Workshops

Are you looking to improve your engineering team's leadership and communication skills? With over a decade of experience as an engineering leader and conference speaker, I offer interactive workshops and personalised coaching to develop these key areas.

My workshops are designed to be highly interactive, featuring engaging exercises, moments for introspection, and lively discussions. This allows participants to immediately apply what they've learned and put their new skills into practice. With my background in online learning, I specialise in creating impactful learning experiences that resonate with participants long after the sessions end.

"Engineer Your Talks" Workshops

You've decided you want to give a talk. But you know you need to work on your speaking skills.

Maybe you don't know how to identify an interesting topic others want to learn more about. Maybe you don't know how to write a talk proposal. Maybe you don't know how to deal with your nerves.

You don't know where to start.

That's what the Engineer Your Talks workshops are for!

In these interactive 2-hour workshops, you'll learn how to approach your talks by applying an engineering mindset. You'll familiarize yourself with a few models and frameworks to develop your talks in a structured way that you can replicate at any time.

I run these workshops online regularly throughout the year, and you can sign up (yourself or your team members) for any of the upcoming sessions.

Do you want to arrange these workshops internally for your team? Reach out at melinda@seckington.com to explore further and discuss in an intro call.

Speaker Workshop for Engineering Teams & Leaders

Within tech, effective communication is key. Whether it's engaging with our team members, our stakeholders, or other departments, delivering a clear message is essential for achieving impactful outcomes. Getting that communication right is key to making the right type of impact. We need to understand how to structure our presentations so they can have the best effect on the audiences we are trying to reach.

In my Speaker Training workshops, I provide a comprehensive step-by-step approach, guiding product teams—engineers, designers, and product managers—through the process of creating impactful presentations.

Drawing from familiar concepts in product design and agile software engineering, these workshops ensure you learn to craft compelling presentations, target the right audience, frame your story effectively, and iterate for maximum impact.

With this workshop, you will: 

  • Apply a product mindset and design thinking to plan out a presentation.
  • Identify what impact you want on your audience.
  • Define what the main goal and key messages of your presentation should be.
  • Structure your presentation to create the best impact to achieve your goals.
  • Master the art of designing clear and impactful designs.
  • Deal with nerves and improve your stage presence and delivery.

This workshop is available in two formats: a 4-hour intensive session or a series of 1-hour workshops spread over several weeks (with take-home exercises in between).

Workshops can be made bespoke to fit your team. They can be adapted to teams that already have public speaking experience and need help levelling up or new teams looking to get into public speaking. The workshops can also be augmented with interactive feedback sessions and/or 1:1 coaching sessions. 

Curious to see how this could fit your team? Feel free to reach out today at melinda@seckington.com to explore further and discuss in an intro call.

Management Workshops for Engineering Leaders

Nurturing a positive and inclusive engineering culture isn't just desirable—it's essential for fostering a good engineering culture and retaining great engineers. Whether you're a seasoned engineering leader or aspiring to take the lead, my workshops are designed to make you a more impactful and considerate manager.

These Engineering Manager workshops offer a deep dive into engineering management fundamentals. Through dynamic discussions, real-world case studies, and hands-on exercises, you'll gain actionable strategies for effectively mentoring and developing your team, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth, and creating an environment where every individual feels valued and empowered.

With these workshops, your team members will learn how to: 

  • Conduct effective 1-on-1s and coaching/mentoring/sponsoring conversations
  • Provide constructive feedback and navigating difficult conversations
  • Understand individuals' core needs, emotions, and motivations
  • Explore and set goals with their team members, and support their personal development
  • Examine tools and methods for effective time management, prioritizing tasks, and balancing competing priorities
  • Make decisions and solve complex problems, including techniques for evaluating options, mitigating risks, and driving consensus within the team.
  • Apply techniques for navigating organizational change, fostering resilience and adaptability within the team, and effectively communicating and implementing changes to achieve desired outcomes.

Each of the above topics is a stand-alone 3-hour workshop. Workshops can be made bespoke to fit your team. They can be adapted to teams that already have management experience or new managers. The workshops can also be augmented with interactive feedback sessions and/or 1:1 coaching sessions. 

Why work with me?

I specialise in 1:1 speaker training and coaching tailored specifically for engineers and engineering leaders. I have over a decade of experience as both an international conference speaker and engineering leader, and over those years, I have helped many others improve their talks. I understand tech audiences and can help you create talks that will have a lasting impact on them.

I've previously worked at companies such as the Wikimedia Foundation and FutureLearn, where I focused on improving engineering management skills and practices and creating an internal engineering culture of learning. I’ve led on building outreach and evangelism initiatives, to get teams teaching each other and sharing what they know within the company as well as the wider tech community.

Need something more bespoke for your team? Reach out today at melinda@seckington.com to discuss collaboration opportunities and availability.

Email melinda@seckington.com