Successful Speaking for Technical Professionals

Frank DiBartolomeo
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Welcome to “Successful Speaking for Technical Professionals,” the podcast dedicated to helping you shine in the spotlight and deliver your technical expertise with flair. I’m your host, Frank DiBartolomeo. In each episode, I will draw from my over 40 years experience as an engineer and over 30 years experience as a Toastmaster to explore the nuances of presenting complex information in a way that resonates and engages. Whether you're a software engineer, data scientist, or any tech professional eager to polish your presentation skills, this show is for you. We’ll tackle everything from crafting clear and compelling narratives to mastering the art of visual aids and handling challenging questions with poise. Join us as we speak with seasoned presenters, communication specialists, and industry insiders who will share their secrets for making your technical presentations not just informative but unforgettable. If you’re ready to transform your technical knowledge into impactful presentations and leave a lasting impression, you’re in the right place. Remember, great presentations are not just about sharing information—they’re about connecting with your audience and making your message resonate. From refining your narrative to perfecting your delivery, every detail counts. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a review and share it with your colleagues. We’d love to hear your feedback and any topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Thanks for joining us, and until next time, keep honing those presentation skills and make every tech talk count!

  1. 3d ago

    56. How Engineers Can Make Meetings More Efficient

    “Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better.” — Peter F. Drucker, management consultant and author   One of the most frustrating activities for engineers is attending inefficient meetings. Engineers are taught in engineering school to always use the most efficient design.  Why can’t this apply to the meetings they attend? The truth is, meetings can be more efficient if you follow the three steps in this podcast. References  MIT Sloan School of Management — Meredith Somers, “5 Ways to Avoid Ineffective Meetings,” June 17, 2020. Recommends cataloging issues in advance and measuring meeting effectiveness through decisions made and problems solved. Atlassian — “How to Run Effective Meetings in the Era of Hybrid Work,” February 24, 2022. Addresses agendas, meeting objectives, attendee selection, decision-making, action items, and when information should be communicated asynchronously. Atlassian — “How to Write an Effective Team Meeting Agenda.” Recommends prioritizing agenda items, defining meeting purposes, allocating time to topics, and giving participants advance preparation time. Atlassian — “How to Turn Meeting Action Items Into Trackable Work.” Defines effective action items around an owner, specific action, scope, expected outcome, and deadline. Atlassian/Confluence — “Meeting Minutes Template.” Recommends documenting agenda items, decisions, action items, owners, and deadlines while using time-boxes to maintain meeting focus.   © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  2. Sep 9

    55. How Engineers Can Get Executives to Make a Decision During Their Presentation

    “When you get to about 70% of all possible data, it’s probably time to make a decision and not wait for the last 30. That’s judgment.” — General Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff   You’ve delivered your technical presentation, hoping executives in the audience will decide. But at the end of your presentation, no decision is made.  How frustrating. Without a decision, you can’t move forward with your recommended action. What can you do? In this podcast, you will discover three ways to steer an executive audience to a decision. References  McKinsey & Company. “The Limits of RACI—and a Better Way to Make Decisions.” McKinsey & Company, 2022. Discusses explicitly identifying meetings as decision, discussion, or information meetings and defining decision-making roles. McKinsey & Company. “Untangling Your Organization’s Decision Making.” McKinsey Quarterly, June 21, 2017. Recommends focusing decision meetings on solutions, using prework, bringing the necessary facts to the table, and clearly assigning ownership after decisions.  McKinsey & Company. “Want a Better Decision? Plan a Better Meeting.” McKinsey Quarterly, May 8, 2019. Defines the roles of decision makers, advisers, recommenders, and execution partners and emphasizes recommendations based on analysis of alternatives and trade-offs. McKinsey & Company. “What Is an Effective Meeting?” McKinsey Explainers, January 17, 2023. Explains that decision-making meetings require clarity about who makes the decision and should produce a final decision rather than simply additional discussion. McKinsey & Company. “If We’re All So Busy, Why Isn’t Anything Getting Done?” McKinsey Quarterly, January 10, 2022. Describes the DARE decision-rights model and the recommender's responsibility to analyze alternatives, explain pros and cons, and recommend a course of action.    ___________________________________     Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset.  With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.    Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations.  Let's connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be.  Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation.  Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks.    © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  3. Sep 2

