Mic'd Up with Becky Patel

Becky Patel is the head of education and learning for a charity called Tech She Can. Her role is to design and deliver educational resources to inspire more women to consider careers in technology. She has a background in teaching and is passionate about encouraging girls to pursue STEM subjects. Becky's biggest challenge in public speaking is keeping adults engaged and prioritizing what she wants to say within a given time frame. She has learned to focus on the emotive aspects and hook the audience in, knowing that they will follow up with questions later. She prepares for her sessions by ensuring she is comfortable with the content at least 24 hours in advance and then spends the day calming her nerves. Okay, so Becky, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you currently do, and how you actually got into the role that you are currently doing? Yeah, so my name is Becky Patel. I'm head of education and learning for a charity called Tech She Can. So my job is to design and deliver and lead the team that design and deliver their educational resources. So we're on a mission to try and inspire more women, especially to consider careers in technology. And I work with the team that inspire children, so the pipeline of technologists. So anything we do with children aged 5 to 14, that's the team that I lead on. Perfect. And how did you end up where you currently are working for an organisation that basically is going to create a workforce of the future, because obviously technologists are the workforce of the future? So I was a primary teacher for just over eight years, and then my school became part of an academy. So we joined with a group of secondary schools. And then I moved up to secondary teaching for around three years. I actually did English, though not a STEM or a science technology or an engineering or math subject, but always been passionate about STEM and always been quite science and technology based as a child. So always been passionate about encouraging more girls, especially to consider that because I was in the minority in my A-level classes. And then I did physical geography as a degree. And although geography is a little bit more based, a little bit more gender diverse than some of the other STEM subjects, when I did the physical part of geography, I quite fastly noticed that it was a huge amount of boys and much less girls that chose that area of geography. So the physical side was more boy-based, and then the art side of geography was more girl-based. So always been against that, really, and always saw that it's science, really, for girls and wanted to make sure that it was. And then after my teaching, when I was in secondary school, when I was teaching at the secondary school, a close friend of mine worked for PWC, and they formed Pepsi Can Charter. And she chatted to me and said, actually, we'd really like to look into the pipeline of technologists and children and schoolchildren. We had a good chat about what that could look like, and the rest is history, really. I came on board and started delivering that for them around five years ago. So you've got a lot of experience standing up in front of what I would actually say is the toughest audience out there, because kids are a lot more honest and a lot more to the point sometimes than adults tend to be. But what was your biggest challenge about moving into public speaking? Either what was your biggest challenge maybe when you were teaching, but then what do you are doing now in terms of going out there, speaking to schools, speaking to, I guess, organizations? What was your biggest challenge to stand up in front of adults versus kids? So with children, what you were going to say was always really planned. There was a lesson plan. There was pauses in that. They would stop and do tasks and activities. And you could adapt as you went along. So you could change that. You could react to the children. With adults, I have a lot to say about the charity, and often given sometimes five minutes, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 50 minutes. My biggest challenge speaking to adults was keeping them engaged as I would the children, but adapting what I was saying to the time length. So I have a habit to rush. So I will want to get everything in that I want to say. And my 40-minute presentation, I probably cover the same as I would do in 20 minutes, but I'm just to say all of the points. So prioritizing what I wanted to come across and trying to make sure that I kept them engaged was something that I struggled with to start with. People always said, you're really engaging when you speak. But actually, it was that I was often rushing quite a lot to try and get everything in. So that was my biggest challenge. So that aspect of, you see that time and that clock going down, and then it's, I've still got X amount. I'm just going to talk quicker so I can cover everything. So how did you break down the challenges that you found and then address them in terms of being able to move through and change what you do? Yeah, so when you're speaking to adults and children, I thought at first that was really different. And I had people advise me that actually is really different. Remember, they're adults and be careful maybe not to be patronizing. But actually, the more I went through it, the more I realized they were really similar. And what I did was just looked for ways of when they showed engagement. So when they would look at me, perhaps the things they were asking questions about. Often with adults, they will. Children, when they finish the lesson, well, leave the lesson. That's it. Job done. Hopefully you've made an impact on them. Adults, though, will come up to you afterwards and perhaps ask questions about something called follow up. So I've taken note of what it was that were resonating most for people. What were they asking the questions about? And then trying to make sure that I could reduce what I was saying to just focus in on those aspects, those aspects that engage them the most. And we did a session, didn't we, going back probably a few months ago now. But what was and obviously this has been something that I'm sort of moving into. But what was the benefit for you of coaching when it comes to thinking about your own personal challenges? And where did you feel that you made the most movement as a result of that session? We're in that session. It was definitely what I've just previously spoke about, which was my biggest challenge. So you really helped me identify that actually it's