Last week I spoke at the Bellingham Young Professional Group on starting and running a business. It was a well attended presentation. I was nervous at first because although I do a lot of public speaking, I usually speak to technical people. This was a wholly different crowd and I was pulling from a different set of expertise. The crowd was largely under 30 and wanting to start a business of some sort. The presentation went over well and by far the most common feedback was, "I didn't even consider that, thank you". It is a good feeling to know you are helping people.

Indirect Advocacy: not directly caused by a recommendation of a particular cause

By stepping out of my comfort zone I was able to help people not only with business but also help PostgreSQL. As PostgreSQL (and Open Source) is what I do, presenting on a topic that is not directly related to PostgreSQL allows me to advocate for PostgreSQL and Open Source in new ways. Here are my slides and I will be posting more on Indirect Advocacy in the future.