    54. How Engineers Can Present Risk Without Sounding Alarmist

    “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army and 34th President of the United States   You deal with risk every day. You deal with risk when you drive to work. You deal with risk every time your son or daughter plays soccer. You deal with risk as an airline passenger. And you deal with risk every day as an engineer.  Risk management is part and parcel of your job.  You face major risks when you embark on hardware and/or software development.  Your ability to identify, analyze, and recommend how to proceed with these risks determines your performance as an engineer. So how can you present these risks without sounding alarmist? In this podcast, you will discover three ways to do this. References NASA. NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, Section 6.4: Technical Risk Management. Defines risk through scenarios, likelihood, consequences, and uncertainties and discusses mitigation, contingency actions, trigger thresholds, monitoring, and communication. NASA Technical Risk Management  Institute of Medicine. (2013). Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty, Chapter 6, “Communication of Uncertainty.” Washington, DC: National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/12568. Discusses numerical, verbal, and graphical communication of probability and notes the ambiguity inherent in terms such as “likely” and “unlikely.” National Academies — Communication of Uncertainty National Research Council. (2006). Completing the Forecast: Characterizing and Communicating Uncertainty for Better Decisions Using Weather and Climate Forecasts. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/11699. Explains problems with verbal probability expressions and the advantages of numerical probabilities and relative frequencies. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/23674. Reviews evidence on communicating scientific uncertainty and how audiences interpret numerical and probabilistic information. McGuire, M. (2023). Lessons Learned With Risk Management: A Systems Engineer’s Perspective. NASA Technical Reports Server. Emphasizes risk management as a communication mechanism that allows engineering teams to identify concerns early and implement mitigation before risks become failures.   ___________________________________   Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset.  With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.    Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations.  Let's connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be.  Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation.  Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks.    © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  4. Aug 26

    53. How Engineers Can Disagree with Executives Without Damaging Their Credibility

    “Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.” — Colin Powell, American U.S. Army general, diplomat, and statesman   Are you intimidated by the idea of disagreeing with an executive in your company?  Many engineers are.   You may feel that disagreeing with an executive will hurt your credibility, your chances for promotion, or even keep you from keeping your job. When done the right way, disagreeing with an executive when warranted will usually have the opposite effect. Successful executives know that they don’t have all the answers.  And they usually don’t tolerate “yes men and women.” In fact, they prefer engineers who tell them the unvarnished truth, even when it conflicts with the executive’s own view. In this article, we will explore three ways engineers can disagree with executives without damaging their credibility. References Gallo, Amy. “How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You.” Harvard Business Review, March 17, 2016. Discusses assessing the risks of speaking up, connecting disagreement to shared goals, asking permission to dissent, avoiding judgmental language, and respecting the decision-maker's authority.Edmondson, Amy C. “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, June 1999, pp. 350–383. The study of 51 work teams established psychological safety as a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and connected it with learning behavior.Nembhard, Ingrid M., and Amy C. Edmondson. “Making It Safe: The Effects of Leader Inclusiveness and Professional Status on Psychological Safety and Improvement Efforts in Health Care Teams.” Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 27, No. 7, 2006, pp. 941–966. Examines hierarchy, professional status, leader inclusiveness, and employees' willingness to speak upNembhard, Ingrid M., and Amy C. Edmondson. “Psychological Safety: A Foundation for Speaking Up, Collaboration, and Experimentation in Organizations.” The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 491–504. Reviews evidence linking  © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission. © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  5. Aug 19

    52. How Engineers Can Communicate Uncertainty Without Sounding Uncertain

    “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it.” — William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, was one of the most influential physicists and engineers of the 19th century    Engineers routinely work with probabilities, assumptions, incomplete data, forecasts, simulations, and technical risk.  The challenge is to acknowledge what is unknown while remaining clear about what should be done.  Research on risk communication consistently supports communicating uncertainty rather than hiding it—but tying that uncertainty directly to its significance for the decision.  In this podcast, you will discover three ways you can communicate uncertainty without sounding uncertain. References  National Research Council. Improving Risk Communication. National Academies Press, 1989. The report recommends explicitly disclosing meaningful uncertainties, data gaps, confidence levels, and disagreements while avoiding both minimizing and exaggerating uncertainty. Institute of Medicine. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. National Academies Press, 2013. Chapter 6 examines how uncertainty should be communicated in decision-making, including confidence, risk estimates, audience characteristics, and the effect uncertainty has on decisions. Spiegelhalter, David. “Risk and Uncertainty Communication.” Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application, Vol. 4, 2017, pp. 31–60. Reviews methods for communicating numerical risk, probabilities, verbal expressions, graphics, and deeper forms of uncertainty. Sudret, Bruno; Podofillini, Luca; and Zio, Enrico. “Treatment of Uncertainty in Risk and Reliability Modeling and Decision-Making.” ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2019. Emphasizes that uncertainty modeling, decision-making under uncertainty, and communication of uncertainty should be integral to engineering risk management. NASA. NASA Risk-Informed Decision Making Handbook, NASA/SP-2010-576, 2010. Provides a structured framework for evaluating alternatives and making engineering and program decisions when significant uncertainty exists. © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  6. Aug 12

