🎤 Introduce yourselves!

[Bridget]

Hello, Atlassian Speaker Bench! 

Welcome to the group :). We're all here to sharpen our public speaking skills by learning from one another and by practicing IRL (or virtually) at Atlassian Community Events! 

Drop a quick intro of yourself into the comments below - here are some ideas for what you can share:

• Where do you work?
• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 
• If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?
• What is your favorite quote of all time?

Looking forward to meeting you!

Bridget 

[Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_]

Thanks for the great intro @Bridget, very excited to be a part of this group!

So on to my intro...

• Hey, I'm Laura and I head up the marketing team for Automation Consultants 👩🏻‍💻
• I'm most excited to be a part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench to share and learn from other members in the Atlassian ecosystem and continue to grow as a community that can help deliver amazing content and thought leadership pieces ✨
• Ooh the TED talk's an interesting question, I guess talking about my two adorable cocker spaniels won't cut it so it would more likely be on the ever-changing landscapes of events and how to conquer them 🎪
• "Creativity is intelligence having fun" 🎨

I can't wait to get stuck in!

[Bridget]

Great to have you in here @Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_ ! I love seeing your name pop up more and more :). 

I will not rest until I see a photo of your two adorable cocker spaniels ⏰

[Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_]

I'm sure that can be arranged @Bridget 😄

[md mymul]

hi mem 

[Fun Man Andy]

Hello all!! It's me, the one & only Fun Man Andy! 🤩🌟

I am not a public speaker, but a big time Master of Ceremonies.... when I am not busy at work I plug a lot of free-time into my volunteer role for Atlassian Community!!

• I "work" for Atlassian Community as a Community Leader managing the Rotterdam Atlassian Community Events - check us OUT (latest Virtual Event!)
• I am MOST excited due in part to always looking for great speakers who have amazing stories to share with the Community, whether it's Cloud Migration, or Jira Automation or mastering Trello Templates; we host a wide variety of epic talks!
• About why EVERYONE should come on over to Rotterdam ACE and Contact The Host asking to give a talk at an upcoming Virtual ACE 😉
• "JUST DO IT !" Whether you are new to Speaking and need a safe environment to do it for the first time, or you are an experienced veteran looking for the perfect place to share your wisdom, just do it! (And do it at Rotterdam ACE... #plug)

[Bridget]

+1 Rotterdam ACE is very fun! 

[Huwen Arnone _Deiser_]

+2 @Fun Man Andy has been one of the most memorable ACEs we (DEISER) have ever attended. He has a great skill of making everyone involved and welcomed. 

[Fun Man Andy]

It was absolutely #AMAZABALLZ @Huwen Arnone _Deiser_ 
We definitely had a great time and it was super duper informative.
The hands on Demo was perfect. Cannot wait to do it again!

[Huwen Arnone _Deiser_]

Haha, it was!! @Fun Man Andy, don't mention it twice; we might take your word up!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Fun Man Andy]

PLEASE DO! Porfavor!! 🙏

[md mymul]

yah

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

And when I am not hustling hard for Atlassian Community as FMA, I am just Andy.... and I loooooooove Speaking!!

• I work for Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) as a Project Manager, currently in the IOT/AR Centre of Excellence division
• I am really excited due to my experience with Speaking, which I have done all my life, but in particular when it comes to Atlassian products. At PTC we have an expansive Atlassian ecosystem, many instances, both Cloud & Server, and even Trello (which we talked about at Summit 2020!) So, it makes for interesting knowledge sharing and stories! But Speaking is also a life-long learning experience, therefore I am also keen to learn more than ever through this awesome group!
• "Lessons in Life" - I would love to write a book on all my life lessons that I've collected over the years (one page is a funny, relevant image, the other page is a short written text on the lesson... and then hundreds of pages! LOL) and the TED talk would be a comedic summary of that!
• "Everything in life is a choice. Make your choices; have no regrets!"

[Dave Liao]

@Bridget - Whoa, this is like an Atlassian Toastmasters chapter! 🙂🍻

I'm excited to be part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench to have an opportunity to work on my presenting chops - it's an area of life that I haven't focused on as much as I'd like.

