

Teach the Geek Podcast - public speaking for technical professionals
Neil Thompson
In STEM (science, technology, engineering, math)? Struggle with public speaking? Then you're in the right place! I'm Neil Thompson, engineer and speaker. This is the place to get tips to improve your public speaking, and also hear from others with STEM backgrounds who saw the benefit of public speaking in their careers and the steps they took to get better at it. Think you or someone you know would make a great guest? Email me at hello@teachthegeek.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 17, 2021 • 28min
EP. 179 - Christine Vartanian: Civil Engineering to Attorney to Stay at Home Mom to Personal Stylist
Christine Vartanian - Civil Engineering to Attorney to Stay at Home Mom to Personal Stylist
Christine Vartanian is the founder of jade. for all seasons COLLECTIVE, and serves as a personal style expert. Perhaps I could use her help. Would you believe that she earned a degree in Civil Engineering and a law degree? Then she was a stay at home mom for a decade before becoming a personal stylist. We talked about how she went from engineer to attorney to stylist - a typical career path.
Find out more about Christine at https://jadeforallseasons.com/
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Nov 10, 2021 • 30min
EP 178 - Amy Kaur - Water Resource Control Engineer & Engineering Gal
Amy Kaur - Water Resource Control Engineer & Engineering Gal
Amy Kaur is a water resource control engineer and the co-founder of Engineering Gals, an organization whose goal is to build a global community of women in STEM. She’s also co-host of the Gals Chat podcast, where she interviews women in STEM. Even though I’m not a gal and not particularly chatty, I’ve listened to a few episodes. I even had one of her guests, Lennis Perez, as a guest on my platform. We chatted about her decision to study Civil Engineering, the work of a water resource control engineer, and the evolution of Engineering Gals and Gals Chat.
To learn more about Amy, find her on IG and TikTok at @amydeepkaur
To check out the Gals Chat podcast, go to https://www.engineeringgals.com/podcast
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In STEM?
Struggle connecting with non-technical audiences?
Get 5 easy public speaking tips for STEM professionals
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Nov 3, 2021 • 28min
Ep. 177 - From Figure Skating to Product Management with Holly Hester-Reilly
From Figure Skating to Product Management with Holly Hester-Reilly.
Holly Hester-Reilly is founder and CEO of H2R Product Science. She works with startup founders and product leaders to figure out which product growth opportunities they should pursue. She came up with a framework called the Product Science Method to do just that. We talked about her life as a product manager, her motivation for starting H2R Product Science, and being a figure skater.
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Oct 27, 2021 • 29min
EP. 176 - Ina Coveney - IT to business coach
Teach the Geek interviews - public speaking for engineers and scientists
Ina Coveney does a number of things. Business coach. Speaker. Podcaster. She didn’t start off that way, though. She worked in IT for years, and left that behind to start her own business. I’m interested to learn more about her days in corporate, her transition to being a business coach, and her podcast, The Global Phenomenon Podcast.
To get in touch with Ina, find her on IG @yourengagementcoach
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12 snips
Oct 20, 2021 • 30min
EP. 175 - Dr. Lorien Pratt, what is decision intelligence?
Dr. Lorien Pratt, expert in decision intelligence and machine learning, shares her journey studying computer science, focusing on decision intelligence, and publishing her book. She discusses challenges in career transitions, embracing decision intelligence, and overcoming public speaking challenges to share technical concepts with non-technical audiences.

Oct 13, 2021 • 26min
EP. 174 - Jim Morris - engineer turned product discovery coach
Jim Morris - engineer turned product discovery coach
Jim Morris is the founder of Product Discovery Group, serving as a mentor and coach to product teams to assist them with idea development, user testing, user research, and developing rapid prototypes. He even developed a custom curriculum and training program to further this effort. We chatted about his start in computer science, the companies he founded, and the way that public speaking has benefited his career.
To learn more about Jim, visit https://productdiscoverygroup.com/.
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In STEM?
Struggle to communicate with non-technical audiences?
Get these tips today! teachthegeek.com/tips
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Oct 6, 2021 • 28min
EP. 173 - Gayathri Shukla, what does an engineer know about storytellng?
What does an engineer know about storytelling? Quite a bit!
After working in the energy industry for many years, Gayathri Shukla, my latest guest, took the leap and went fulltime with her business, Campfire Kinship. Campfire Kinship offers workshops on leadership, diversity & inclusion, and wellness. Gayathri is also a speaker; her topics range from storytelling to STEAM. We chatted about her business, the motivation to leave her fulltime job to become an entrepreneur, and her speaking topics. I even learned about her first love, English, and the reason she went into Engineering instead.
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In STEM?
Struggle connecting with non-technical audiences?
Get 5 public speaking tips for STEM professionals today!
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Sep 29, 2021 • 24min
EP. 172 - Bobby Umar, you've had quite the career since leaving Engineering!
Bobby Umar, you've had quite the career since leaving Engineering!
Bobby Umar started off as an engineer in the aerospace industry, but he has done quite a bit since. Marketing, sketch comedy, personal branding. What hasn’t he done? He’s also a speaker, speaking on a number of topics, including career development and thought leadership. We talked about his transition from Engineering and the decision to strike out on his own.
Get in touch with Bobby at https://www.raeallan.com/
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In STEM?
Want to improve at communicating with non-technical audiences?
Get 5 public speaking for STEM professionals today!
teachthegeek.com/tips
______________
TEACH THE GEEK
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Sep 22, 2021 • 31min
EP. 171 - Materials Engineer turned Mechanical Engineer Jabril Muhammad
Materials engineer turned Mechanical engineer Jabril Muhammad
Jabril Muhammad was a Materials engineer, but now works as a Mechanical engineer. He’s the Director of Engineering at Original Man Scientific, a consultancy that helps inventors turn their ideas into products. He’s also co-host of the STEM Files on YouTube; I had the pleasure of being a past guest. Jabril and I talked about his journey in Engineering, the moment he realized that being able to present could be of use to him, and the motivation for starting Original Man Scientific.
To get in touch with Jabril, visit www.sciencebyoms.com
His IG handle is jabrilliant_engineer
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In STEM?
Want some tips to improve at communicating with non-technical audiences?
Get them at teachthegeek.com/tips
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Sep 15, 2021 • 30min
EP. 170 - Lennis Perez, what is a wellness engineer?
Lennis Perez, what is a wellness engineer?
Lennis Perez worked as a process engineer, but now runs her own consultancy, Just Lennis LLC, a company that provides stress management services to corporations and associations in STEM. In her business, she serves as a wellness engineer, corporate stress management consultant, public speaker and MC, certified meditation teacher, and she’s also certified in plant-based nutrition. I’ was curious to find out what a wellness engineer is, where her interest in meditation came from, and how public speaking has benefited her business.
To learn more about Lennis, visit https://lennisperez.com/.
__________________
In STEM?
Struggle with communicating with non-technical audiences?
Get 5 public speaking tips for STEM professionals today!
teachthegeek.com/tips
__________________
TEACH THE GEEK
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youtube.teachthegeek.com
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@_teachthegeek_ (IG, TikTok)