Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 94 posts

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

#31

Post by diegoperini »

Everything many people said here + RECORD YOUR TALK and watch a few times with a paper and pen to note things you don't like. Things to look for are:

* Disturbing pauses

* Unnecessarily long sentences

* Too little jokes

* Too much jokes

* Repetitions (this is actually really hard to do, people tend to think every single phrase has its own unique meaning, but actually...)

* Slides hard to read from afar

* Slides with too many text

* Slides with too many code

* Slides with no code

* Slides with no helper shapes like boxes, arrows, stressed words etc

Also you should prepare for a Q/A section and study for some probable questions you come up by yourself.

This comment looks like an advice for "How to talk?" but actually these are the things to be careful about before you start giving talks around.

Good luck! :)

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

#32

Post by mrisoli »

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…

I'm trying to do that, already done some in my company(including my previous one), but I am having difficulties transitioning to local groups/meetups, this is mainly because I have an extra issue: I am an expat who doesn't speak the local language and not many of them are in English(and I am not even a native English speaker as well).

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

#33

Post by bmn__ »

http://enwp.org/Lightning_talk

Good conferences offer a lightning talks session (i.e. strict time limit of 5 minutes for each speaker) where any attendee can give a talk on short notice. It is the ideal setting to get one's feet wet as an absolute beginner because to fail is forgiven by the audience, and the constraints work out in favour because they help focus.

If you succeed at one, congratulations, you have seen the proverbial elephant and you now have earned the courage and perhaps the experience to do a longer session talk. If you don't do well, at least it was over quickly.

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

#35

Post by sonabinu »

agentultra wrote: post #27

If you want to talk at a local meet up group it's usually an informal process to introduce yourself to the organizers and pitch an idea. If you want to speak at a larger conference you'll have to keep an ear to the ground for a "Call for Proposals" or CFP. This is a more formal process where you'll have to pitch your talk and make it through the selection process. Some conferences are more friendly to beginner speake…

Local Meet Up groups and conferences are a great way. There are some groups that have a series of small 15 min talks, where you explain how to use a particular library or optimize with some techniques. These are a great way to get started.

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

#37

Post by a_c_s »

mrisoli wrote: post #32
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…

I'm trying to do that, already done some in my company(including my previous one), but I am having difficulties transitioning to local groups/meetups, this is mainly because I have an extra issue: I am an expat who doesn't speak the local language and not many of them are in English(and I am not even a native English speaker as well).

The solutions seem simple but not easy: learn the local language and/or start giving talks in places that speak English and/or your first language.

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

#38

Post by walski »

My first couple of talks were in front of huge groups of people at well known tech conferences and they all were blatant disasters. I wish I would have made so many things differently...

BUT: I DID START GIVING TALKS!

That in itself was one of the biggest achievements in my professional life! So if there is one advice, for me it would be: Get going!

Put all thoughts of: "I need a better topic." or "I need a more suitable occasion" or "I need a smaller audience". Just go. Stop worrying, hand in your CFPs and start moving. Build momentum and get your feet wet.

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

#39

Post by DrNuke »

Research and hard-tech talks generally work by invitation and reputation, so you have to be the local insider or an expert already. Case studies and personal experience talks, on the other hand, are more open to outsiders and still make a good opportunity to grow both your ability on stage and your personal reputation for future talks. Therefore, I would advise the OP to start applying for the latter kind of contribution.

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

#40

Post by gnur »

mrisoli wrote: post #32
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…

I'm trying to do that, already done some in my company(including my previous one), but I am having difficulties transitioning to local groups/meetups, this is mainly because I have an extra issue: I am an expat who doesn't speak the local language and not many of them are in English(and I am not even a native English speaker as well).

In my experience, this should not have to be a big issue. In the Netherlands, half of the meetups and conferences feature non Dutch speakers.

If you have knowledge about the topic you want to convey, submit a proposal (make it clear it will be English) and hope for the best.

Post reply on HN