I had filed this one (1) away for next time I have to do a presentation. It sums up a list of bad titles for a presentation.
[1] https://gist.github.com/snare/7f0c4708bf4ea8133204c21e8ba64d...
Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
121–130 of 174 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#122A little bit of stage fright is generally healthy. It shows that you care enough to be concerned and you're not getting too cocky. That's an old lesson I learned doing (of all things) middle school acting class and it's proven itself to be true over and over again. Think about your slide and presentation style. For example, I have enormous decks for most of my talks (think like 55 slides for 30 minutes) but I burn th…
There's really nothing wrong to read your slides. The trick is coming up with more explanations.
Everything is wrong with reading your slides. Really...don't do it. In fact, your slides shouldn't have much text at all, because it's a distraction from where your audience should be placing their attention: You.
Ideally, you should never need to look at your slides while giving a talk. Every time you turn away from your audience, you lose a little of their attention.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's really nothing wrong to read your slides. The trick is coming up with more explanations.
Everything is wrong with reading your slides. Really...don't do it. In fact, your slides shouldn't have much text at all, because it's a distraction from where your audience should be placing their attention: You. Ideally, you should never need to look at your slides while giving a talk. Every time you turn away from your audience, you lose a little of their attention.
That's way overstated. Just don't only read your slides verbatim. Some people may not be able to see slides because of obstruction or their vision, so repeating key points is almost a courtesy.
I appreciate it when a slide is a visual piece with limited text, and the notes are roughly true to the spoken portion (for when slides are distributed after a talk).
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#124As a tech conference audience member, one of my biggest pet peeves is people using roughly 70+ percent of their talk to introduce the background/rationale of their tool/library/use-case/workflow/whatnot without even showing precisely what the tool does or how to use it practically. Chances are, most people in the audience are in the room _because they are already on board with your rationale_.
A fake example: If you're giving a talk on your new Linux shell that 's way better than Bash, you don't need to spend the first two-thirds of your talk explaining what Bash is and what its weaknesses are. Your audience probably knows what Bash is and knows enough to be interested in an alternative. Don't bore them out of the room.
TL;DR: Show first, tell second.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#125People decide in the first 10 seconds whether they're going to listen to you or use your session to catch up on email. So make your intro good. Catch their attention. Surprise and intrigue them. Memorize and practise your intro over and over again so when you walk on stage you can get comfortable without having to worry about the specific words you're saying. Memorize your conclusion too so you can bring it home with…
Somewhat off topic: I always wondered why people would bother showing up for a talk or conference if they're going to be on their phone or laptop during the entire thing. Last time I went to a conference I was actually a little surprised by the number of people at the talks who where clearly working during the entire thing. Why bother, you most likely pay for the plane ticket, the hotel and the conference it self, an…
For me anyway it's simple: I go to the talk because I think it's going to be interesting. If it turns out to be boring, but I feel like the speaker is making a real effort, I will stay and try to multitask my way through it, partly just in case something interesting comes up but mostly out of respect for the speaker... who after all is making a real effort.
If I feel like the speaker is just lazy then I'll get up and go somewhere else.
Note that this only works above a certain size: if it's happening in a conference room I will at least pretend to take notes on paper instead of reading email / HN / bugs / etc.
I'm not really sure whether this makes me more considerate, or more duplicitous, or maybe both.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everything is wrong with reading your slides. Really...don't do it. In fact, your slides shouldn't have much text at all, because it's a distraction from where your audience should be placing their attention: You. Ideally, you should never need to look at your slides while giving a talk. Every time you turn away from your audience, you lose a little of their attention.
That's way overstated. Just don't only read your slides verbatim. Some people may not be able to see slides because of obstruction or their vision, so repeating key points is almost a courtesy. I appreciate it when a slide is a visual piece with limited text, and the notes are roughly true to the spoken portion (for when slides are distributed after a talk).
