As creatives, especially in the enterprise software field, it’s common for us to start on new projects with no prior domain knowledge. Working in a highly technical field, it is almost a guarantee that learning a new domain is going to be extremely complicated with a steep learning curve. Not only do we need to start designing for this project immediately, but as part of our jobs we need to coordinate on the project and discuss our work with a myriad of people, such as designers, developers and project managers. A lot of the time, we will end up working with people who hold more subject knowledge than we may have, and this often results in feeling scared to speak up in group discussions, thinking we might embarrass ourselves or sound stupid by saying the wrong thing.

In this talk I will focus on some of my own experiences and discuss how instead of being intimidated by subject matter experts in this situation, creatives can re-position their own idea of how to feel like a smart and qualified person in the room. By coming to the table ready to ask questions and not being afraid to share our own point of view, we can show that we are just as able to as anyone to provide great contributions, regardless of our experience in a specific technical domain. You may feel like you're not the “smartest”, or most knowledgeable person in the room, but you still play a vital role on the team and business. By learning how to navigate these types of uncomfortable situations, you can become a stronger contributor than ever.