Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?

news.ycombinator.com

171–174 of 174 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?

#171
post #9

You don't have to help people get from A-Z. Quite often they don't even know where to start so going from A-D is enough. Know your audience in advance though. Remember to pause and speak slower. It gives the impression you are really considering what you are about to say next and allows you a break. Don't drink alcohol before the talk (unless you need a shot to calm your nerves) and do have a bottle of water availabl…

> Lastly relax. The audience [...] usually want you to succeed.

Great insight, and I've found that to be true. Most of the time, they selected your talk based on their interest in the contents (and less so on your delivery), and so they want to learn a thing or two. They will be graceful towards your presentation (style, delivery, slides) if at the end they got what they came for: you sharing data, knowledge, insights or wisdom. You don't want that too difficult for them, so you should work hard on improving your presentation delivery, but sharing knowledge is appreciated over sharing jokes or just well-designed slides.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?

#172
post #72

The audience wants you to succeed and are generally very forgiving.

This! It's one of the most important thing to remember – people paid money and came to listen here, and you've been invited as a speaker, so that means that you have something important to tell, and people really want you to succeed. I also recommend a fantastic book on the topic by head of TED conferences, Chris Anderson - "The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking". It helped me immensely when I was preparing to my…

Agreed! As I wrote to a comment elsewhere on this page: "Most of the time, they selected your talk based on their interest in the contents (and less so on your delivery), and so they want to learn a thing or two. They will be graceful towards your presentation (style, delivery, slides) if at the end they got what they came for: you sharing data, knowledge, insights or wisdom. You don't want [to make] that too difficult for them, so you should work hard on improving your presentation delivery, but sharing knowledge is appreciated over sharing jokes or just well-designed slides."

Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?

#173

Something practical I haven't seen mentioned yet: unless you know the venue, assume the screen is far away from the audience (so the text needs to be large) and that it's hanging low (so most people can't see the bottom of the slides).

Black background with white text helps too.

That depends (a lot) on the displaying and viewing conditions; are your slides projected in a dimly-lit room, or are the lights on? Readability of your slides is affected by that.

Although slides often don't contain much information that needs to be read in full detail, I find code examples to be better readable in a dark font on a lighter background.

Sometimes the conference gives some advice regarding the slides (dark text on light backgrounds or vice versa), since they'll know / set the room lighting conditions.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?

#174
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advice is very actionable, and it is something that can be practiced. As far as advice goes, I'd consider it fairly well thought out. As far as its actual effectiveness, it doesn't seem meaningful to involk anecdotal data (i.e. "I've seen counter examples") as the parent post isn't stating that you must, but rather it's a generally good idea or a hack. Given the data around interviewers making pass/reject decisio…

Given the data around interviewers making pass/reject decisions within the first few minutes of an interview, I would find it surprising if it wasn't true. This is ludicrous, given that an interview and a tech talk are completely different things. In particular, an interviewer doesn't generally expect or hope to learn anything useful during an interview. That difference alone makes the situations not comparable. it d…

> In particular, an interviewer doesn't generally expect or hope to learn anything useful during an interview.

Really? then why are they always asking questions? :p

Post reply on HN