Mechanical Engineers Should Embrace Public Speaking

When Neil Thompson stood in front of a room of senior managers to give an on-the-job, 15-minute project update, he quickly understood what many engineers discover the hard way. He realized that if you can't explain your design clearly, it doesn’t matter how brilliant it is.

Thompson, an engineer turned communications coach, remembered those meetings as a wake-up call. “Those first few presentations were absolutely horrendous,” he said. He was so nervous that he would just read his slides and try to get through them as quickly as possible. He soon realized he needed to improve his presentation skills to keep his career moving on the right track.

“I learned that getting better at public speaking in general—just communicating what you do or the value you bring to a company—is going to be very important moving forward,” said Thompson, founder of Teach the Geek, which provides public speaking training for technical professionals like mechanical engineers.

He’s not alone in stressing the point. Across academia and industry, experts say mechanical engineers would do well to embrace public speaking as a critical skill, not an optional extra to the technology, especially if they want to advance in their careers.

Engineer’s ability to communicate matters

Technical expertise alone rarely drives job and career advancement. As Thompson explained, “Mechanical engineers should improve their public speaking skills to be seen as leaders, not just individual contributors.” He clarified that being able to explain complex work without ambiguity builds credibility, positions engineers for leadership, and creates opportunities outside of purely technical roles.

Marianne Alleyne, assistant professor in the departments of Entomology and Mechanical Science & Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, agreed and added that communication, a foundational skill, is also essential for collaboration.

“You should be able to explain technical topics to peers in your own discipline, but also to colleagues in other fields, clients, students, and factory teams that bring your designs into being,” said Alleyne, who was a speaker at a recent ASME conference. “The ability to present ideas clearly and persuasively ensures that your work is understood, trusted, and implemented effectively.”

Amy Wagoner Johnson, another professor in the Department of Mechanical Science & Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, thought communication was so important within the professional community that she started a course for graduate students called, “Science Communication for Mechanical Engineers.” 

Public speaking’s common challenges

Public speaking can be especially tricky for engineers and others with technical knowledge. Some of the common challenges are: 

•    Balancing technical detail with clarity. Engineers are wired for precision, but an audience may not share the same background. Oversharing details can overwhelm listeners, while oversimplifying risks losing accuracy. “Explaining technical details in a way that is accurate yet accessible requires careful thought and adaptability,” Alleyne said.

•    Failing to consider the audience. “One of the major challenges is not taking the audience into account,” Thompson said. “We have this technical expertise, but the people we’re talking to typically aren’t at that level. It’s important to meet them where they are.”

•    Using too much jargon. Terms that feel natural in a technical setting can alienate or confuse lay audiences and others who aren’t familiar with them.

•    Limited training and education. Most engineering programs don’t emphasize communication, Wagoner Johnson said. As a result, many engineers enter the workforce unprepared to make professional presentations.

Techniques for improving this foundational skill

Despite these hurdles, engineers can excel at public speaking with practice and a few proven strategies, these include:

1. Know your audience and have empathy for them.
As you’re preparing your presentation, it’s important to know who your audience is. Is this a lay audience or a technical audience? 

If you’re making a presentation as a team member at work, you are likely to know your audience’s level of technical knowledge. At a conference, you may know the listeners are interested in technical information, but you don’t know how familiar they are with your topic. Check with the conference organizers to learn more about what level of expertise and development the audience has.

Once you have a better understanding of your audience, both Thompson and Wagoner Johnson recommend approaching them with empathy. “Try to remember that before you were an engineer, you were a non-technical person. What kind of information could you have handled then? Try to communicate at that level,” Thompson said.

2. Start with the goal.
Before creating slides, identify your call to action. What do you want the audience to think, feel, or do after your presentation? Thompson emphasized working backward from that point to avoid including unnecessary information and keep the talk focused.

3. Tell a story.
All three experts highlight storytelling as a powerful tool. Wagoner Johnson recommended using a simple narrative structure called “And–But–Therefore,” which was popularized in science communication by marine biologist and filmmaker Randy Olson. 

The three parts of this structure are:
•    And: Establish facts and context.
•    But: Introduce the challenge, conflict, or problem.
•    Therefore: Present the consequence or solution to the problem.

This structure naturally engages audiences and makes technical work relatable, Wagoner Johnson said.
Along those same lines, Alleyne said she often uses real-world examples, such as how Velcro was inspired by nature, to connect engineering problems with everyday experiences.

4. Use plain language and visuals.
When addressing non-technical audiences, swap jargon for common terms. Use AI or readability tools to help identify more accessible language. 

For slides, Wagoner Johnson teaches her students about the “assertion-evidence” model, as recommended by engineering communications expert Michael Alley. In this model, you place the main point (assertion) at the top of each slide and support it with data and visuals (evidence) rather than text-heavy bullet points.

5. Anticipate and interact.
Great speakers treat their presentations like conversations. Prepare for likely questions and practice clear, concise answers. Alleyne recommended mixing in interactive elements—such as asking the audience for their ideas—to keep listeners engaged. 

For your career, practice makes progress

Strong speaking skills don’t emerge overnight. Take advantage of as many speaking opportunities as possible to improve as a presenter. 

Whether presenting to your team at work, other engineers at a conference, or simply explaining a project to a non-technical friend, it all helps you become a better communicator. As Thompson likes to say, “Practice makes progress.”

By focusing on storytelling, clarity, audience awareness, and consistent practice, mechanical engineers can turn the once-daunting activity of public speaking into one of their greatest assets.

Claudia Hoffacker is an independent writer from Minneapolis.