Write to change the world

Write day at the Write/Speak/Code conference commenced with the welcome and opening talk by Founder, Rebecca Miller Webster on overcoming stereotypes and imposter syndrome. She reflected on how and why Write/Speak/Code began.

Followed by Neha Batra’s “You are not your imposter syndrome”. She talked about how to identify and overcome imposter syndrome using following 6 steps.

1. Recognize (the language and that it’s happening again)
2. Separate (facts from feelings)
3. Analyze (facts only and expand them)
4. Rewire (base your decision on the facts)
5. Do it
6. Reflect and celebrate.

Own your expertise

Next we carried out a couple of activities and accomplished following things.

• Crafted a high level and networking bio and framed ourselves as Experts.
• Generated 20 topics that we can write/speak about
• Drafted a blog post and got feedback from peers and experts

Writing for developers panel

Speakers Chiu-Ki Chan, Pam Selle, Debra Williams-Cauley, Julie Steele , and Corey Latislaw shared their experience and thoughts on writing opportunities and technical publishing. One of the important tips was, not to edit while writing. Writing and editing to be considered as two separate  steps.

Topics to write about

• Write about what did not work. So others don’t have to go down the same dead end.
• Something you Googled/some problem had to solve recently
• When you produce content, you don’t have to produce content you are not interested in.

Some of the appealing quotes from the write day talks included

• Open source is like being an adult. It’s magical until no one knows what the hell they are doing.
• We stay too long in demoralizing work situations. Life is too short to stick it out in a miserable job.
• Being aware of your thoughts and intercepting them helps you change your behaviors. Do it anyway.
• Leap with a safety net. Have someone in the audience to back you up.
• Even if the risk is high, the experience of preparing itself is invaluable.
• After you do something that’s out of your comfort zone, reflect on what you learned and tell yourself that you’re awesome.
• Don’t let your fears stop you from giving your best effort (Dr. Klawe)
• Experts are not people on pedestals. They are people who share what they know. Own your expertise. Share it.
• Fake it until you make it.
• If you mess up nobody knows!  Because you have no readers.

Conclusion

The best part of the conference is executing lot of activities after each talk which involved teaming up with other attendees (different for each activity) and working in small groups directed by organizers which lead to spontaneous networking, thorough understanding and imbibing of the matter the speaker’s were presenting.

We came up with lot of new ideas on writing, understood how to write what strategies to use, what things to avoid, things which are blocking/holding back and how to get over that.

I think, I am awesome as I wrote my first ever blog post after the conference.