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So you want to speak at software conferences?

dylanbeattie.net

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Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#111

Post by nosrednAhsoJ »

raju wrote: post #105

This is a great list. As someone who has spoken at hundreds of conferences, there's one piece of advise I give younger speakers, particularly those nervous about how the audience will receive them. Dylan alludes to this in a different context > Finally: respect your audience. Whether you’re talking to five people at a meetup, fifty at a community event, or five thousand at a huge international conference: those peopl…

Fellow speaker, and a large part of my "speaking with confidence" breakthrough was realizing this point exactly.

The other key unlock for me was the realization that I was the ONLY one in the entire room who would know when I fumbled a word or didn't deliver the content on each slide absolutely perfectly.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#112

Post by thiht »

exmadscientist wrote: post #91
2rsf wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 9. render the presentation as a pdf file, so any device can display it That's good as a backup, or for simpler presentations (in a good way!) but Powerpoint allows you all kinds of benefits like animations or transitions. Presnting PDFs is not guaranteed to be pain free as well, as I expereince on my corporate controlled laptop with stange versions of Adobe software. > 11. the anxiety goes away It does! also rememb…

> Powerpoint allows you all kinds of [things] like animations or transitions Those are not benefits. Do not do those things. Anything more complicated than embedding a video is a distraction and will not help your presentation. (And the video can be done by alt-tab to VLC or linking YouTube or ... .) Seriously, trust me on this one. I have seen a lot of presentations in my day, from sales engineers trying to sell me…

> Those are not benefits. Do not do those things. Anything more complicated than embedding a video is a distraction and will not help your presentation.

> Seriously, trust me on this one.

No, that's your opinion. The best presentations I've seen use animations. Just not on every slide, and not huge distracting animations. Animations can be amazing to emphasize what you're explaining.

DO use animations, just make sure they bring something on the table.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#113

Post by thiht »

nrhrjrjrjtntbt wrote: post #75
WalterBright wrote: post #39

Some things I've learned over the years: 1. do not show a slide full of code. The font will be too small to read. Nobody will read it 2. don't read your slides to the audience. The audience can read 3. don't talk with your back to the audience 4. make your font as big as practical 5. 3 bullet points is ideal 6. add a picture now and then 7. don't bother with a copyright notice on every slide. It gets really old. Besi…

What is the best way to show code? I really want to show some code. Like 4-5 lines to give a gist.

The advice is:

> 1. do not show a slide full of code.

Not "do not show code". Focused snippets are fine, you just need to distill the code to make sure it's just the essence of what you want to show and that it's easy to read (naming is important).

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#114

Post by jghn »

braza wrote: post #101

I like the general idea, and I owe so much for the talks and bloposts. That said, I really miss the old deep boring technical talks with speakers with an attitude of "I do not care if you meet the tecnical (and probably cognitive in some several cases) requirements to be in this room". I used to go in talks in the late 2000s and the difference with talks now in the mid-2020s is that the speakers now are so good and w…

> The strange loop maybe was the last bastion of tech conference where I could check in those kinds if speakers.

Strange Loop was amazing. The vibes were perfect. And I've never been to another tech conference that I found to be so mind expanding. Most of the talks I'd attend had no practical utility in my daily life, but got me thinking about all sorts of what ifs and if/how I could apply some nugget of what they were saying to more practical applications.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#115

Post by tristor »

I've given many talks at conferences, meetups, and otherwise. My number one piece of advice is to /really/ know your subject. Sometimes I am asked to present something I don't already intimately know, and it can be tempting to put together a presentation and learn just enough to present, but it's MUCH better to really go deep and learn the subject fully. Why?

1. Competence creates confidence, and confidence creates trust.

2. You can answer questions, pretty much any question, and if you can't you can let the audience know graciously without coming off as unknowledgable.

3. It makes it easier to present well, because you don't need to or are not tempted to read from the slides, you're telling a story or sharing information in a natural way, off the dome, using the slides only as a topic guide because you already fully understand everything about the subject.

I have found this to be so important, that I sometimes /choose/ to present something I'm interested in but don't know well (with enough lead time) as a jumping off point to dig deep into it. I have long believed if you want to really understand something, the benchmark for having achieved competence is successfully teaching that subject to another person and seeing them succeed with it.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#116

Post by th0rine »

WalterBright wrote: post #39

Some things I've learned over the years: 1. do not show a slide full of code. The font will be too small to read. Nobody will read it 2. don't read your slides to the audience. The audience can read 3. don't talk with your back to the audience 4. make your font as big as practical 5. 3 bullet points is ideal 6. add a picture now and then 7. don't bother with a copyright notice on every slide. It gets really old. Besi…

#8 - If someone absolutely insists on a demonstration and otherwise has to "do it live" this makes you look like a god on stage - https://github.com/sloria/doitlive

Basically just schedules whatever code you want to run so when you invoke the script it will step through whatever you want to run no matter the keystroke you make. No mistakes!

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#117

Post by jakesgates »

runamuck wrote: post #16

Public speaking plus blog posts did more for my career than my advanced engineering degrees. They lead to my past three places of employment. I did a talk or wrote a blog post, posted it to LI and then the decision makers reached out to me. This got me employment at workplaces I loved. I only write/ talk about things I enjoy, and they needed people with skills in the topics I wrote/ talk about. Perfect fit. I highly…

What is LI?

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#118

Post by indymike »

If your presentation requires a custom software installation, give the audience the instructions as a hand out/script so you can focus on the important part.

I once did a breakout about a Geo support in Django, but the presenter spent the entire time helping people install PostgreSQL with geo support for an entire morning. We never ran a single line of Django code when the presentation was over.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#119

Post by lucassz »

jakesgates wrote: post #117
runamuck wrote: post #16

Public speaking plus blog posts did more for my career than my advanced engineering degrees. They lead to my past three places of employment. I did a talk or wrote a blog post, posted it to LI and then the decision makers reached out to me. This got me employment at workplaces I loved. I only write/ talk about things I enjoy, and they needed people with skills in the topics I wrote/ talk about. Perfect fit. I highly…

What is LI?

Probably LinkedIn

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#120

Post by aembleton »

jakesgates wrote: post #117
runamuck wrote: post #16

Public speaking plus blog posts did more for my career than my advanced engineering degrees. They lead to my past three places of employment. I did a talk or wrote a blog post, posted it to LI and then the decision makers reached out to me. This got me employment at workplaces I loved. I only write/ talk about things I enjoy, and they needed people with skills in the topics I wrote/ talk about. Perfect fit. I highly…

What is LI?

Linked In
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