An important part of our tribal culture at Tivix is internal presentations. Every week we have at least one team member present to the entire rest of the company. 

In fact, any time a Tivix team member goes to a conference, reads a book on a new technology, or does a personal side project, they are encouraged to give a presentation on the topic to the whole company. We set aside an hour each Friday just for this purpose. 

We do this partly to facilitate the cross-pollination of knowledge that is so important in the fast-moving technology business, and partly because we believe that presentation skills matter. 

We are in the consulting business, after all, so presentations to clients is part of our lives, but I’m actually a firm believer that being able to give a good presentation is a really important professional skill to have, no matter where your career leads. 

I have also found that for me personally, the process of preparing a presentation on a topic helps me to understand the topic better in my own mind. As Albert Einstein said “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t yet really understand it”. So part of the value of preparing a presentation on a topic is that in the process you usually end up understanding the topic better yourselves. 

It’s well-known that many people have a fear of public speaking, and as a software engineering firm many of our team members would frankly rather just write code than speak in front of people. But for all of us, stepping outside our comfort zone is usually a good thing (see a previous post I wrote on this topic). 

So, at Tivix, everyone has to give presentations to the whole company once in a while. It’s been part of our company culture for many years. Because we think it’s important professional development for all of us, collectively and individually. 

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“There are two types of speakers: those who are nervous and those who are liars.”

— Mark Twain