    51. Three Reasons Why Excellent Presentation Skills Lead to Faster Prom

    “If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.” --- Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway    Technical competence may earn professionals credibility, but strong presentation skills help decision-makers see, understand, and trust that competence.  For engineers and other technical professionals, presenting effectively can demonstrate the communication, influence, strategic thinking, and leadership capabilities expected at higher organizational levels.  In this podcast, we will explore three reasons excellent presentation skills lead to faster promotions. References  National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). “Career Readiness Competencies: Communication.” Revised March 2025. NACE defines workplace communication as clearly and effectively exchanging information, ideas, facts, and perspectives and specifically identifies persuasion, influencing, organized communication, and verbal and nonverbal abilities as important workplace behaviors. NACE Communication CompetencyNational Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). “Career Readiness Development and Validation.” 2025. In NACE's foundational employer research involving 606 employer respondents, 91.6% identified oral/written communication as essential or absolutely essential, placing communication among the most highly valued workplace competencies. NACE Career Readiness ResearchNational Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). “What Is Career Readiness?” NACE identifies communication, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, teamwork, technology, and career/self-development among the core competencies associated with workplace and career success. Its communication behaviors specifically include persuasion, influence, clarity, organization, and adapting communication to others. NACE Career Readiness CompetenciesProject Management Institute. “Power Skills and Project Success.” PMI. PMI identifies communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and strategic thinking among the most important power skills and connects these interpersonal capabilities with successful organizational outcomes. These are precisely the capabilities professionals can demonstrate visibly through effective presentations. PMI Power Skills and Project SuccessRabelo, Dannilo, et al. “Communication Skills in Software Engineering: A Multivocal Review.” 2026. This recent review of academic and professional literature found strong agreement that communication is a core competency in software engineering, reinforcing that technical expertise alone does not define professional effectiveness. © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  7. Aug 5

    50. The Communication Habits of Highly Respected Engineers

    "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." — Stephen R. Covey, from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989). Covey (1932–2012) was an educator, leadership consultant, and internationally recognized author.   Technical expertise may earn engineers a seat at the table, but communication earns them influence.  The engineers who are most respected by colleagues, managers, and executives consistently communicate with clarity, credibility, and purpose.  This podcast explores three habits of highly respected engineers. ________________________________ References  Gallo, Carmine. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds. St. Martin's Press, 2014.  Duarte, Nancy. Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences. John Wiley & Sons, 2010.  Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead. Random House, 2018.  Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Free Press, 1989.Edmondson, Amy C. The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. John Wiley & Sons, 2019.  __________________________________ Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset.  With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience, and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly. Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations.  Let's connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be.  Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary discovery call.  Schedule one with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

  8. Jul 29

    49. How You Can Earn Executive Trust in the First Five Minutes of Their Presentation

    "Trust is equal parts character and competence. You can look at any leadership failure, and it's always a failure of one or the other." -- Stephen Covey, American author, educator, leadership consultant, and businessman   Senior executives often decide within the first few minutes whether a presentation deserves their attention.  They are evaluating not only the technical content but also the speaker's credibility, confidence, and ability to communicate business value.  Engineers who establish trust early are far more likely to influence decisions, secure resources, and gain executive support.  Below are three ways you can earn executive trust in the first five minutes of your presentation. References Gallo, C. (2014). Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.Duarte, N. (2012). HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.Reynolds, G. (2019). Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: New Riders.  Mollick, E. (2024). Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. New York, NY: Portfolio. Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. © 2026 DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC. All Rights Reserved. May not be used without permission.

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About

Welcome to “Successful Speaking for Technical Professionals,” the podcast dedicated to helping you shine in the spotlight and deliver your technical expertise with flair. I’m your host, Frank DiBartolomeo. In each episode, I will draw from my over 40 years experience as an engineer and over 30 years experience as a Toastmaster to explore the nuances of presenting complex information in a way that resonates and engages. Whether you're a software engineer, data scientist, or any tech professional eager to polish your presentation skills, this show is for you. We’ll tackle everything from crafting clear and compelling narratives to mastering the art of visual aids and handling challenging questions with poise. Join us as we speak with seasoned presenters, communication specialists, and industry insiders who will share their secrets for making your technical presentations not just informative but unforgettable. If you’re ready to transform your technical knowledge into impactful presentations and leave a lasting impression, you’re in the right place. Remember, great presentations are not just about sharing information—they’re about connecting with your audience and making your message resonate. From refining your narrative to perfecting your delivery, every detail counts. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a review and share it with your colleagues. We’d love to hear your feedback and any topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Thanks for joining us, and until next time, keep honing those presentation skills and make every tech talk count!

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