[Bridget]

Yes, exactly @Dave Liao ! That's what @Stephanie Grice call it too :)

[BoxaFit]

Hello! My name is Hasan Asif Azad. Asif in short. I am a sports person and trainer and coach.
• I am working at government University at Karachi, Pakistan as a Sports Officer. I am also an Artist do Sketching and painting.
• I am happy to be here and I really like TED talks and I wish that I can do this.
• I am also running a Boxafit Training Service in Karachi and aim to extend this all over Pakistan then world. I am also a youtuber and makes videos on Boxing and fitness and other sports. My YouTube channel name is "BoxaFit".
• My favourite quote is, "Impossible is nothing

[Bridget]

@BoxaFit - would love to see some of your art! You should link it here!

[BoxaFit]

Can I share my art works here? 

[Esther Strom]

@BoxaFit the most recent Friday Funday thread is about sharing arts and crafts. We'd love to see your work!

[md mymul]

HI

[flexiMove Physiotherapy]

Hi, Thank You for letting me be a part of this group. 

So my name is Danyal Riaz. 

I'm Founder/ C. E. O of fleximove Physiotherapy. I'm a physiotherapist myself as well. 

My favorite quote is a actually a verse of poem by Dylan Thomas " Do not go gentle into that goodnight, 

Rage, Rage against the dieing of the light".

[Victor Akeloe]

Good day everyone! 

I’m Victor from Ghana in Africa. I’m very honoured to be part of this great and interactive community. I’m a student here in Ghana, I study BSc. Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I love to talk about about youth leadership in the 21st century.

[Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_]

Welcome to the Community @Victor Akeloe 🙌🥳

[md mymul]

THANK YOU

[Huwen Arnone _Deiser_]

You're on fire, @Bridget; this is an excellent idea for a group! And to be fair, you should also introduce yourself over here as well. We want to meet you 😎🙌

Here I go with my introduction:

• Where do I work?
  I work for the marketing team of DEISER, a Spanish Atlassian Solution (Platinum), and Marketplace (Gold) partners from Spain, with the mission to expose outside their walls the exceptional work these people are making regarding the implementation of Atlassian solutions into other teams. These words got stuck in my head when I started working with them.
  
  
• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 
  I'm a half introvert, and despite that, those nerves involved previous a public speaking situation, and those awkward first three minutes actually speaking, I enjoy to do it. It usually flows quite naturally, given I like to do it in a distended way, trying to get closer to my audience. Ironically, since I'm in the Atlassian ecosystem, I've never had dared to speak in public in this role because I feel intimidated regarding my lack of in-depth technical knowledge in software tools. 
  
  
• If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?
  This is how my brain feels now with this question:
  
  I'm pitching a few subjects: it could be about professional changes, creativity vs. ideas, marketing experiences, best advertising practices, living between chaos and order at work (inspired by Mr. James P.), the influence of music on almost everything, learning through traveling, software as the center of businesses in the digital era... there is so much to talk about. I'm sorry 👀
  
  
• What is your favorite quote of all time?
  This is complicated because it makes more sense in Spanish "Ocuparse en lugar de PREocuparse," which would be something like "Get busy instead of getting worried." 

Your turn, Bridget! 😁🙈

[Esther Strom]

Just found this group! 

• I'm a process integration engineer at Pizza Hut Connect, the digital arm of Pizza Hut U.S. I own and administer our Atlassian ecosystem and work with teams to integrate it with other systems.
• I'm excited to find this group because public speaking terrifies me! I've gotten comfortable enough with presenting to large groups at work, because I know what I have to say will be relevant to those people; presenting at a conference is something I've wanted to do, but I always feel like my experiences are too localized to be interesting or informative to others.
• If I could give a TED talk, it would be about how "being Agile" does not mean having no processes or rules 😁
• The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' --Grace Hopper

[Mike Rink]

I love that quote, thanks for sharing @Esther Strom 

[Huwen Arnone _Deiser_]

I'm so curious about the use cases you @Esther Strom might have within your hands! It's always appealing to learn how big companies use Atlassian products and apps.

[prashant_gami]

I am a techie, a businessman and a friend. I love talking about many things so this is definitely right up my ally.

