Walt Interviews David Otey – Own the Virtual Stage

Stand Up and Speak Up

Do you want to know how to confidently connect with an unseen audience? David Otey will show us how to own the virtual stage. David Otey gets it. He understands the challenges of presenting technical material. In the 1990s, while working as a broadcast engineer, David made a presentation at a conference of his peers. Immediately after lunch (i.e., naptime), people began dozing off as he started to narrate his slides. He knew then something had to change. Thus, he began his study of effective communication. He was soon thrown into the fire, leading the training on a new digital technology for more than 10,000 TV engineers and technicians. During that time, he was able to get buy-in from hundreds of previously reluctant executives, vendors, and engineers across an entire industry. David now shares what he has learned on his journey with scientists and technical experts so they can effectively connect and engage with their audiences. As a TEDx speaker and coach, he has studied under world-champion speakers and is a Certified World Class Speaking CoachTM. Additionally, he has contributed to books in both engineering and communication, including the NAB Engineering Handbook and World Class Speaking in Action. He has authored two books, “The Speaker’s Quick Guide to Telling Better Stories” and “The Speaker’s Quick Guide to Technical Presentations.”