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So you want to speak at software conferences?

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Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#81

Post by emil-lp »

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…

Perhaps your advanced engineering degrees enabled you to do public speaking and blogging?

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#82

Post by 2rsf »

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…

> 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 remember that the audience doesn't know what you are going to present, so they wouldn't care if you make mistakes.

I will add

13. Practice and learn speaking, a good start could be Vinh Giang's Youtube channel

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#83

Post by 2rsf »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #13

I’ve been doing public speaking for my entire adult life, but not for a living. That said, it’s not my strong suit. Others are far better at it than I am. This is one of those areas where folks can make money/satisfy ego, so there’s a ton of competition. I’m not competitive, and am not interested in making money doing this kind of thing, so I don’t really try. I do appreciate folks that are good at it, though; especi…

> That said, it’s not my strong suit. Others are far better at it than I am.

I don't know you, and I feel the same about my public speaking but I suspenct that there's a lot of imposter syndrom in that

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#84

Post by KeplerBoy »

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.

Just do it. There's nothing wrong with it, if that's the kind of talk you want to give.

Look at stuff by david beazley, matt godbolt or casey muratori. They all have talks which focus on small pieces of code and i'm sure it's a tremendous effort to frame that well enough and pace it appropriately, but it sure works for them (and me watching their talks).

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#85

Post by Kamilbenkirane »

That's insightful! Thanks for sharing. I've been applying to conferences recently to present an open-source library I built (a unified client for AI providers), but I haven't gotten any responses yet. I think the project is solid—it basically lets you switch from OpenAI to Anthropic in one line of code—but I suspect my CFP (Call for Papers) abstracts are failing to hook the organizers. For those here who review CFPs: Do you prefer abstracts that focus on the "Technical How-To" (e.g., 'How to standardize I/O layers') or the "Story/Philosophy" (e.g., 'Why we need primitives, not frameworks')? I feel like I might be getting too technical too fast.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#86

Post by WalterBright »

2rsf wrote: post #82
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…

> 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 benefits like animations or transitions

I know. I just go for very basic stuff - large fonts, black text on white background, no border, no colors. I ruthlessly eliminate everything but the point I'm trying to make.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#87

Post by WalterBright »

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.

I ruthlessly make the code examples as simple as possible. Eliminate everything but the point you're trying to make. I'll adjust the font to fill the slide.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#88

Post by WalterBright »

em-bee wrote: post #67
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. depends on the nature of the presentation. if it is a coding workshop then live coding is actually quite a good idea.

A workshop is a different sort of animal.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#89

Post by lopis »

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. avoid typing in code as part of the presentation, most of the time it won't work and it's boring watching somebody type

As usual, thumb rules exist to protect you until you can confidently break them. One of the coolest presentations I've seen was several years ago at a React conference where the speaker live coded an electronic music and light show using React. They were demonstrating how "components" could really render anything.

Re: So you want to speak at software conferences?

#90

Post by aleph_minus_one »

ValentineC wrote: post #5

> Finally, watch out for events that put video of their sessions online. Having a couple of YouTube links of you doing your thing in front of a live, appreciate audience can make all the difference when a programme committee is looking at a handful of talks and can only accept one of them. This, very much this. I run a paid, one-day, mid-sized conference every year, and with only so many slots, we find it very, very…

> I run a paid, one-day, mid-sized conference every year, and with only so many slots, we find it very, very difficult to risk choosing people who don't have videos of themselves speaking.

Some people are much more privacy-conscious than others and thus at least don't want more videos of themselves online than what is absolutely necessary.

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