Speaker Introducer At GOTO Conf Chicago 2014: Mike Hall Interviews Aino Vonge Corry | GOTO Conference 2014
Speaker Introducer At GOTO Conf Chicago 2014: Mike Hall Interviews Aino Vonge Corry | GOTO Conference 2014
🚀 Aino Vonge Corry, founder of MetaDeveloper, shares her journey from a PhD student to a conference speaker. 🎓 Learn how she overcame her shyness and developed a passion for public speaking. 🌍 Discover the global nature of the tech community and the importance of networking. 🌟 Don't miss this inspiring talk! #TechCommunity #PublicSpeaking #Networking #GOTOConference #AinoVongeCorry
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
The Guest
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
The Conversation
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Hi, it's Mike with YugoTastic. I'm here at GOTO Conference 2014 and I'm standing here with Aino Khoury, founder of MetaDeveloper and she is here doing introductions for the speakers for several of the presentations. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me. So your relationship with GOTO Conference, how did you end up coming here and doing these introductions and the opening warm-up for these speakers?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
Well, there was a long way leading to that. So it all started in Denmark in the Middle Kingdom of Northern Europe where there was a company called the Triforce who wanted to go to a lot of conferences in the US to see a lot of the great speakers but they couldn't afford it. So what they decided to do instead was to create their own conference in Denmark. So it started there in Denmark in '96 and in '98 it had grown to become a bit larger and at that time I just started my PhD in computer science and I was working with programming languages and design patterns and correspondence between those two. And they invited me as a PhD student in their PhD track to talk about what I was going to do, what I was planning to do.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
So you came in as a presenter?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
Yes, that was the way I started. I was in a special track for PhD students. So not on the tracks where we have Martin Fowler and Jess Humble but...
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
The real stuff?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
No, not like that. I was not a professional speaker at that time. So I presumably wasn't a very good speaker at that time. Anyway, so I finished my PhD and I started doing teaching at university and also in industry at Triforce and then they offered me a job after my PhD. So I started working for them in 2001 and one of my first tasks was to do a tutorial about software architecture for for the conference and also to help out inviting some of the speakers. So over the years I've been working on and off with Triforce and university but all the time I've been helping out with the conference in Denmark inviting speakers and now I've become the PC chair for many of the of the conferences that we do because now it's not only in Denmark it's in here in Chicago. I'm also involved in a YOW conference in Australia, QCon London. So you're all over. I go to Berlin, Amsterdam. Yeah, that's a lot of a lot of flying. It's a lot of flying, yes. But it's very interesting to be part of the program committee because you you get the chance to to spend some time and look at what are the trends and see a lot of talks and who are the good speakers who could talk about this talk about that. So preferably of course we want speakers who's done something special so that their name is well known or the brand at least is well known but also that they're really really good speakers entertaining and can make people listen to what they're saying and actually also on the third part we'd like them to be great people to be around because we like our conferences to be a cozy area. Social. Yeah, social where the participants and the speakers can communicate with each other. That's also why we do not have a speaker room. We do not want to hide them away from the participants. Yeah, so the idea is that everybody is out and mingling and meeting and yeah exactly. But to do the presentations, you said you started off as a PhD.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Did you say you were a student when you first came? Yeah.
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
Yeah, so when you were a PhD student doing a presentation now you're doing warm-ups and introducing which as you described you want people that are friendly. Well you kind of want something that's gonna be a little bit funny to do warm-ups. How did you go from being this uncomfortable, person maybe a little bit doing their first talk to now loving to be on stage and having a little bit of a performance? Yeah, I don't know. It came little after little. I remember the first really big presentation I gave was at the Uppsala conference in 98. It was one of the papers I had accepted and I was so nervous and I rehearsed it so many times but now it's more natural to me. I know basically what I want to say and then when I get on stage I sometimes say something completely different but I just enjoy being there. So I don't know, it's practice.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Were you always somebody that liked being on stage? Did you do any drama or anything when you were in school?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
No.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
No? Just once you got bit by the bug?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
Yes. It was... I've always been a shy child, never wanted to have any attention when I was a child and now I love it. And you know actually it's interesting I talked with some people who when they go on the stage they're very gregarious and open. Kind of like a Bob Martin, Uncle Bob. And then when they're offstage they're a little bit more reserved and soft-spoken. Or maybe not necessarily Bob Martin but so the point is that when you get on a stage they're able to put on a persona and then when they come back they're able to be themselves again. Is that something you do or do you feel a lot more like your personality on stage is the same as offstage or is it melded? I definitely think that there's a change. That's also why sometimes I don't really know what I'm going to say when I'm on stage because I sort of change into somebody who wants to be there and have attention and when I come down from the stage again I'm just myself.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Yeah. Does it feel like kind of exhilarating or a little bit like oh that was depleting?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
No I'm high about an hour after I've been on stage and then I deflate. And then it's oh that was tiring. Yes.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Right.
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
I think I use a lot of energy on it. Okay and so the presentation is here at GOTO Conference.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Who are you introducing?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
So in the morning introductions I just share with Dave Thomas. I introduce half of them and he introduces the other half of them and now I'm track hosting also for some of the sessions like this afternoon I'm track hosting for for instance Greg Young. Yesterday I was track hosting for Michael Nygaard and Randy Shoup and Jess Humble.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
What is track hosting?
Aino Vonge Corry
speaker introducer at GOTO Conf Chicago 2014
Oh that means that you are hosting a track in a room so all the speakers that are coming there sort of your responsibility you need to make sure that they're there you need to introduce them so they know when to start talking and you need to help them stop talking when they stop talking and you get their slides for the website so that's. So it's all a bit of an MC kind of. It is. So MC I know. Yes.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
Well thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me I really appreciate it. Thank you. Oh actually you know what I do want to ask one more thing. Okay. Is there a for somebody who's looking at presenting and maybe coming to their first big conference because you've experienced going from coming into a big conference is there any particular advice or any thoughts you might think of that they might not be prepared for or maybe are overly prepared for anything that. You know when you do you mean when you are accepted to go. Yeah like when you're going to go to a talk at a big conference that's you know hundred over well over 100 people or multi day track and it's it's going to be a bigger conference. You know there's what are maybe I'll split that into two questions. What are some things that they should be prepared for and what if anything is that they might be thinking that they're used to at a smaller venue that they okay that won't translate well into a larger venue. Okay. It's a hard question. Yeah but I could say that one thing is that sometimes you get shocked by the number of people and you get nervous and the thing that really works for me is to rehearse at least the first three sentences so that I know them by heart really by heart just rehearsing rehearsing rehearsing so that even if I get very nervous when I get on stage I sort of I've got it down to an automation and once you've started talking normally you forget how many people that are there. So that that first moment. Yeah that first moment is very important of course you should rehearse your whole presentation but that first moment is really important that you really say it out loud many times and also if people are asking you a question from the audience you have to remember to repeat the question of course so that everybody knows that you've understood the question correctly and everybody has heard the question. Right. So that would be one of the things. Okay. And then don't listen to all the bad criticism. Yeah try to turn it off. Yeah. Okay well now for real thank you very much that was practice on the first time. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me. You're welcome. Lots to say. Interviews and more. No way. Sharing great ideas in the tech community. Fascinating conversations. A plethora of information. Find out for yourself today at UGtastic