the emotive things that you need to really focus on. And I'm OK when it's the 20 minute, half an hour slots. But I particularly struggled with the five minute slots, like I was saying to you. So sometimes I've got a very large audience and I'm only given five to 10 minutes of them and I have to explain everything the charity does, how they can get involved. And actually what you taught me was you don't have to explain all of that. You just have to win them over, get them emotionally on board and they will then follow up and you can answer all the rest of those questions afterwards. Yeah, I think, as you said, it's that aspect of five minutes is to hook them in because adults will come and ask questions, they'll follow up if they're interested, they'll want to know more and you've got all of that information. So I think it's about what's the purpose of the time that you have rather than I've got all of this information and I want to get it across in five minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes. But it's interesting that you said before about the more you've done it, the more you realise that adults are like children, you've got to keep them engaged. Because we've all got a attention span. It's no different when you're an adult, we've still got a short attention span. Yeah, definitely. And even with children, with adults when you're facilitating and you praise an adult and you might say that's a brilliant answer, thank you so much, they will sit up, they will pay more attention. So adults want praise, adults want to be noticed, adults want to feel like they're listened to. It's exactly what a child would want to feel. So when we're trying to chat or talk to them or present, it is really similar the way that you would do it. It's just that's the style, not how you're actually delivering it. Yeah, no, I think we forget that as adults we still have that, well effectively, we've still got the inner child. We all started off that way. So it's definitely something there. Yeah. How do you prepare now for your sessions? So how, you know, you talked about the fact that in teaching, you have a lesson plan, you have a very specific amount of time, you've got things you want to get across. So obviously you've got preparation techniques, but how do you now prepare if you're standing up in front of an organisation or going out and doing a bit of a keynote? So having five years now at Techsycan, no matter what someone asks me to present on, I'm really comfortable with the actual content. So I don't need to revise what it is that I'm going to say in terms of how I'm going to explain things or anything like that. And what I have struggled with in the past as well is feeling those, just before you speak, nerves and feeling a little bit sick and trying to control that. So what I've learnt for myself is I actually don't prep on the day or just before. I will make sure that I'm comfortable with something at least 24 hours before, so it might be a little bit different to other people. I will make sure that I'm prepared. I'll make sure everything's completed in terms of the PowerPoint, the presentation and my notes. And then I personally won't look at it then, because I know that if I do that too soon or too close to when I'm about to speak, I will start questioning myself and I'll start to get nervous and I'll start to think, do I know what I'm going to say? What happens if someone asks that kind of question? But I think I've come to learn that I've presented so many times now that I do understand all of the content I'm going to talk about really, really well. I just need to make sure I know who the audience is the day before, adapt my style and the things that I'm going to say to that audience and then just leave it and know that I'm prepared and spend the day just calming my nerves and making sure I'm OK rather than revising what it is that I'm going to say. It's quite similar to Rob Archer, who's one of the other people that I've spoken to, and he delivers the same content. And now his content is pretty much down to a pat, but the audience is going to be different. So what you've got to find is what's that hook and what's the slight difference? You might get a different message. You say the length of time might be different. How you're going to engage them, knowing where you are in an agenda as well. So if you're going as part of a full day of speaking, if you're going after lunch or if you have, you know, somebody's just come from a very intense or your first thing in the morning or your last thing at the very, very end of the day when you know you're stuck between people, either drinks or going home. So changing it up in that style. But yeah, I think it is very personal about what you do on the day and directly before the session. So finally, what three things would you share with people who are either maybe just starting out on their journey of wanting to stand up and speak? Because that could be as a teacher, as a facilitator. It could be somebody who is delivering keynotes or wants to. So what three things would you share to inspire people to get up on their metaphorical stage and use their voice? So the imposter syndrome is totally normal. And I think everybody experiences it. And even those people who you look up to. So I'm lucky with Text You Can to be in a network of phenomenal, inspirational men and women. So I'd watch them all speak. I would learn from the kind of things that they're doing, from whether it was their body languages to the phrases that they said, to how they drew people in. And then I would think they're amazing. They must never feel like me. And then I would go and ask for them to have a one to one chat. And I've been so lucky that a couple of them have mentored me and chatted to me about that. And actually, all of them have said that it's totally normal to feel nervous or to feel like people, perhaps, if it's a paid speaking event, that it's OK to feel like, am I worth that? Am I worth them paying me to speak? Is this something they'll be interested in? So first of all, to not ever question that if you feel it and understand that pretty much everyone you've seen speaking has gone through that at some point. They might have overcome it, but definitely at the start of their speaking journey, that's completely normal. And I think the second would be to try not to copy how other people prepare for things and to find your own way. So when I first started speaking to adults, I would emulate the people around me and how they prepared. And I would sit down with them just