Where do you work?

• I run a technology innovation company called xEnabler. I am Atlassian Community Leader in Sydney and I lead technical committees at few networking groups across Australia.

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench?

• I love talking technology, startup and philosophy. So speaking to large audience provides me a platform for communicating my ideas. I have been organising Atlassian event for the past year and a half and I think it's a great platform to meet like minded people.

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

• The first one at least has to definitely be around the art of listening but I can talk about technology, business, innovation, startups and various other topics.

What is your favourite quote of all time?

If you have more than what you need, build a bigger table not a higher fence.

Looking forward to meeting you all!

Prashant

[Sofia Neto Canário]

Hi there! So let's introduce myself..

Where do you work?

• I work at Xray ( Atlassian Marketplace Test Management App), and my role is to help our customers to get the most out of Xray. In the past, I've worked as an Atlassian Expert and implemented Atlassian solutions in many portuguese customers. I'm using Jira since 2006, so I DO remember JIRA old UI... :D And a curiosity I was born in the same day that Jira did (if you don't know, is 10th April)

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 

• I love learning and sharing, so having the chance to be in events as an attendee or as a speaker is a must! By the way... I miss Atlassian Summit (live!)

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

• About Social Impact & Technology ( tech for good). Besides working with Xray, I'm also founder of Donate IT ( non-for-profit that helps other non-for-profit with tech enablement & digital transformation). And about Collaboration, I just would love to learn & share what I've been learning on the subject. 

What is your favorite quote of all time?

• "Be the change you want to see in the world" -Mahatma Gandhi

[md mymul]

Hi

[Mike Rink]

Hey all, really excited to see this Community group come together. I've been fortunate enough to speak at a few Atlassian ecosystem events including Partner and Community events, but I'm always looking to improve my skills. 

Where do you work?

I'm the Marketing Manager at Comalatech, one of the oldest Marketplace Partners around. 

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 

It's important to me to always keep learning, and picking up skills from all of you will certainly help that. But, I also find that speaking in front of people invariably leads to great conversations afterwards, and I hope this group leads to more of those. 

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

If I didn't care about attendance, it would probably be about the ghost towns in the area where I'm from (British Columbia, Canada). But something relevant to work? How about "Listen Before You Speak - Understanding Customers Before Marketing to Them".  

What is your favorite quote of all time?

"I just wish people would realize that anything's possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try." - Terry Fox

I look forward to reading all of your bios! 

[Bruce Chamoff]

Nice to meet you, @Mike Rink - I see you are from BC. I am from New York, but before the pandemic hit the US, I gave a presentation on web development at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Beautiful city and I got to jog the Lyons Gate Bridge.

[Mike Rink]

@Bruce Chamoff sounds like you got to see some of the best parts of the city then, either coming into Stanley Park or heading towards our North Shore mountains. Unfortunately, it's days like today where it's pouring rain that we pay the price to get all that green!

Nice to meet you as well! 

[Bruce Chamoff]

Yes, I loved Stanley Park.

[Jose Luis Gaitan]

Hello, Greatings from Madrid, Spain!! :)

I'm very excited of being part of this group and to try to learn from all the marvellous people here!!

I'm the Community Leader of the Atlassian Community in Madrid and I hope to do all my best to have the people engaged and united as a group.

Where do you work?

• I work at Entelgy, an IT Company, as an Agile Coach/Scrum Master, trying to forming and involving people and enterprises into Agility.

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 

• I love learning and sharing, I love being part of a marvellous community, where persons are really impostant.

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

• About how we can help people to solve their problems with our own tools. I work with non profit organizations too and I think I MUST be at service of people who need me.

What is your favorite quote of all time?

• "If you can dream it, you can do it"

[Rachrachben]

Hey everyone  

Rachid 

Seriously tour guide safety in Morocco 

I am so excited about the team and the experience from the fabulous   @Bridget   and everyone who make it easy to learn and sharing the information about the company services  

 don't forget to explore and in the same time explain for new users what's the best for new users as I do.

Have a good time with atlassian community 

GREAT DAY 4 EVERYONE 

PEACE!!!

