When I was beginning my career as a speaker, I went to my mentor, asking how to improve my speaking skills, how to improve my ability to submit a call for paper, how to improve my personal brand, and he gave me only one answer: “start writing”.
This is why I started submitting article proposals to different tech newspapers, and I started contributing with news and tips to UgiDotNet, the Italian .NET User Group, one of the biggest in the world.
Writing requires focus.
Writing tips, news, articles require focus. Especially if other experts review your contributions. Writing allows you to focus on the title and the content, two of the most critical parts of a Call for Paper.
Writing makes you a better speaker because you start crafting your message in a way that is optimal for your readers.
History repeats itself.
Some days ago, I talked with three different people about improving their brand, coming back to the speaking world, and improving their career. I thought about my mentor (and now one of my greatest friends), and I told them: “start writing”.
Writing for somebody else is different than writing for yourself.
If you know me from the beginning, you already know that I had an English blog on weblogs.asp.net, and then a blog in Italian on blogs.ugidotnet.org. Writing articles, news, and tips for a big portal or community site is different; you should think about your message because it becomes the message of the portal or the community.
That’s also important when you apply for a CfP for a conference. You’re part of the conference, so you need to craft your message accordingly.
Don’t fear the reviewers.
The part that’s most important when writing for somebody else is the review. If you’re lucky, you’ll find some real experts that will try to make your contribution even better. That’s where you grow.
You can learn something new, you can see a different point of view, you can anticipate questions from the future audience.
P.s. Having an updated bio on different websites is on top of my to-do list… since forever… I promise to you, my fellow readers, that I’ll write to Andrea and ask him to update my bio on UgiDotNet very soon 😀.
-Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
