What to talk about when you have nothing to talk about

Speaking at (technical) conferences and meetups is excellent for you and your career, but what happens when you want to but you don't know what to talk about?

I found myself in this exact scenario when I was asked by Eunice Allela to speak at the Women Techmakers Women Developer Academy SSA, so I decided to talk about that instead.

Today, I gave a 30-minute presentation and spent the remaining 30 minutes answering questions. I even helped a participant come up with ideas for her talk during the session.

Transcript

1. What to talk about
   when you have nothing
   to talk about
   Women Developer Academy
   Powered by Women Techmakers
   Moyinoluwa Adeyemi
   

   View Slide

2. “Sometimes you’re overflowing with
   ideas and sometimes you’re not,
   and that’s ok. But there is almost
   always something to talk about.”
   —me 😅
   

   View Slide

3. Why should I speak?
   

   View Slide

4. Learn
   Why should I speak?
   

   View Slide

5. Learn Network
   Why should I speak?
   

   View Slide

6. Free
   Conference
   Tickets (+1s too!)
   Learn Network
   Why should I speak?
   

   View Slide

7. Travel Free
   Conference
   Tickets (+1s too!)
   Learn Network
   Why should I speak?
   

   View Slide

8. Let's talk about the types of talks
   

   View Slide

9. Let's talk about the types of talks
   Usually 40 minutes,
   can be 1 hour
   General session
   

   View Slide

10. Let's talk about the types of talks
    Usually 20 minutes
    Lightning talks
    Usually 40 minutes,
    can be 1 hour
    General session
    

    View Slide

11. Let's talk about the types of talks
    Usually 20 minutes From 30 minutes to
    multiple days
    Lightning talks Workshops
    Usually 40 minutes,
    can be 1 hour
    General session
    

    View Slide

12. Let's talk about the types of talks
    From 20 minutes to
    an hour
    Usually 20 minutes From 30 minutes to
    multiple days
    Lightning talks
    Panels
    Workshops
    Usually 40 minutes,
    can be 1 hour
    General session
    

    View Slide

13. General session (40 mins - 1 hr)
    Keynotes, new features, difficult bugs, migrations e.t.c.
    Technical stuff from work
    01
    

    View Slide

14. Chris Banes and Nacho López speaking about Jetpack
    Compose adoption at Twitter at Droidcon London 2022
    

    View Slide

15. Technical stuff from work
    Non technical stuff from work
    01
    02
    General session (40 mins - 1 hr)
    Keynotes, new features, difficult bugs, migrations e.t.c.
    Keynotes, onboarding, team processes e.t.c.
    

    View Slide

16. View Slide

17. Technical stuff from work
    Non technical stuff from work
    Technical stuff not from work
    01
    03
    02
    General session (40 mins - 1 hr)
    Keynotes, new features, difficult bugs, migrations e.t.c.
    Usually based on exploration (e.g. new APIs) in personal projects
    or open source contributions
    Keynotes, onboarding, team processes e.t.c.
    

    View Slide

18. Make time count with Wear OS at DevFest Lagos 2022
    

    View Slide

19. Case Studies/Research results
    01
    Lightning talks (Usually 20 minutes)
    

    View Slide

20. Case Studies/Research results
    Core Skills
    01
    02
    Communication, Code reviews e.t.c
    Lightning talks (Usually 20 minutes)
    

    View Slide

21. Salary negotiation, IC vs Management e.t.c
    Case Studies/Research results
    Core Skills
    Career/Leveling up
    01
    03
    02
    Communication, Code reviews e.t.c
    Lightning talks (Usually 20 minutes)
    

    View Slide

22. No need for slides
    01
    Panels (From 20 minutes to an hour)
    

    View Slide

23. No need for slides
    Might receive questions beforehand
    01
    02
    Panels (From 20 minutes to an hour)
    

    View Slide

24. No need for slides
    Might receive questions beforehand
    Can be technical or non-technical
    01
    03
    02
    Panels (From 20 minutes to an hour)
    

    View Slide

25. Usually a technical deep dive
    01
    Workshops (From 30 minutes to multiple days)
    

    View Slide

26. Usually a technical deep dive
    Usually hands on
    01
    02
    Workshops (From 30 minutes to multiple days)
    

    View Slide

27. Usually a technical deep dive
    Usually hands on
    Focused on one topic, language
    or technology
    01
    03
    02
    Workshops (From 30 minutes to multiple days)
    Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, #IAMRemarkable e.t.c.
    

    View Slide

28. Choosing a topic
    

    View Slide

29. bard.google.com
    

    View Slide

30. bard.google.com
    

    View Slide

31. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and
    includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik
    Thanks!
    Do you have any questions?
    @moyheen
    

    View Slide