The Best Ways to Find Public Speaking Opportunities Around You
Here are some public speaking opportunities for you to consider:
Speech Preparation: Preparing and Not Preparing for Presentations
I’m always excited when I get to deliver a speech, so I sent in an application to speak at a conference of operators on one of my favorite subjects. I had spent two months with speech preparation and would be able to deliver it a couple of times for practice, between the acceptance […]
Five Benefits of Public Speaking
Engineering is a tough job that is dedicated to completing complicated designs that solve complex problems. Solving those problems is not up to the engineer alone, but requires a team effort of partners to secure financing, address the social and environmental impacts, determine the best design options and construction techniques and tackle a host […]
Presentation Visual Aids – Design a Tool, not a Crutch
Engineers use a variety of tools to complete their daily tasks. The list may include a calculator, a computer with the right software, and a book of engineering standards. These tools support the practice of engineering and make for a more productive engineer. They assist the engineer, but they do not replace the practice […]
Good Communication Skills- An Engineer’s Career Escalator
The boss and I were talking the other day about hiring a young engineer. The person we were considering checked a lot of the boxes we were looking for and they had a decent interview. There was no doubt they would meet all the requirements we had in the engineering skills job description. During […]
How to Master the Language for Clearer Engineering Contracts – Ep 054
In episode 054 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, Chris Knutson interviews Ken Adams, an expert in the world of contract drafting on how to master the language to create clearer engineering contracts. Here are some of the questions Chris asked Ken: What do you consider is the essence of a contract? How do you suggest that […]
Looking Beyond the Tasks: Interpersonal Skills every Engineer Should Have
Engineers play a vital role in their workplaces. They are the people that keep things going, that make the company work, and that do the work behind the scenes that keep profits coming in. While some engineers think their contributions should be kept within their department, the truth is that engineers bear as much weight […]
Inverse Explanations – Part 2: The Danger of Linearity
When most people think about technical communication, their first thought is about how engineers communicate with other engineers. What almost nobody considers, though, is how we communicate with… not-engineers. And yet, it’s a HUGE part of what we do: Our version of fun usually requires a multi-zero’ed budget beforehand; however, there’s no guarantee that […]
Inverse Explanation: How to easily walk a layman through your engineering process.
Remove communication from engineering, and what are you left with? Math, mostly. Solve any problem in the world, but at the end of the day, if you can’t get your idea across to others, you never really solved anything. You’re a falling tree in the forest. Nevertheless, most engineering programs tend to overlook this, […]
Lessons Learned from Two Days with Engineering Leaders, and Laws on Life’s Outcomes
A few days ago, we put on our annual Institute for Engineering Career Development (IECD) meetup in Austin, Texas. The event consisted of three days of intensive learning sessions from over 15 accomplished speakers, engineering leaders, several social outings, and interesting tours. Of course, I can’t forget to mention the more than 50 motivated engineers […]
