My first speaking opportunity
I pulled out my phone from my pocket, opened my selfie camera, and panned around the room to capture everyone clapping. It was an experience I could not describe — the goosebumps of appreciation, the delight of accomplishment, and the thrill of actually delivering — nothing short of astonishment.
January 31, 2024 ( 9:00 a.m. ET)
Like any other day, I got up, did all my morning chores, and opened my laptop to start work. To my surprise, I got an email from UX Scotland that my talk was selected, and they have invited me to be one of the many speakers at their conference. I was stunned and in complete disbelief. I showed it to my wife to validate what I saw, and it was indeed an invitation. I remember thinking to myself: I have been waiting for a long time for such an opportunity, and it finally presented itself. I have always wanted to dedicate something special to my father, who passed away during COVID-19; he believed in me! And wanted me to express my passion in all ways possible. I am sure he is proud of the achievement and plenty more to come.
Couple of months before…
Neurodiversity is one of my passions, and I recently discovered it. It brings me great joy to learn and understand more about it. I thought to myself that it would be a great opportunity if I could share this passion with others. My research commenced with casting a wide net to understand neurodiversity in detail. While in the process, I was bombarded with many AI technological advancements and their usage. I was also using it while doing my research, and in the midst of that, it hit me. I realized I have been using AI to do much of my research. The opportunity it provided us all is much better than it did just a few years ago and will continue to improve.
Neurodiversity is the experience and the way humans interact with the world, and it is unique to every individual. The realization hit me: AI has been used by many companies in their tools and features. If AI is used to build great tools, why can it not be used to make tools neuro-inclusive? A thought to further explore: I started to dig deeper and uncovered a great opportunity to have further conversations to bring this vital topic to everyone. An opportunity that is unexplored and needs more attention. Boom! I found a topic, and submitted it.
Harnessing AI to Build Neuro-Inclusive Websites
Back to January 31, 2024 onwards
After finishing my day’s work, I had coffee and researched the topic further. The timer for the presentation had started, and I wanted to be on top of it. But for the first few days, I got nowhere. It was a tough time, and I felt stuck. I took a couple of days off, and that helped. Then, I started assembling my agenda and the narration I wanted to share with everyone. The details did not matter much as I started gathering my thoughts together. It began to make a lot of sense as I put together the content based on the agenda. All the research papers, anecdotal information, and examples danced in my head to their positions in the narrative script. I was the conductor, and the assets were my orchestra narrating a story. I felt a surge of power as I powered through to create the presentation story.
After some grueling time put together to create the narration came the beautification. My beautiful wife came to the rescue. She drew some amazing art for my presentations. Since I wanted to design the slides with minimum text, the art was the winning stroke and made the presentation POP! It actually turned out even better than how I imagined it to be. Everything was connected now, and the presentation was ready. Later, I did a lot of charisma training and recorded myself presenting. It was weird to hear my voice. Eww! I sound so odd, but that did not phase me. I rammed through and practiced a lot, enough to fall asleep on the desk for a few hours.
In the midst of all this, I also wanted to make sure I had my visa. Huh! The only way I will be able to get a chance to visit Scotland in the first place. Surprisingly, the visa gods had already completed their warmup and were ready to swing, and they swung hard. I got my visa in a couple of weeks and was fully prepared. While my visa was on the way, Aishwarya and I were also talking about an opportunity to meet in Scotland. Eventually we decided otherwise, both of us being apart for sometime now felt the urge to meet, but could not due to some commitments.
The big day was just a few days away, and I packed my bags boarded the train and went to the airport to catch my flight. Aishwarya told me she wanted a set of coffee flavors that I will be handing over to her friend who will be visiting Edinburgh as well. So I was waiting for them to appear out of the Edinburgh airport. To my surprise, oh boy I was dumbfounded, Aishwarya walked out! What a surprise! Speechless me, I grabbed and hugged her tight. We spend that entire day walking around the city, what a beautiful day it was. She headed back the same day and I just did some more rounds of dry run before I called it a day.
May 30 (9:00 a.m. GMT +1)
The walk was not too far from the hotel. I took a shower, grabbed my coffee, ate a delicious chocolate waffle, and went to Dynamic Earth. It was a beautiful day, and I was prepared to give my talk.
I set up my laptop, and my presenter’s notes were in front of me — plenty of anxious thoughts and jitters of anticipation and excitement. The room was set up with roundtables and chairs around it. It was in a glass room, so I could actually see Arthur’s Seat through the glass panel. All the sun pouring in made me feel empowered to deliver. People started rolling in one after the other, and the entire room was packed in minutes. My anticipated time after months of preparation came down to those 40 minutes. I started a little shaky, but as I progressed and saw people engaged, it was exhilarating. One slide after the other, I narrated the story and shared my opinions along the way. It was a very fulfilling experience as the presentation ended. Everyone clapped as I captured the moment!
Plenty of people approached me with questions and compliments. I was delighted to know everyone enjoyed it, and just like that, the talk was over in minutes. Wow! It was an unbelievable experience, and I enjoyed every bit of it.
