Tech Talk Brainstorming

Speaking professionally is a great way to deepen your understanding of a topic, show off what you've learned, make new friends in the industry, and even unlock new opportunities. Whether it's for a meetup, a conference, or even here internally at work, devs often say "but don't have anything to talk about." I assure you that isn't true. In this workshop we will go through several exercises to get your tech talk ideas flowing and share them around with the group. By the end you should have several ideas!

Transcript

1. Tech Talk Brainstorming:
   You Have Lots to Talk
   About
   1
   Audrey Troutt
   

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2. 2
   1. Write on paper
   2. No judging (yourself, your ideas, or anyone
   else, or their ideas)
   Rules
   

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3. For each prompt:
   ● 5 minutes writing by yourself
   ● ~3 people share some ideas
   3
   Workshop Plan
   

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4. Think back to a year
   ago. What would you
   have wanted to know?
   What advice would
   you need?
   

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5. What’s your hobby?
   What lessons are
   shared between your
   hobby and your job?
   

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6. Think of a problem you’ve had in the past month or
   two:
   If you did solve it, how did you solve it? Were there other
   ways you could have solved it? Why did you pick the way that
   you did?
   If you came across the same problem again, what would you
   do differently?
   If you didn’t solve it, what went wrong? How could others
   avoid it in the future?
   

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7. What’s a new
   technology or
   technique that you’ve
   heard of recently, but
   don’t know much
   about?
   

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8. What’s something you
   didn’t know when you
   started your career
   that you know now?
   

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9. 9
   You can no longer say you have nothing to talk about!
   Writing talks is a separate workshop, but here’s a formula:
   ● Explain the problem
   ● Explain the ideal situation
   ● Explain your solution and the path to get there
   ● Tell a story
   So Now What?
   

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10. 10
    FURTHER INSPIRATION
    Post: source of these questions and more
    http://lucybain.com/blog/2016/conference-proposal-ideas
    Video: How to be an Android Expert
    https://news.realm.io/news/droidcon-boston-chiu-ki-chan-how-to-be-an-android-ex
    pert/ she’s talking about Android, but this applies to anything
    Newsletter: inspiration, tips, and heads up on conf speaking opportunities
    https://tinyletter.com/techspeak
    Conf/community: for tech women http://www.writespeakcode.com/
    

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