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

1–10 of 94 posts

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

#2

Post by CapacitorSet »

Are you asking how to find a suitable place for giving talks, or how to organize one? If the latter, I'm also interested as I'm in the process of writing my first talk.

For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. I'll be giving my first one at a hacking/FOSS event a couple of hours away from where I live, but there are also chances to participate in smaller local events as long as your talk fits the theme. It's no big deal - you make up your mind about the topic of your talk, contact the organizers giving an overview of said topic, and wait for confirmation.

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

#4

Post by galimay »

You can start giving tech talks in your own company. In my company we have Tech Talk & Pizza the first Tuesday of every month, and works really well. The people interested in give a talk have to add the topic in a poll, and the most voted topic is selected for the next month. It's a good idea to have some fun with your colleagues, spread knowledge, and eat free pizza!

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

#5

Post by philippz »

This question is a bit unspecific.

Getting to be a speaker is more than just being good at public speaking. It's about building a personal brand. For that you have to start sharing your knowledge. Start blogging, share what you got to say and try to get some outreach on the web. Start offering to talk in your company and at local tech-events in your city. Finally, watch out for "call for papers" from bigger conferences and start speaking there. What also helps is a great network from people who already are speakers in your field and a network to those who are organizing those events.

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

#7

Post by philippz »

This question is a bit unspecific.

Getting to be a speaker is more than just being good at public speaking. It's about building a personal brand. For that you have to start sharing your knowledge. Start blogging, share what you got to say and try to get some outreach on the web. Start offering to talk in your company and at local tech-events in your city. Finally, watch out for "call for papers" from bigger conferences and start speaking there. What also helps is a great network from people who already are speakers in your field and a network to those who are organizing those events.

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

#8

Post by alanfranz »

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 of the biggest problem with presentation newbies is that they're unable to keep the proper timing.

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.

6) Focus on your speech, not on the slides. The slides should support you, you should not be reading slides aloud.

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

#9

Post by mcherm »

CapacitorSet wrote: post #2

Are you asking how to find a suitable place for giving talks, or how to organize one? If the latter, I'm also interested as I'm in the process of writing my first talk. For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk. I'll be giving my first one at a hacking/FOSS event a couple of hours away from where I live, but there are also chances to participate in s…

> For the former, it's rather easy really - there are plenty of minor events where you can offer to give a talk.

Well, that's the part that I am finding difficult. I have some interesting topics to address; I have a decent amount of skill and experience at presenting; I have a lot of practice with internal audiences. But I am terrible at networking and this part you describe as "easy" is the stumbling block for me.

Do you have any specific pointers for finding events (even minor ones) which are local (I'm in the Philadelphia area, which is within driving distance of lots of east-coast places) and topical, and finding them EARLY enough to submit a speaking proposal?

Post reply on HN