It really isn't. Your goal should be to have no text, and never look away from your audience during a talk.
You can (and should) repeat key points, but every time you read, you lose your audience. And yes, you can have a little bit of text -- but since most people go too far in the other direction, it's best to aim to eliminate text entirely.
Slides should be simple graphical content to provide signposts and communicate things that otherwise cannot be expressed vocally.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#127I frequently see speakers end their talk with “Any questions? No questions?? I was really perfectly clear? OK. Bye!” That fast.
It takes at least ten seconds for people to formulate a question well enough to ask it in front of everybody. Have some patience. Bonus points for having something low-key to fill the awkward silence.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#128- What is your message? You do this talk for a reason, it must be extremely clear to you what it is, in a short sentence or two.
- Storytelling. Humans engage in stories. Prepare yours.
- Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. And when you are done, rehearse again fixing everything that was not perfect.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#129Finish your slides at least a few weeks before the talk and dedicate a time slot equivalent to the talk (ex: 1-hour => 1-hour, 30-min => 30-min) per week doing a dry run. This is particularly important to get the timing correct. If you're repeatedly short or long then adjust accordingly. Version control your slides. This is particularly useful if you end up giving the same talk more than once as you can tweak things…
I could not disagree more with your first line. For one it's utter fantasy. For tech talks where you need to present results, sometimes results dont arrive until the morning of. Secondly, there should be a measure of proaction - gauge the audience and adjust the talk accordingly. In fact, I'd go the complete opposite, keep adjusting your slides until you're comfortable. But yes, do time yourself. Generally IMO a minu…
> I could not disagree more with your first line. For one it's utter fantasy.
The lead up from call for papers to actual conferences is usually 4-6+ months. Assuming you submit a talk without any content prepared yet and spend the first two months procrastinating, that leads 2-3 months for put together your outline and slides.
> For tech talks where you need to present results, sometimes results dont arrive until the morning of.
That's a specific case and hardly the norm. Plus you likely know the direction of the results without know the final 7 decimal points. The latter you fill in as it comes.
> Secondly, there should be a measure of proaction - gauge the audience and adjust the talk accordingly. In fact, I'd go the complete opposite, keep adjusting your slides until you're comfortable. But yes, do time yourself.
Definitely play the audience but if you haven't practiced your content you have to spend more time coming up with phrasing rather than shifting over, or dedicating more time to, a section.
> Generally IMO a minute per slide is a good ballpark. This means your slide is not too empty or too full, and you can talk about the material in the slide without reading the slide out.
I vary widely from 20 seconds per slide for a quick succession of minor points to 3-4 minutes when there's a code sample to talk through.
This is also why practice is so important as you get a feeling for where you can spend more time if you have it and where you can cut out if you don't.
Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's way overstated. Just don't only read your slides verbatim. Some people may not be able to see slides because of obstruction or their vision, so repeating key points is almost a courtesy. I appreciate it when a slide is a visual piece with limited text, and the notes are roughly true to the spoken portion (for when slides are distributed after a talk).
It really isn't. Your goal should be to have no text, and never look away from your audience during a talk. You can (and should) repeat key points, but every time you read, you lose your audience. And yes, you can have a little bit of text -- but since most people go too far in the other direction, it's best to aim to eliminate text entirely. Slides should be simple graphical content to provide signposts and communic…
I think you're overshooting in your advice in the service of preventing the bigger mistake of turning around and reading slide contents verbatim (on which I certain agree with you). That's fine, but for veteran presenters, I think your advice is wrong. First, you should have text because you lose your audience no matter what (sneezing, emails, bathroom, etc). You should let them recontextualize and that involves judicious use of text. Also, everyone asks for slide decks after talks and they should be useful in that case even without a recording. Lastly reading doesn't mean, "turn away from your audience and read", it is the same as repeating key points - this can be done for emphasis or pacing, as long as it's intentional. This is my opinion based on my experience, at least.