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My “Launching Your First App” event yesterday had over 500 students... here’s the story behind it

The Story and Takeaways

Author

Emily Jiji
January 27, 2024


I’ve wanted to do this workshop for a long time. I thought of the idea about a year and a half ago and felt it was finally time to do it.

Was I nervous? Yup

But the desire to share and connect with others outweighed the fear of potential embarrassment, so I just had to do it.

Here is what I’ll cover in this newsletter:

  • The Idea

  • The Plan

  • What I did right while presenting

  • What I did wrong and how to fix it

  • Advice for You

I’ve always found that public speaking allows me to express myself more easily. It’s about creating value for others giving your unique point of view on things. As someone who used to be antisocial, my first few talks broke me out of my shell and developed my personality.

I hope my experience serves as a beacon of encouragement for you to make a positive mark in your communities and take action on what you want to do.

The Idea

As my freshman year of college drew to a close, I found myself immersed in the world of the tech startup ecosystem.

It was during this time, through my involvement with my first startup, BlockBeam, that I discovered a realm where people will apply technology to solve their own problems or explore their numerous interests.

A sense of disappointment and isolation crept in as I realized that traditional educational paths had not exposed me to this exciting world. There were no events or community at my school for me to get involved with, so I wanted to show people what I was seeing and make my own.

I created a draft presentation based on everything I wanted to share, and thought it aligned with the Intro to SWE curriculum, so I reached out to the Head TA and professor of that class with that draft. They loved it, and we scheduled a date during class for me to present.

The Plan

Here are some things I thought about when forming my presentation:

Within the first 3 slides, I wanted to captivate the audience and relax myself. I did this by

  • Introducing myself and explained the relevance of the presentation

  • Ask the audience to raise their hands for a question

  • Show a funny, relatable image of a CS major struggling

I was extremely nervous in the beginning. Due to the technical difficulties and built-up nervousness, I stumbled over my words and had a few voice cracks.

Maybe I came up with a few new Harry Potter spells such as “awhefivuvuenvio”

It’s honestly fine because I said everything I wanted to say and got over it after 10 minutes.

What I Did Right

  • Content - I said everything I wanted to say and provided value

  • Acted like myself - I expressed myself well and even made some jokes

  • Was relatable - I told them about my struggles and mistakes so they could relate to me but overcome these obstacles

  • Expressed my beliefs - I believe in creating meaningful work with tech by solving problems. I expressed that this is more important than internships because I got mine that way.

  • Asked for Help - I asked my friend JJ Paulsen to speak about solving a niche problem with technology by explaining how his startup, Perch (parking for game days), approached it. I asked my friend Jonathan Wukitsch for help on mobile development slides because I didn’t have experience with it. I don’t know everything and there is no shame in that, but there are others that do know, and they were happy to help.

  • Asked for Support - I asked some of my friends to come to support me even though some weren’t in CS. This allowed me to get honest feedback from them and people to celebrate with.

What I Did Wrong and How to Fix It

  • Problem: I was extremely nervous at first

    In the beginning, I held my breath too much while talking. This made me stumble my words, have voice cracks, and get all shakey for about 10 minutes. Yes, this is in front of 500 people, but I don’t mind having people see me like that as long as I get through it. The excitement I had for this presentation outweighed the fear of speaking in public, and I knew it will be worth it.

    Solution: Take more deep breaths or drink water before starting

  • Problem: Writing Flashcards

    Writing the flashcards allowed me to tell each of my slides as a story. It gave me the structure I needed, since I had everything listed as bullets, and the freedom to explain the story without a script. However, these flashcards made the presentation less genuine, and I didn’t need them anyway.

    Solution - Make speaking cards to structure what you will talk about, just don’t bring them with you when you speak

Advice for You

Want to do your own presentation? Here are some pointers:

  • Provide as much value as you can based on your personal experiences and interests.

  • Make sure your presentation aligns with your target audience

  • Seek opportunities - reach out to TAs, professors, school clubs and friends who could help

  • Treat each slide as a story

  • Get help, ask others to speak with you, or contribute to slides with their expertise

  • Accept that it will not be perfect, but you will get better after receiving feedback

  • Qualifications don’t matter (at least in college they don’t). They can help people in the room, but if you are passionate about something and have actively worked on it, then you can share it.

  • Contact me with a draft presentation and I’ll see what I can do for you

In the following newsletters, I will share weekly updates on what I’ve learned, my startup journey, UF student founder stories, and will strive to be a source of encouragement for you guys.

Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone else who would find this useful on their tech journey!

Special thanks to Rahul Chari and JJ Paulsen for helping make this event an amazing experience!