I know several different people who learn in different ways.  I know auditory learners.  I know visual learners.  I know book learners.  I know kinesthetic learners.

I am none of the above.

In College

After I finished my undergraduate degree, I took a whole day of before I started graduate school - in an entirely unrelated field.  Many of my colleagues had bachelors' degrees in business, so I usually felt a bit behind in courses on macroeconomics and international finance.

I tried listening to extra lectures.  I tried reading supplementary materials.  I tried watching our professors' video recordings from other terms.  Nothing seemed to help.

Then a friend asked me to help her study for a test.

I didn't know the material very well, but I said "sure" anyway.  We sat down with a few other students in the library and I gave my first impromptu lesson on microeconomics.

I didn't know the material at all but was teaching it.  This is when I discovered that I learned best by teaching.

Why I Speak

I sign up to speak at conferences because it gives me the opportunity to teach something.  Since I learn best by teaching others, I sign up to speak at conferences because I have something I want to learn.

I want to learn about asynchronous JavaScript, so I prepare and present talks on the topic.  I want to better learn unit testing, so I prepare and present talks on the topic.  I want to learn more about business development, so I prepare and present talks on the topic.

If there's something I want to learn, I'll find a reason to go out, study up, and present it to someone else.

I speak at conferences not just because there's something cool I want to present, but because there's something cool I want to learn.

Why do you speak at conferences?