Some of the smartest people I’ve worked with are also some of the hardest people to listen to. Not because their work isn’t interesting. It’s because they know so much about their subject that they have trouble figuring out which parts the rest of us actually care about.
Not to stereotype engineers, but I’ve noticed a few patterns. They’re smart, analytical, and often know more than anyone else in the room. They can also communicate like they’re writing a university paper, get lost in technical details, and spend 20 minutes explaining something that could have been a fascinating and memorable two-minute conversation.
I call this “nerding out,” and I think it’s one of the best ways to show your expertise. There is absolutely a time and place for nerding out, it’s just probably not where you think.
Tell us the cool stuff!
I’ve watched technical presentations at companies of all sizes, and there’s a pattern I see constantly. Someone walks us through every step they took to build something. First, they did this. Then they encountered a challenge. Then they tried something else. Eventually, we get to a demo where they show us how the thing works.
And sometimes it’s genuinely impressive! But I’m sitting there wondering: What’s the cool part? Why should I care? What impact does this have? And perhaps most importantly, what do you want from me? Are you persuading me to do something or think something?
Here’s the distinction:
How you built it impresses other engineers. What it makes possible impresses everyone else.
Of course, the technical details matter, especially when you’re talking to other technical experts. But when you’re presenting to people outside your area of expertise, the most interesting thing isn’t necessarily what you did. It’s what changes because you did it.
Being an expert and being recognized as an expert are two different skills. You need to communicate what you know in a way that people understand, remember, and care about. Then you need to make sure the right people get to hear you.
Part 1: How to communicate technical ideas so people actually listen
You simply know too much
One of the biggest obstacles to clear communication is expertise itself. When you know a subject inside and out, everything feels important. You understand the context, the exceptions, the dependencies, and the seventeen reasons you arrived at your conclusion.
Your audience doesn’t. And they probably don’t need to.
There’s a saying about art that great art sometimes means “killing your darlings.” Sometimes you have to cut the thing you love most because it doesn’t serve the overall piece. This is like your presentation. Do people really care about what you’re saying? If not… cut it and yes, sometimes this means the thing you really wanted people to know. But the presentation isn’t about you!
I once had to put together an SNL-length audition, which meant making some painful decisions about which characters made the cut. I kept Kate Middleton, but I cut Soccer Mom. And for the next two weeks, I regretted it. What if Soccer Mom was the character that would have made Charna put me in the showcase for Lorne Michaels? WHAT IF?!
I’m 100% sure that cutting Soccer Mom had nothing to do with anything, but the point is you have to make choices. For time, for interest, for the audience, or simply because you can’t include everything. And the fact that you love something doesn’t mean it deserves a spot.
The same is true for presentations. You might be incredibly proud of the technical architecture you designed, the research you conducted, or the seventeen steps it took to solve a problem. Great! But your presentation isn’t about you. It’s about your audience and why you’re deserving of their time and attention.
You’re not dumbing anything down. You’re making choices about what’s worth their attention.
So here’s 6 ideas that you can use or lose to getting better at sharing your expertise with the rest of us:
1. Pretend you have a cool, famous cousin
Imagine you’re explaining your work to your young, cool, famous, Oscar-winning cousin who’s home from Hollywood. They’re smart, curious, and fun to talk to, but they don’t know your industry jargon or all the context you’ve spent years accumulating.
You probably wouldn’t start with a technical definition or a 40-slide presentation. You’d probably try to relate the problem you were solving to something they’d understand, you’d tell them what you did and why it was cool.
Try it with your next presentation. Before you write a single slide, explain your idea out loud as though you’re talking to that cousin. Use the words you would actually say. If your cousin wants to know how you did that, fantastic. That’s where you nerd out.
2. Know your audience
Before you put together a presentation, think about who’s going to be in the room. What do they already know? What are their priorities? What are you persuading them to do, feel, or remember? Pick one. And how much context do they actually need? I bet it’s less than you think.
