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Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#11

Post by litzer »

alanfranz wrote: post #8

1) Start small. Start in your company. Then go to local user groups (LUG, universities, etc). Then submit applications to small/local tech conferences, then go on to large ones. 2) Read something about the topic, e.g: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Public-Speaker-Scott-Berk... (there're tons of other books and resources, I won't provide everything here) 3) Speak about something you know very well. 4) Reharse. One…

Any suggestions on finding small/local tech conferences other than Meetup.com?

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#12

Post by alanfranzoni »

litzer wrote: post #11
alanfranz wrote: post #8

1) Start small. Start in your company. Then go to local user groups (LUG, universities, etc). Then submit applications to small/local tech conferences, then go on to large ones. 2) Read something about the topic, e.g: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Public-Speaker-Scott-Berk... (there're tons of other books and resources, I won't provide everything here) 3) Speak about something you know very well. 4) Reharse. One…

Any suggestions on finding small/local tech conferences other than Meetup.com?

That really depends on where you live!

I'm from Italy, and there tend to be small, single-day conferences around the country; you can find info on lanyrd, linkedin, facebook.. I can't tell.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#14

Post by pryelluw »

litzer wrote: post #11
alanfranz wrote: post #8

1) Start small. Start in your company. Then go to local user groups (LUG, universities, etc). Then submit applications to small/local tech conferences, then go on to large ones. 2) Read something about the topic, e.g: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Public-Speaker-Scott-Berk... (there're tons of other books and resources, I won't provide everything here) 3) Speak about something you know very well. 4) Reharse. One…

Any suggestions on finding small/local tech conferences other than Meetup.com?

Search social networks (facebook and Twitter mostly).

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#15

Post by ZenoArrow »

mcherm wrote: post #9
CapacitorSet wrote: post #2

Are you asking how to find a suitable place for giving talks, or how to organize one? If the latter, I'm also interested as I'm in the process of writing my first talk. For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. I'll be giving my first one at a hacking/FOSS event a couple of hours away from where I live, but there are also chances to participate in s…

> For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. Well, that's the part that I am finding difficult. I have some interesting topics to address; I have a decent amount of skill and experience at presenting; I have a lot of practice with internal audiences. But I am terrible at networking and this part you describe as "easy" is the stumbling block for me. D…

> "Do you have any specific pointers for finding events (even minor ones) which are local (I'm in the Philadelphia area, which is within driving distance of lots of east-coast places) and topical"

You need to describe the subjects that you'd like to give talks about before anyone can suggest an event that might be suitable.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#16

Post by mparr4 »

My strategy: just sign up.

I find the social pressure to avoid failing miserably in front of an audience is sufficiently motivating.

Local meetup groups are great, as is giving a talk at your company. If I'm giving a talk, I like to give the same talk to both audiences.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#17

Post by mmv »

penpapersw wrote: post #13

Be really knowledgeable about something that other people are really interested. Find an angle of that thing that nobody's really looked at yet. Pitch that talk to places whose audiences are into that kinda thing.

But don't hold yourself too much if you think you're not too knowledgeable about something to present about it.

You may be deterred by watching some talks where the presenter seems awesome and seems to know so much more than you. You don't have to be the top expert on a topic in order to know a few things worth sharing.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#18

Post by garysieling »

mcherm wrote: post #9
CapacitorSet wrote: post #2

Are you asking how to find a suitable place for giving talks, or how to organize one? If the latter, I'm also interested as I'm in the process of writing my first talk. For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. I'll be giving my first one at a hacking/FOSS event a couple of hours away from where I live, but there are also chances to participate in s…

> For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. Well, that's the part that I am finding difficult. I have some interesting topics to address; I have a decent amount of skill and experience at presenting; I have a lot of practice with internal audiences. But I am terrible at networking and this part you describe as "easy" is the stumbling block for me. D…

There are a ton of meetups around the Philadelphia area, especially around University city. What I would do is come up with a couple ideas for talks, then go to a meetup, chat with the organizer(s), tell them you're interested in giving talks and ask how many people they think would come to the topicsyou propose.

They vary in how far out they plan, e.g. the Java Users Group has a speaker list booked to the end of the year.

The part I struggle with is scheduling, since it takes a lot of time for me to write the actual talks.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#19

Post by caseysoftware »

alanfranz wrote: post #8

1) Start small. Start in your company. Then go to local user groups (LUG, universities, etc). Then submit applications to small/local tech conferences, then go on to large ones. 2) Read something about the topic, e.g: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Public-Speaker-Scott-Berk... (there're tons of other books and resources, I won't provide everything here) 3) Speak about something you know very well. 4) Reharse. One…

+1 to all of that.

The only other thing I'll add is that many meetups have lightning talks which are normally 5-15 minutes. It's an even smaller way to get started with minimal risk.

* Some meetupgs do lightning talk-only sessions every so often with 5-6 of them in a given meeting. Others do a long+short session where you would present immediately before the "full" session. Conferences often do these too.

Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

#20

Post by koolba »

mparr4 wrote: post #16

My strategy: just sign up. I find the social pressure to avoid failing miserably in front of an audience is sufficiently motivating. Local meetup groups are great, as is giving a talk at your company. If I'm giving a talk, I like to give the same talk to both audiences.

Huge +1 to this plan. Nothing compels one to to learn to swim like being thrown into a shark tank.

For shrinking the overall size of the endeavor, a lot of conferences / meetups have a lightning talk section so rather than filling in 45-60 min of time, you've only got to do about 5 minutes, usually with a hard cut off. It's a great way to get your feet wet.

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