Speaking Like an Idiot

A Dummy's Guide to
Talking at Conferences

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

Everyone!

Who?

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

Why?

• Personal development
• Opportunities
• Fun!

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

What?

Whatever you

find interesting

What?

• Case studies
• Comparisons
• Critiques
• Introductions
• Hints and Tips
• Deep Dives
• Demos

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

Where?

• Big old-fashioned conferences
• Modern trendier conferences
• Meetups
• Internally at Softwire

Where?

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

How?

Submitting a talk

• Find a good fit
• Invent a hook
• Sell yourself

How?

Preparing a presentation

• Brainstorm/research
• Create a narrative
• Minimise slides

How?

Preparing a live demo

• Write yourself a script

How?

Preparing a live demo

• Write yourself a script
• Always have a backup plan
• Don't waste people's time

How?

Preparing to talk

• Have the right equipment
• Arrive in plenty of time
• Focus on your delivery

How?

Delivering your talk

• Appreciate your audience
• Set the tone
• Engage the room
• Pace yourself

How?

Becoming a speaker

• Performance
• Feedback
• Revision

How?

Group - External Speakers

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

When?

• "It was really hard last week to X, but next time I think I'd A/B/C. Maybe other people would like to know that in advance"
• "Both microservices and web components have sort-of similar ideas about encapsulation"
• "People like to hear about security things breaking; what happens if I talk about those, and pull out some useful messages?"
• "It's hard to know how to pick a database"
• "X is exciting and new, and most people probably haven't tried it yet"
• "This project was pretty different to others in that it ABC, and I hadn't seen that before. I bet other people haven't either"
• "It's sad to see other people doing QQ badly, when we do it fairly well. Why do we do QQ so well?"
• "Everybody things X is a good idea, but I've seen it fail a few times in some interesting ways"