Ps         @Rachrachben  

[Jimmy Seddon]

Hello Everyone!

I'm a bit late to the party.  I'm Jimmy!

I live in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and I work for a SaaS based Cyber Security company called Arctic Wolf Networks.

I'm excited about being involved with the Speaker's Bench to put myself in uncomfortable situations where I will learn to become a better public speaker.

I'm not extremely familiar with TED talks, but after a quick Google search, I think right now it would be really fun to do a talk about why getting involved in a Community (not just the Atlassian Community) can help you be more successful.

My favorite quote (though I have no idea who it is from) is: "Luck, is when opportunity meets preparation."  The idea good things will happy if you know what you want and keep your eyes open.

[Ahmed Arslan]

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure how much I'm late but as they say it is better to be late than never. 

• I'm working as a Systems Engineer at Upwork and working from home in Pakistan.
• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 
• I'm very excited about the process that different businesses are using and I'm here to find out how can I help with them and obviously learn from them. Last but not the least, I'm more curious about how I can get into industry standard practices.
• ok, I always wanted to give a ted talk on a number of topics from humanity to the science but If I have to start, I'll start with this topic, how to think big in resourceless places.
• It might sound bizarre, but it is what it is: Do it now before you die.

I'm hoping to see everyone and express myself.

Thanks

Ahmed Arslan

[Bruce Chamoff]

Hi everyone, nice to meet you. I love public speaking and have spoken in 11 American and Canadian cities. My speciality is web development and podcasting. I own the first podcast network from 2005. My TED talk would be about making an impact while thinking out of the box. Favorite quote from Benjamin Franklin "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise". I love helping people get over public speaking fears, so that is why I am here at the Atlassian speaker bench.

[Neel]

Hello everyone, 

My name is Neel and I am happy to be there and joining this group. I am a certified life & career coach after long services in the corporate world. I always loved and enjoyed public speaking and presentation. Whenever there is an opportunity to participate , I am always present.

By profession I was a LtCol in defence and later joined the corporate world. I am a telecom  engineer  and shouldered management responsibilities too.

I share my experience in life & Career to help people move faster and with less effort in their lives and profession.

I look forward to interact with all the wonderful people around here. 

Cheers Neel.

[Deleted user]

Hi Fam,

My name is Jason Portelli, but most call me JP. I'm a speaker, MC, Podcaster, and extrovert. Here are my rocket fire responses :) 

• Where do you work?

I'm the Partnerships Director for Breathe Australia - a People, Payroll, and Planning software solution for small businesses.

• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 

Always keen to learn and hone the craft - and share any knowledge I can with up-and-coming speakers.

• If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

Connecting with people. Despite the fact that there are good and bad ways to use your connections to progress your career, the optimist in me likes to think that the relationships you build can be mutually beneficial to the growth of your career.

• What is your favorite quote of all time?

I struggle to pick favorites of most things - but it has to be the opening lines from Eminem's Lose yourself -  

Look
If you had
One shot
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture it
Or just let it slip?

Feel free to connect with me here, and on Linkedin - I'm always keen to grow my network :) 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonportelli/

[Sharon Tan]

Love the Eminem lyrics @[deleted] ! Looking forward to hearing + learning more from you and hearing your thoughts on connection sometime!

[Nipun Aggarwal]

• Where do you work? I work at the place that defines AGILE: Atlassian!!
• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench?: I have been excited about speaking about technology, decision making, and just life in general. A community is the most important thing to grow these skills.
• If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about? About the effects of habits and how we can use productivity tools to strengthen them. Or just powers of habits in general.
• What is your favorite quote of all time? Here's one that I wrote, it's my personal mission statement: To leave a good impact on people I meet and at places I go.

[Sharon Tan]

Yay, @Nipun Aggarwal ! Welcome! Have you read Atomic Habits by James Clear? Would love to hear more of your thoughts on habits sometime!

[Nipun Aggarwal]

I haven't got the chance to, but would soon get to it!

I've read two others though:
1. 7 Habits of Highly effective people
2. Power of Habit

[Rodney Nissen - ReleaseTEAM]

Where do you work?

