Say Yes, Then Learn: The Power of Teaching What You Don't Know (Yet)

I got asked to give a conference talk about something I knew very little about, and I said “yes”.

Not because I could fake it and bluff my way through, but because I was curious about the topic anyway. I thought this would be a good way for me to learn all about it, deeply enough to share some new wisdom with others. And boy was I right.

This particular talk was about Identity and Access Management, not a traditionally sexy topic. In fact, most people find it so tedious and bureaucratic, they struggle to get basic things set up because it is so boring. AWS had just released some new features I didn’t understand, and I needed to refresh my skills in IAM anyway, so why not challenge myself to make a compelling conference session out of it? A session where people leave feeling confident about something they usually dread.

Doing the research for this talk and learning the content took quite a bit longer than I had planned. IAM is a dense topic full of details and nuance. What worked for me was recreating a few scenarios in my own account and playing with it. That turned dry documentation and videos into something tangible. After a day or so, I understood how everything fit together deeper than ever.

I had the knowledge – now to make a story.

Every good story needs an opening hook, so why not start with a tragedy? The dreaded Access Denied error message everyone who has ever used AWS has experienced. I use that error message to set up the whole theme for the talk. Why do they happen, go back to basics, how does this work, build up the layers, and show how to debug them. In the middle, I created a quiz where the audience looks at a situation, and tells me if access is allowed or denied.

You can see a recording of the talk here, and I will be giving it again live at the upcoming AWS Midwest Community Day this week.

The point is not so much the talk itself, but the journey of using public speaking to force yourself to learn something new. You don’t need to shy away from talking about something you are not an expert at, if you are curious and have time to learn it.

I am very thankful to John for asking me to present, because the knowledge I gained wasn’t just for me, but amplified and shared with everyone who came to the session. The same confidence I felt learning and crafting the story, was also on the faces of people leaving my talk.

There are always CFPs open, for conferences large and small. Why not challenge yourself to learn something new, then share it with others?