Tag: JavaScript

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Greg Levenhagen

Greg Levenhagen Speaking
  • Location: Midwest US (UTC -6)
  • Expertise: Software Development, Community Building, Public Speaking, Strategy & Innovation, Career Development, Entrepreneurship
  • Contact: Twitter | LinkedIn

Greg Levenhagen is a Microsoft Regional Director, Microsoft MVP in Windows Development and Principal Software Engineer Consultant with Skyline Technologies. He has a great passion for giving back to the community and teaching. A true enthusiast of computer science, with passions and interests including mobile, UX, architecture, parallel, testing, agile, 3D/games, cloud, languages and much more. Greg speaks at conferences like ThatConference, CodeMash, Code PaLOUsa, TechBash, VSLive, KCDC and DevLink.

He is also a Volunteer Teacher for CS through TEALS, Microsoft Certified Trainer, board member of ThatConference, president of the Northeast WI Developers User Group / Northeast WI Code Camp / Milwaukee Code Camp, cofounder of the Northeast WI Agile User’s Group, INETA speaker, IEEE and ACM member and a PhD student.

Along with being a life-long geek, Greg enjoys golfing, football, woodworking, philosophy and stimulating conversation.

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Clark Sell

From humble beginnings as a mechanic who later became a software engineer/architect now business owner has built software for some of the biggest companies on the planet. Clark’s passionately unapologetic on a mission to create the most inclusive, tech-savvy, family-friendly community of geeks on the planet. Fueled by creativity, Clark invests his time partnering with companies on how to foster their own communities while helping them solve business problems through innovative technology solutions and common sense.

http://unspecified.io

https://www.ThatConference.com

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Nate Taylor

  • Location: Central US (UTC -6)
  • Expertise: Test Driven Development, JavaScript, Professionalism, a bit of Functional Programming (Elixir)
  • Contact: Twitter | LinkedIn

Twenty-five years ago, I had my first experience with public speaking when I followed in my sister’s footsteps and joined the high school debate team. The first time I stood up in front of my class and presented my argument I was sure I was going to cry, and I was also sure everyone in the room knew I was going to cry. However, four years later, I couldn’t imagine not doing public speaking.

Fast forward several years after college, I was looking at a conference line up for a conference in town. I saw one of my coworker’s names as a speaker. After talking to him, I quickly realized that conferences will let Average Joes (or Nates in this case) talk.  I signed up for a 1/2 day workshop on OpenRasta. After that experience, I was hooked. That was in 2011 and since then I’ve spoken at least one or two conferences every single year.

I try to encourage folks to give talks at meet ups and conferences, because in my experience, it’s provided me with some very real benefits. For one, someone at one of my talks recommended I check out Pluralsight, and so in the last 3+ years I’ve been able to create courses for them. Additionally, by going to conferences, I’ve learned a lot about technology. Some of that is from listening to talks, but a lot of it is from the networking I’m able to do with other speakers.  And really, that’s a benefit on it’s own. I now have a wide network of people across the industry that I know that are doing cool things, and if I have a question, I can reach out to them.

In the summer of 2017, Sarah Withee and I started the #SpeakerConfessions hashtag on twitter that got seasoned speakers sharing their thoughts, concerns, fears and dreams.

I’d love to talk to you about how to get started, what makes a good conference talk, how to write an abstract, or really any other speaking related concerns you might have.

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David Neal

  • Location: Eastern US (UTC -5)
  • Expertise: JavaScript, Node.js, Electron.js
  • Contact: Twitter | LinkedIn

In 2011, I finally got up the courage to give my first talk at a local meet-up. I was terrible. But, a funny thing happened. People thanked me for presenting, and said I did a good job. With some encouragement and help along the way, I kept on doing it until I wasn’t so terrible!

Today, I’ve given talks at conferences and events all over the USA, as well as the UK, Norway, Uruguay, and Australia. I’ve even had opportunities to deliver keynotes!

There is so much I’ve learned about public speaking that I would be glad to share with you. These are skills and strategies I believe anyone can learn. If I can do this, a 100% introverted and socially-awkward geek, I know you can, too!

Here are few things I’ve done that I hope will inspire you to take that leap of faith!

Please reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn! I would love to connect with you, encourage you, and help you get started on this incredible journey!