before speaking. And it took me quite a lot of experience to think, actually, that's not me. And that's not working for me. And perhaps I need to find my own way of preparing and to calm my nerves. Because for some people, that's making sure they have a quiet space just before and revising. But for others, it's not doing that. So, yeah, find your own way. So Imposter Syndrome is fine. And secondly, find your own way in terms of preparation. And I think, thirdly, I'm really lucky that I have recorded myself a lot. And as annoying as that is to have to hear my voice over and over again, it's a really great self-reflective tool. So I can watch it. I will listen to things that perhaps annoyed me about what I said or the way I was acting. And I will adapt that. And I'll be more self-aware and self-conscious. Well, not self-conscious, but self-aware of those things and adapt them for the next time. It's also quite interesting. I don't know if this works for everybody. But I shared those recordings with my partner sometimes because I know he'll give me an open and honest opinion. And so I've said, what do you think? How do you think? I've shared it with my dad too, who's had a lot of experience in speaking and said, you might not have had the opportunity to watch me live, but what do you think of the recording? So getting some feedback from others as well in your personal circle and also in your circle at work is great, some open and honest feedback from them. As long as it's not going to affect your relationship, he wasn't too hard on me in either of them. They were both quite proud, but they both gave me some really good hints and tips as well. And I think that's the thing, isn't it? When you, even if you saw somebody live and they said afterwards, and it's somebody you know and they said afterwards, can you give me some feedback? You can probably only think of the last, I don't know, maybe 10 seconds. You've got, again, a short attention span. You haven't necessarily looked at it. And it's one of the things that is on my development of around feedback from a video perspective because I think you can stop, you can break it down, you can actually say, look, if you look at this and how your body language is and what you're saying, actions and words is also an aspect of if you are trying to say something in a very confident way, but your body language is kind of almost like betraying you, then is that message going to go across because of the statistics and the ratios, 55% of your communication is through the body language. So sometimes it doesn't really matter the content of what you're saying, but how you're presenting that and how you're engaging is what people remember. And interestingly, when you said about that aspect of being able, being comfortable and standing up in front of people and watching other people and trying to mimic them, my guess is how many of those people that you remember are good speakers. What do you remember about them? It would have been their body language and the way they held themselves and actually the whole virtual and in person. So I have learnt to, I am now much more comfortable virtually where some people are the opposite because around 80% of my speaking is virtually now and that can be audiences of hundreds of people through the virtual lens. And I've become quite conscious of how do you come across on the screen and it's actually quite different skills in person as to what you do virtually. And you have to use a lot more of your voice and facial expressions, whereas when you're on the stage, you can obviously do a lot of hints and tips like walking around and looking people in the eye and much easier, much harder, sorry, when you've got a camera, because you don't know if you're looking them in the eye because you don't know where they are on your screen or where they are in the room. So yeah, the virtual and in person thing as well. I've learnt to do virtual a lot better than I have in person. So in person makes me a lot more nervous. I think part of it is you get more of a reaction in person. So in one sense, and sometimes virtually you can be literally talking into a black hole. I remember doing that in delivering a set of webinars and being in an office that was motion censored. So all the lights went off and I was sat still. So I literally was sat in a black, dark room talking into a laptop where it wasn't, they didn't have the tiles at the time. So they didn't, these were quite a few years ago. These were breakovers. They didn't have the multi-tile so you couldn't see people on the screen. So I genuinely was looking and talking at my presentation with no engagement for an hour. And at the end of it, asking if there's any questions and there was no questions. Okay, bye. And you don't know who's there, but you still have to present that content and you can't just talk it. So you said the skills and they aren't, there's probably more of an alignment now because of the video camera, the fact you've got the multi-tile screen, you can use hand gestures, you can use facial expressions, you can use body language, but you're on a very small screen. Whereas when you're in person, I think as well, you see people's reactions. Bizarrely, you focus in on somebody's reaction, I think, more directly being in person than you would necessarily on a screen. So you hone in and you're like, that person's fallen asleep. I always choose the, if I'm ever in person, well, I'll probably watch the same virtually, but choose the disengaged person and make it a little challenge is something I do as well. I'm going to find his or their hook. I'm going to find their hook and I'm going to see if I can get them to sit up and just listen to me. So there's always going to be people who are super engaged in what you're saying, but there's also going to be people who aren't for many different reasons. And I always think, let's see if I can get them to pay attention, sit up and listen to me. And they're my own little mini wins, especially when I'm in person. I can be like, yes, I got three out of the six. I was trying to get them to come off their phone, for example, if they're at all. Now, they might just be making notes, but it's still a bit of a challenge to get them to look up to you and to pay attention to what you're doing. I love that. Like a little weird version of Battlefield. Yeah. Should I say. Yeah, it is. On that note, I'm going to finish there. Thank you very much, Becky. Really appreciate your time. And hopefully people have found it interesting. No worries. Thanks, Rach.