If you are in Chicago and want to present to recent bootcamp graduates I'd be happy to host you. Taylor@Actualize.co
Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
41–50 of 94 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#42If 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…
When I started doing talks for London Clojurians there were literally fewer speakers than speaker slots. This meant that people were pretty forgiving (it also helps that LDNCLJ are a bunch of very nice people).
Nothing builds confidence better than not being very good and the world not ending.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#431) 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).
I think it is somewhat understood and well accepted that much of the tech world is done in English, even by non-native speakers. My company does all of it's trainings in English even though the presenters are not native speakers. Strong technical background will overcome language barriers and people are usually willing to look past any difficulty in understanding as long as the content is strong. Keep in mind that this has the corollary that the audience has to understand the technical aspects well enough to absorb the new information in order to overlook any language difficulties. They need not be experts, but at least know enough to be educated on the subject.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#441) 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…
Great advice.
Depending on the type of tech community in your area, the right kind of tech meetups are generally inviting.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#451) 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…
>> 3) Speak about something you know very well.
+1 (or something you are passionate about)
>> 4) Reharse. One of the biggest problem with presentation newbies is that they're unable to keep the proper timing.
You may not need full rehearsal. However:
(A) Measure your velocity (slides per minute). Add ~30% for audience interactions including Q&A, and another ten minutes for setup issues.
(B) Watch out for excessive Uh's, Um's, "you know", etc.
Remind yourself, giving tech talks is nothing special. You need to be natural and just walk in.
>> 5) Don't waste your audience time. Keep your talk as short as possible; don't try saying everything, try to say the most important and useful things.
+1. Distilling and simplifying the messages is super-critical. Your audience would still probably not understand most of the talk. So you need to overdo on this to compensate.
>> 6) Focus on your speech, not on the slides. The slides should support you, you should not be reading slides aloud.
Focus on the slides too. In my experience, making the slides self-sufficient does no harm. Rather it helps in two ways:
(A) It prepares you more. Even if your slides are self-sufficient and "filled", you'll still have more to say than the slides anyways since during preparations, your research efforts and mental churn will fill you with a lot more thoughts than what the slides say.
(B) Slides become ready for offline sharing after the talk, giving you more bang for the buck.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#461) 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?
ermmm… lots of places. :) It will vary a lot by local and subject areas but for starters. As a starting point, look up:
Universities. They often have all sorts of public lecture programs, for their students/academics and for the general public.
Some embassies arrange or host lectures on topics they care about.
Some of the smaller, top-level government bodies like the small business authority, technology agency, "entrepreneurship and innovation”… A local example of the last one locally: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/Events/
Industry or professional associations (chambers of commerce, unions..) do some things.
You might find churches, religious community centres (google JCC in the US) that have relevant events
In smaller communities (where the above doesn’t exist), local schools might host these kinds of events for the general public.
(some of these might also be listed on meetup)
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#47My 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.
+1
Sign up!
If you see a last date to pull out, be lazy on that. It will all work out fine at the end.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#48I have found books by Jerry Weissman helpful.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#49Why do you want to do it? Usually people give talks because they work on a topic that's worth giving a talk about. Starting from the goal of giving a talk seems backwards.
Re: Ask HN: How do you start giving tech talks?
#50I grew viennajs from 5 people in a cellar (when I took over) to Austrias biggest monthly dev meetup (100+ live attendees each month, ~1.8k on the newsletter). i always made a point to give a really un-perfect code talk (called orga intro talk) each month.
why? a) i love talking code, b) i wanted to show everybody that it is ok at meetups to just talk - even if the talk is not yet finished. the discussions after these unfinished talks were quite often much better than the ones after really well prepared ones.
additionally i made sure that there was always a good selection of newbie talks and perfect (sometimes int. speaker) talks.
so my tip: choose a meetup, go there, give a talk.