• That is a very nuanced question.  For my day job I work with Coyote Creek Consulting as a Senior Atlassian Engineer.  However, I consider my side-gig as an Atlassian Blogger very much a job too.

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench? 

• The biggest thing is I really love sharing my knowledge of the platforms with others - it's been a driving force for a few years now.  I just see this as another way to do so.

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

• I love seeing new and unique ways people use Jira - so I would probably go deep into that.  My favorite example (and one I've covered in depth before) is how someone from an ACE group configured Jira to be used as a Jeopardy board.  But there are hundreds of examples like this.

What is your favorite quote of all time?

• Do, or do not - there is no try.
  
  

Also, Cat Picture!

[Gaurav]

Hello community,

Seems like I am late to the party!!!

Where do you work? 

• I am currently working with Nagarro, Atlassian Platinum Partner as an Associate Principal Engineer, based out of India.

Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench?

• I am really keen to explore new avenues for self-growth and I believe public speaking and writing are the 2 areas that help us expand our horizons quickly.

If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?

• Hhhmmm, tough one for me but possibly about Service Management as I am passionate about it and also about Automation, but will need to prepare a lot :D

What is your favorite quote of all time?

• 'Dare to dream, Act to realise', something which I have learned through my life experiences.

[Abbie Robey]

Hello! 👋🏼

I have just discovered this post, and realise I am SO late to this party, however, I'm going to participate nonetheless as I feel it's a great start having just joined the Atlassian Community, following the 'Golden Ticket' announcement!

Such great questions, let's kick them off-

• Where do you work?
  • I work at Atlassian, within the Talent Acquisition team here in ANZ. Recruiting the next phase of kick-ass Designers!
• Why are you excited about being part of the Atlassian Speaker Bench?
  • It's got to be, having the access to learn from other members in the Atlassian ecosystem (and hopefully share something myself at some point). A lot of things getting shared around throughout this community, aren't things that would come up in my everyday! Getting to learn things that are WAY outside my remit is going to be fun!
• If you could give a TED talk, what would it be about?
  • Making it personal now 💕, but it would be talking about Endometriosis, and how it's the "most common disease that nobody has ever heard of", which is funnily the name of a TED talk already presented by a leading advocate in the community. I'd tag team up with this particular speaker and aim to increase the awareness of this disease, hopefully going viral and enhancing this community with the passion and knowledge that I know I can add!! Get me up on that stage haha!
• What is your favourite quote of all time? (I have two, sorry!)
  • "Women are strong, but women are stronger together" 💪🏼
  • "It's a good day to have a good day" 🤗

See you all around!

[Vish Reddy _Revyz_]

Hi All,

Thank you for making me part of your group!

• I work for Revyz (pronounced as revize i.e. if you make a mistake you can correct it back :-)) 
• I have been in the information security space for many years and I am excited share some of my learnings from over the years with the Atlassian community
• If given an opportunity to do a TED talk, I would love to talk about "the purpose of life" 
• Favorite quote - "You may delay, but time will not" - Ben Franklin

Looking forward to working with you all.

Thank you

Vish

[Jonathan V.]

Hey everyone, 

My name is Jonathan, and I have been working with Atlassian products in one way or another for the last 15 or so years. I have to say that I truly appreciate and love the suite of products offered.

I think that Atlassian came into the market at a time when there were not many quality options available, and have distinguished themselves by offering a truly comprehensive suite of products that can be tailored to work for any institution out there.

• I'm currently working for a financial institution in sunny Miami, Florida. I also own a consultancy group (Integrated Solutions Consulting Group) which helps businesses think through and solve complex problems (many times with Atlassian products).
• I'm excited to be a part of the group, because I love talking about things that I like/love, or that can make people's life better. I also like being exposed to a larger part of the Atlassian community.
• TED talk, hmm, that's a tough one. I think I would enjoy talking about how you can apply Agile concepts in complex, real-world situations. Either that, or game theory, and how that can be used to engage employees in our current environment to help reduce attrition rates. 
• One of the quotes I have loved for many, many years is one by Benjamin Franklin: "Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."
• Another extra quote which I love is the one from Thomas Edison regarding his "failures" when inventing the light bulb; he said: "I have not failed 10,000 times - I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."