1

What should drives you

What should drives you

Share your knowledge

Be impactful 👩‍🏫 👨‍🏫

"You've spent hours mastering something — now help others save that time."

Share your knowledge

Do it for your attendees

Ask yourself

"If someone had given me this talk four years ago, how much time and energy would I have saved?"

"How much is it worth it to attend my talk compared to another one?"

But also do it for your personal learning

Learn, share, repeat...

Meet people that matters

Together we shape the WEB of tomorrow

Misko Hevery

Nicolas Frizzarin

Yohan Lasorsa

Olivier Leplus

Manfred Steyer

Emmanuelle Aboaf

Don't do it for the fame

It will brings you the extact opposite 🥸

"People will remember you and your company."

Stay humble

Key to success

"You'll meet people with where you have so much to learn on.

Do pair programming, stick with them, bond as much as possible.

And they might not be speakers."

2

Your topic

Your topic

It should be worth it

Present something useful

"I want to present at this conference, but first I need a topic."

Gartner hype cycle

Curve of fame

Ask them to be transparent

Ask people what they think of your topic

"Tell me. Is this something you will attend to ?"

Chose the one which better fits your topic

Talk format

Tools in action / quickies

Conference

Hands on lab

The most impactful

Tools in action

"Your goal isn’t just to share knowledge — it’s to spark envy, to inspire attendees to rush home and try out what you showed them.

Avoid basic "getting started" demos of new tools — they offer little value. Instead, aim for the wow factor.

Share insights, tricks, and hidden gems that aren’t obvious in the documentation.
 

And yes, do live coding. It’s authentic, engaging, and far more impactful."

The most famous

Conference

"Perfect for knowledge sharing and real expertise exchange.
 

Go deep — explore the inner workings of a technology that people are already using widely.
Show code, do live demos, and make sure to share your code afterward.

Keep your audience engaged from start to finish.

Bring something fresh — something you’re absolutely sure they haven’t seen before.

Be cautious with talks about generic topics (like testing or accessibility) — chances are, they’ve already heard it all."

The most useful

Hands on lab

"Think of something fun or genuinely valuable.

You’re a teacher now — leading a hands-on class.

By the end of your live exercise, attendees should feel confident using the technology you introduced.

It could be anything from code styling, to implementing accessibility, to discovering a new API — as long as it’s practical, focused, and leaves them empowered."

You have the power to change things

Message for you mesdames

"Avoid repeating the usual “women in tech” narrative — while important, it's often delivered in the same way and risks losing its impact.

Instead, lead with your expertise. Deliver strong, technical talks that showcase your skills.
Inspire change not just through words, but by setting the bar high and letting your work speak for itself."

Be public

Message for all Criteos

"Don't present something that only Criteos can understand or identify to."

3

CFP tips & tricks

Call For Paper - Tips & Tricks

The first rule of CFP

Brace yourself 😟

"You will get rejected."

Speaker available slots:

Number of proposals:

Number of reviewers:

Stack the odds in your favor

Maybe...

• Craft a compelling title and abstract — they need to grab attention quickly.

• Pay special attention to the description for reviewers — remember, reviewers may be reading hundreds of submissions in just a few days. Make yours stand out with clarity and focus.

• Include supporting materials:

  • Upload polished and complete slides.

  • Share a video of you presenting, if possible.

• Tell your story: explain your connection to the topic and why it matters.

• Emphasize the impact for attendees — show how your talk will deliver real value.

• Do your submission when the call for paper opens, not the last day.

Write a CFP complete guide

Try next year/elsewhere

If your talk is solid, it will work

4

Once accepted

You got accepted congratulations !!! 🥳🎉🎊

Coming to the conference

Be smart 🤓

• "Book your hotel close to the venue.
• Take a look at where the speaker dinner take place and attend it.
• Organize yourself.
• Free your calendar as much as possible.
• Don't be this rockstar coming to the conference 5min before his talk and leaving right after."

Before your talk

This is money time.

• "Practice your pace and pronunciation to ensure clarity and engagement.

• Use your slides as prompts, not scripts.

• Add QR codes to your slides for easy access to:

  • Your full slide deck

  • Demo source code

  • Job openings at Criteo

• Prepare for technical issues:

  • Have offline backups of your demo

  • Plan for no internet scenarios

  • Be ready with alternatives if something breaks"

60min before your talk

It's chill time. 💆‍♀️

"Chill.

Go to another talk, you are ready, relax.

Stay close to your stage but don't go to the one before yours if the presented topic as no interest for you."

15min before your talk

Gears up ! 🎙️

"Arrive at the stage early and check that everything is working properly — microphone, screen mirroring, sound, etc.

Then take a seat in the front row or start mingling with the audience.
Break the ice, ask how they’re doing. Throw in some dad jokes to build a friendly vibe."

During your talk

Keep up you're attendees engagement

• "Enjoy every minute — it goes by fast.

• Engage your audience early; ask if they’re your target group.

• Introduce yourself and your role at Criteo; share your socials.

• Watch the timer and stay focused on your content and upcoming slides.

• Adapt to your audience’s reactions.

• Sprinkle wow moments throughout your talk; for quick talks, keep the energy high throughout.

• Monitor audience engagement — check if they’re lost, bored, or interested.

• If your demo fails, don’t stress; limit debugging to 30 seconds max"

At the end of your talk

More bullet points...

• "Stay focused for the final 5 minutes despite everything on your mind.

• Display slides with your socials and thank attendees, staff, and sponsors.

• Feel free to take a photo—either before or after your talk.

• Be ready for Q&A; if nervous, manage your time to finish right on schedule.

• Whenever possible, invite attendees to ask questions at the Criteo booth to drive traffic there.

• Use this opportunity to meet key people and build connections."

After you talk

Take feedbacks especially the bad ones

"Criteo isn't well known enough by the developers.

You don't need to present Google, Amazon nor Microsoft, yet Criteo is often take for a contractor company.

Working at Google is a web developer carrer ✨ highlight ✨. It should be the same for Criteo.

Our culture is insanely good. And when I say culture I include the salary. Yet people are not aware.

Our mission is to create a fame around the fact that being a Software developer engineer at Criteo is a World class achievement.
Performing hard technical talks are the best live demo for that."

Our mission

Get rewarded

Join the community

#criteo-rnd-public-speakers

Thank You !

Give me feedbacks !

Sylvain DEDIEU

Frontend engineer – #ui-foundation 🛸

         s.dedieu@criteo.com

         @sdedieu.bsky.social

         s.dedieu@criteo.com

Sylvain Dedieu