A room full of engineers might want to understand your technical decisions, trade-offs, and implementation challenges to know the investment paid off. A room full of executives might want to understand the business impact, resources required, and risks involved to give you more headcount.
Same project. Different audiences. Different presentations.
And don’t assume that because someone isn’t technical, they aren’t smart. They just have a different area of expertise. Your job is to find the connection between what you know and what they need to know.
3. Give people a reason to care
Knowing your audience is one thing. Getting them interested is another.
Here’s a question I ask constantly when coaching people on presentations: Why should the audience care?
Not why you care. Why should we care?
This is where a good hook comes in. A hook might be a surprising fact, a question, a problem everyone recognizes, or a story that creates a little tension.
Instead of opening with “Today I’ll walk you through our new data infrastructure,” try “I have a confession to make. We had 47 leaks in 2025 and all of them were my fault.”
Now I’m curious! You’ve given me a reason to pay attention before asking me to absorb information.
And have a goal for yourself. What do you want people to think, feel, or do differently because of your presentation? Maybe you want their approval, their support, or their excitement. Maybe you want them to make a decision, challenge an assumption, or try something new.
Whatever it is, it’s easier to choose what information to include when you’re trying to achieve a goal.
And here’s something else to consider: Why are we all here, live, together? What can you do with a room full of people that you couldn’t accomplish with a document or an email? Invite discussion, challenge people, demonstrate something surprising, or get them thinking about a problem in a new way.
Make your audience glad it wasn’t just an email.
4. Pretend you majored in English: ethos, pathos, and logos
Imagine you’ve spent six months building a better product. You walk into a meeting with performance data, research, and a demo that proves it works. Everyone nods. But nobody seems particularly excited, and nobody commits to anything. What happened?
Aristotle explained this problem thousands of years ago with three modes of persuasion: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic).
Most technical experts are great at logos. You’ve got the data, research, and evidence. Excellent! But logic alone rarely inspires action. Think about the last car you bought. Did you choose it entirely because of the specs, or did how you felt behind the wheel have something to do with it?
That’s where the other two modes come in. Ethos gives people a reason to trust you and pathos gives them a reason to care. Logos gives them the evidence to back it up.
So don’t just demonstrate what your product does. Establish why you’re qualified to recommend it, help people understand the frustration it solves, and use your data to prove the impact.
Trust gets people listening. Emotion gets them invested. Logic helps them justify the decision.
5. Let people know who you are
One of the easiest ways to be memorable is to act like a person. I know… Revolutionary.
I’m not suggesting you turn a technical presentation into a stand-up routine or share your deepest personal secrets with your coworkers. But a little personality goes a long way.
Maybe you confess that you spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to solve something simple. Maybe you share what surprised you during a project. Maybe you share why you named the new password app Gimli.
These moments give people something to connect with beyond your job title and expertise. And connection matters because people don’t really remember most of the details you will share. They’ll remember how you made them feel.
You can be a serious expert without taking yourself so seriously.
6. Work on your delivery, not just your words
If you speak in a monotone, I have good news for you: you might have the easiest job of anyone trying to improve their presentation skills.
Think about it. If your baseline is relatively flat, even a small change in pace, volume, or emotion can make a noticeable difference and engage your audience.
Your voice is a tool. You can slow down when something matters, pause before revealing something surprising, speed up when you’re excited, or change your tone when you want people to recognize a problem.
And please, allow yourself to sound excited about something you’ve spent months building! You could even consider smiling!
Try recording yourself explaining an idea for one minute. Listen for where your voice changes naturally, where you rush, and whether you give important information enough room to land.
You don’t need a booming stage voice or the personality of a motivational speaker. You need variation, intention, and a perspective.
Every time you’re in front of a room, you’re persuading people to do something. Your delivery can help make that happen.
Part 2: How engineers and experts can gain visibility at work
You can become an excellent communicator, but that doesn’t help your career much if nobody outside your immediate team ever hears you.
