Playbook: Certified Focuses

What are certified Focuses:

We want your Focuses to be validated by industry professionals to ensure quality and legitimacy.

Certifying is a step after completing your Focus deliverables. You present your Focus to two industry professionals who have a minimum of 6 years of experience in the subject domain. They will review your Focus and determine if it’s legitimate, accurate, and of high standards.

How to certify your Focus:

  1. Reach out to two industry experts and book a meeting. You will walk through your Focus presentation and the experts will likely ask questions. You will show them the different deliverables, how you got started, the projects you have created and explain in detail the technical aspects of your project. 👉These experts could be people you met networking while building your Focus or new people you have not met before.
  2. Those experts will fill out THIS FORM which you will send them. Please provide them with your first and last name.
  3. Once both experts have filled out the form and deemed you are knowledgable in the subject you will be considered Focus Certified.

Focus Presentation

For these Focus presentations, there are new rules:

  • You must practice with people twice before doing your presentation. It’s very important you get feedback before you present. You are recording these presentations and they’ll be used as part of your portfolio, so you want to make your presentation legit.
  • Presentations must be 5-7min long. Please make sure your presentation falls within that range.

Best Practices:

  • Go deep - teach us something interesting and new.
  • Make sure your presentation is engaging, and that people will be able to teach others what you taught them.
  • Storyboard your presentation.
  • Show the exciting/important stuff early. Tell us WHY this matters early - not at the end.
  • Spend time showing us what you’ve done and how you did it. If you explain the technical stuff, make sure it relates to the thing you built.
  • Use analogies!
  • High standards for slides.
  • Boss mentality!!! Enthusiasm! Passion!
  • Think about what you want to be intentional about before the presentation.
  • Have your “punch in the face” lines & “holy sh*t” moments.
  • Be authentic.