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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?

#131

Post by dylanbeattie »

stevenalowe wrote: post #125

Good article, just wanted to add that the time from idea to international speaker can be weeks/months, not necessarily years, depending on your niche

Sure, it happens. Especially if somebody is already well known and respected in their field.

But it is not common, and I find it frustrating how many people think they can fast-track their way to the bigger events. I've been on the committee that rejects their submissions and find myself having to diplomatically explain to them "you've never done this before, nobody has any idea who you are, you've done nothing to establish your credibility regarding this topic, and you were one of 1500 submissions for 50 available slots... sorry, kid, that's not how this works."

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#133

Post by ghaff »

ValentineC wrote: post #63
ghaff wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how often recorded videos are viewed--conference committees have to wade through a lot of applications. But conference presentations are basically public events and if that bothers you, you should probably reconsider doing one. (Yes, per parent, if there's a real disaster--and those happen--they may be deep-sixed but I wouldn't count on it.)

> I don't know how often recorded videos are viewed--conference committees have to wade through a lot of applications. For most conferences that do blind-rating first, only in subsequent rounds when the programme is being put together.

How common is that (outside of academia maybe -- which I have little familiarity with)?

Certainly when I've been on conference committees we tended to know a lot of the presenters and wouldn't have wanted to just rely on submissions. We knew who were experts on specific topics or were just good presenters.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#134

Post by stevenalowe »

dylanbeattie wrote: post #131
stevenalowe wrote: post #125

Good article, just wanted to add that the time from idea to international speaker can be weeks/months, not necessarily years, depending on your niche

Sure, it happens. Especially if somebody is already well known and respected in their field. But it is not common, and I find it frustrating how many people think they can fast-track their way to the bigger events. I've been on the committee that rejects their submissions and find myself having to diplomatically explain to them "you've never done this before, nobody has any idea who you are, you've done nothing to es…

I did not mean to imply that steps could be skipped, just that they can be orchestrated more rapidly in some niches where there are a lot of conferences

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#135

Post by exmadscientist »

thiht wrote: post #112
exmadscientist wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

We may be talking about different things.

If your talk is about, say, heat engines, and you want to have an animated Carnot cycle or something, great! Do that! That sounds useful! (These days it would probably be implemented as a video, which is why my brain binned it as such, but it really could be done with PowerPoint alone.)

If you want to have your slide chug in from the right "like a locomotive" then have each item on the screen individually fade in "like puffs of steam" then once you're done the whole thing drifts to the top "like smoke" because "steam engines are heat engines", that is the crap I am telling people to get rid of.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#136

Post by fouc »

susam wrote: post #69
fouc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's physically painful for everyone else to listen to you talking about your topic.. if you talk for too long that is. :)

Indeed! It's said that no talk should be longer than a microcentury. https://www.ams.org/notices/199701/comm-rota.pdf https://susam.net/microcentury.html

Nice one! I would've said half a microcentury would be the perfect limit for most school lectures, but for an engaging talk a full microcentury would be acceptable :-)
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