Gr8Ladies June Meetup: Preparing a Tech Conference Talk

Jenn's Portion of the slides for:
http://www.meetup.com/Gr8Ladies/events/221712442/

If you weren't there, the slides will probably seem out of context.

Transcript

1. Preparing a Tech Conference Talk Gr8Ladies June Meetup
2. Overview 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM Food, Beverages, and Networking 6:30 PM - Lightning Talks 7:30 PM - Group Exercise 8:00 PM - Closing and JetBrains Raffle
3. Goals • Encourage more women to become conference speakers • Help prepare speakers for upcoming presentations
4. What do you hope to get out of this session?
5. Presentation Tools Jenn Strater
6. • Gui Based • Code Based
7. GUI Based • KeyNote • PowerPoint • Prezi • LibreOffice • Slides.com
8. Code Based • Reveal.js • Deck.js • DeckSet
9. Code Based Formats • Markdown • AsciiDoc • Jade • LaTex
10. Important Features • Presenter Mode • Editor/Format • Templates vs Customization • Ease of creating graphs and figures
11. For more Info • https://twitter.com/JennStrater/status/610085804099006465
12. Bad Habits To Avoid Jenn Strater
13. Don’t Practice • Just wing it on timing. Everyone loves a talk that gets over early? Right? • I’m a rockstar. I don’t need feedback.
14. Don’t Record Yourself Practicing • Watch the pace ◦ Look for pacing, too many hand gestures, or not looking at the audience ◦ Listen for repetitive stall words (um, uh, etc)
15. Not Preparing for the Inevitable
16. Every conference has great wifi • Experience: Links failed; Demo tried to load external dependencies • Lesson Learned: See if there is an offline mode
17. Computer programs are always reliable • Experience: Program crashed three times while trying to display code • Backup Plan: Show Code on Github
18. Demos always work • Experience: Something always goes wrong • Lessons Learned: ◦ Use a projector (the same one if possible) ◦ Use full-screen and/or presenter modes. ◦ Rehearse from beginning to end in multiple scenarios ◦ Have a backup code sample to skip to when live coding fails
19. All you need is a laptop • Experience: Some conferences don’t have the right adapter for your machine • Lesson Learned: Bring your own!
20. All you need is a laptop • Experience: Last minute room changes can mean different cables • Lesson Learned: Bring my own adaptors even if I didn’t need it the first day
21. Only bring what you need • Experience: Fellow speaker’s laser pointer died during the presentation • Lesson Learned: Bring extra batteries
22. Advice for First Time Speakers Jenn Strater
23. Where to Start
24. Start at The Beginning • Introductory talks can be easier to give and have fewer expectations
25. Start Small • User Groups meetings • Lightning Talks
26. Pair with a Buddy • Helps Relieve Pressure • Helps with Immediate Feedback
27. Practice at the right venue • Code Camps are free and an easy place to start ◦ Attendees are generally encouraging and friendly • Go to an event where no one knows you ◦ Less intimidating
28. The Actual Talk
29. Stay Calm • Be ok with being wrong • It’s ok to say, “let’s find out” and “let’s talk after”
30. Set a “Plant” • Ask a question when there is silence • Give encouraging looks the speaker looks stressed or paniced
31. Stand up to Hecklers • Don’t let a question take over your talk • Tell the person you will answer their question later • Stop acknowledging questions from bullies
32. Ask For Feedback • But don’t take it personally
33. Closing
34. Thanks again to our sponsors!
35. Next Steps • Presentation Patterns. ◦ http://presentationpatterns.com • Speaker Camp - Minneapolis ◦ http://chicagocamps.ticketleap.com/speaker- camp-minneapolis/details • FemTech School ◦ http://startupschool.tech.mn/ • Gr8Conf US ◦ http://gr8conf.us
36. JetBrains Raffle Random.org drawing based on Sign-In Sheet