Professional visibility isn’t about becoming the loudest person in the office or posting inspirational nonsense on LinkedIn. It’s about creating opportunities for people to understand your work, recognize your expertise, and see what you contribute.
And no, doing excellent work isn’t always enough. People can’t recognize contributions they don’t know about.
Speak up in meetings, even when you aren’t presenting
You don’t need a presentation deck to demonstrate expertise. Sometimes a single thoughtful observation can change the direction of a conversation.
The goal isn’t to speak just to be heard. It’s to add something valuable to the conversation.
And if you’re the person who usually waits until you have a completely formed, perfectly supported opinion, challenge yourself to contribute a little earlier. Not every thought needs to be a finished dissertation.
Share your work, especially the interesting parts
Your work doesn’t always speak for itself. Sometimes it needs a spokesperson, and unfortunately, that’s you!
When you finish something meaningful, share what happened and why it matters. Don’t just list the tasks you completed. Explain what changed.
“We rebuilt the reporting system” is a status update. “We cut reporting time in half, which means teams can make decisions without waiting until the next day” tells people why the work matters.
You can share these updates in team meetings, project channels, demos, or conversations with colleagues. You don’t need a major launch or some enormous achievement. Small improvements can be interesting, too.
And remember to share what you learned, not just what went well. Sometimes the most interesting work comes from something that initially went wrong. We all know what it feels like to have things go wrong.
Make other people’s work visible
One of my favorite ways to build professional relationships is to recognize what someone else is doing well.
If a colleague solved a difficult problem, mention it in a meeting. If another team helped your project succeed, explain what their contribution made possible.
Recognition doesn’t cost you anything, and it demonstrates that you understand the work happening around you. It also gives you a reason to connect with people without making every conversation about yourself.
Find opportunities to present
Don’t wait for someone to invite you to the big meeting. Look for opportunities to share your ideas in project reviews, internal learning sessions, demos, cross-functional meetings, and company events.
External conferences, professional communities, and industry panels can be valuable, too, particularly if you’re building a reputation in a specialized field.
You also don’t need to be the world’s foremost authority on a subject to have something worth sharing. You might have a useful perspective, a problem you’ve solved, or an experience other people can learn from.
And remember, visibility doesn’t just happen on a stage. Get in front of people. Listen in rooms where decisions are made, offer your perspective if it adds something, and make time for one-on-one conversations with people outside your immediate team.
Work on your small talk by not doing small talk
If networking makes you uncomfortable, stop treating every interaction like a networking opportunity. You don’t need to memorize conversation starters, manufacture enthusiasm, or ask people what they do for fun when you couldn’t care less.
Be curious. Pay attention to what’s happening around you, and use that as your starting point.
Look for cues. Did someone seem particularly excited about a project? Did their energy change when they mentioned a challenge? Did they bring up something personal, or ask you a question that suggested genuine interest?
Follow those threads.
Instead of asking generic questions, try “How did you get involved in that?” or “What’s been the most interesting part?” If someone mentions a frustration, you might ask what they wish were different.
And notice when the other person wants to move on. Conversation is collaborative, not another presentation you need to finish.
The best professional relationships often begin when you stop trying to impress someone and start actually listening.
Expertise deserves to be understood
You don’t need to become someone else to communicate more effectively. You don’t have to be extroverted, charismatic, funny, or particularly comfortable in front of a crowd.
But you do need to recognize that knowing something and communicating it are different skills. Learning to explain your ideas, connect with people, and create opportunities to share your work can have just as much impact on your career as the work itself.
Because the goal isn’t to prove how much you know. It’s to make what you know matter to someone else.
At The Stagecoach, I help experts and teams turn complex ideas into communication people actually want to hear. Through presentation workshops and individual coaching, we work on clarity, presence, storytelling, and how to show up in the rooms that matter.
You already know your stuff. Let’s make sure other people do, too.