but she's now a digital advertising consultant with Arana Software. And one of her first professional talks was a TEDx talk. In her dynamic, positive podcast chat with Richard, she talks about how she misses her speaker tribe. But she's keen to embrace the opportunities that virtual platforms g...

Jock Busuttil is a product manager who believes that if there was more common sense in the world, there would be no need for product managers! This blend of honesty and humour was a feature of his Fireside Chat with Richard. Jock gives an insight into the world of a product manager and shares how he turned his product management experience into a successful speaking career. He also tells Richard h...

Courtney Stanley has a background as an event planner and she specializes in the technology and marketing behind successful events. She’s now also known as a keynote speaker and MC. In her Fireside Chat with Richard, she talks about taking a strategic approach to speaking and event management and about the future shape of digital events. She encourages event organizers to leave the comfort zone of...

Dan Ram has worn so many hats in his career that he could stock a department store, but he’s best known as a professional speaker and MC. He shows wannabe speakers how to dominate the world of the screen, and his specialty as an MC – secret handshakes with speakers. He believes any speaker can create great content that has a real impact, as long as you work at it. Simplecast helps us bring you bri...

Jay Allen, who has a military background and also ran a health and safety business, became a professional public speaker overnight when he was asked to step into the breach at a charity event. In a Fireside Chat that crackled with dynamism and energy, he talks about how great speaking is about more than the words you say and why a good speech is like a business plan. Thanks so much to Simplecast f...

In a Fireside Chat that packed a punch, Rachael Robertson shares her experience of leading a team of ‘crazy people’ in the Antarctic, where she learned that being respected is more important than being liked for leaders – respect trumps harmony. She also speaks about how the COVID situation inspired her to launch a new product, speaking to audiences from the comfort of her own professional home st...

Stephan Murtagh is best known as the Exhibition Guy, the guy who shows exhibitors how to make trade exhibitions work for them. In a full-throttle Fireside Chat with Richard, he tells Richard that audiences are more interested in relevant content than in famous speakers. He also stressed the importance of following your leads – if you do, you’ll be in the top 20% of successful exhibitors. Follow Th...

Paul is Chief Operating Officer of Conjura, an innovative start-up that helps other companies harness the power of their data. He’s also a veteran of the speaking circuit and credits elocution lessons for his success as a speaker. In their friendly Fireside Chat, Paul looked to the future of the events industry. He and Richard explored the role virtual reality will play and the best ways to recrea...

David Gonzalez is a dynamo, a DevOps engineer, lecturer and public speaker who’s not afraid to take risks during his talks. His attitude is, if it hurts, do it more, and he encourages wannabe speakers to just go and do it – and if it hurts, do it more.  He also talks about the challenges of speaking in your second language, and how he pulls off live coding demos on stage. Thanks to Simplecast for...

On this week’s Fireside Chat, Richard chats to Derbhile Graham, author, public speaker and content creator for Voxgig. She’s also a celebrant and has the joy of officiating ceremonies for every stage of life. Derbhile shared her experiences as a member of the public speaking organisation Toastmasters and highly recommends it as a stepping stone for wannabe speakers. She also reveals the secret to...

Jono Bacon is a heavy metal guitarist who once played in the place where Iron Maiden played their first gig. He’s also a public speaker, a consultant and the author of books about building communities. His mission is to help companies create successful communities. In this Fireside Chat with Richard, which crackled with dynamism and cool vibes, Jono talked about the value of building a brilliant c...

Melanie Parish is a Canadian coach, a public speaker and the author of The Experimental Leader. In her Fireside Chat with Richard, they had a highly stimulating discussion about how to be an innovative leader during a crisis, which she sees as the Olympics for leaders. She encourages leaders to break down the barriers to innovation in their companies, so they’ll thrive in the long term. Thanks so...

Freddy Freundlich is a colourful character. He trained as a nurse and was ordained as a rabbi, but he is first and foremost a salesman. He’s the author of two books, Born on the Right Side of the Tracks and The One-Call Close. And he’s a straight talker, as you’ll hear for yourself when you listen to his Fireside Chat with Richard. His advice to wannabe speakers and salespeople is simple. Great pu...

Danielle Krage is the power behind The Remote Speaker Coach, a company which nurtures new speaking talent. Her warmth and empathy shone through in her Fireside Chat with Richard, as she encouraged wannabe speakers to take the fear out of public speaking by breaking down their talks into bitesize parts. She’s also passionate about diversity and calls on conference organisers to make room for new an...

For this podcast, we’re delighted to welcome back actor and performance coach Bonnie Williams. This time, she’s talking about how to make killer pitches to investors. In a highly insightful Fireside chat, she reveals that great pitching is not like Dragon’s Den. It’s all about pitching to the right people. Bonnie and Richard also chatted about virtual conferencing and how to make a connection with...

Roger Edwards is a high-impact public speaker on all things marketing. He’s also a blogger, a vlogger, a podcaster and a fitness instructor. He’s a man who’s full of energy, and he knows how to fill his audiences with energy too. During his Fireside Chat with Richard, Roger revealed his secret for grabbing and holding an audience’s attention – he gets them to shout, ‘The cat sat on the mat.’ In ot...

In this Fireside with Voxgig podcast, Richard talks to Andrew Davis, owner of a fantastic bow-tie, who has gone from working with the Muppets to building and selling his own marketing agency fuelled by the power of speaking. Being a keynote speaker is now his main job, and in this podcast, he shares his secret weapon when selling products – giving speeches. You’ll find out more about Andrew Davis...

Sandy Dunlop is a global branding expert who draws on the world of myth to tell compelling stories about the brands he represents. In an intellectually stimulating Fireside Chat with Richard, Sandy inspires listeners to trust in storytelling as a tool for getting your message across. He encourages aspiring speakers to distinguish between what he calls the ‘blue rhetoric’ of facts and the ‘red rhet...