What Should I Talk About?

Note: This talk was written up as a blog post on Missgeeky.com (https://missgeeky.com/2016/11/21/how-to-brainstorm-talk-ideas/)

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Everyone has something that’s worth sharing with others. Every person knows something that others don’t. It’s very easy to undervalue the things that we know, and that we assume are common knowledge. You might not be the “number one expert” in something, but honestly you don’t have to be to be the one talking about it. In some areas actually being a non-expert might give you a different and perhaps a more relatable perspective, allowing other non-experts to easier understand the topic.

But how do you discover what you should be talking about?

I thought I’d share some tips and tricks of how I approach coming up with my talk (and blog post) ideas and turn it into an exercise of sorts that anyone can start with.

Transcript

1. What should I talk about?
   Melinda Seckington
   @mseckington
   #conference-club
   

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2. Hello! I’m Melinda
   

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3. Conference talks
   

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4. Share
   what you do!
   

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5. nothing i
   do is worth
   sharing
   I get too
   nervous
   I’m
   not a good
   speaker
   I can’t
   present
   I’m not
   an expert
   

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6. Everyone has
   something worth
   sharing with others
   

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7. Brainstorming
   talk ideas!
   

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8. Talk type
   Location Topic
   

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9. Talk type
   Location Topic
   Where are you doing this
   talk?
   Is it at a specific conference or meetup? Is
   it internally at work? Who is your audience?
   What is their background? What do they
   know already?
   

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10. Talk type
    Location Topic
    What is the talk format?
    Is it a lightning talk or a longer talk? Are you
    live coding or demoing something? What is
    the format of the talk?
    

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11. Talk type
    Location Topic
    What is the talk about?
    What message do you want people to take
    away from it?
    

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12. Talk type
    Location Topic
    Where is this talk?
    Is it at a specific conference or meetup? Is
    it internally at work? Who is your audience?
    What is their background? What do they
    know already?
    What is the talk about?
    What message do you want people to take
    away from it?
    What is the talk format?
    Is it a lightning talk or a longer talk? Are you
    live coding or demoing something? What is
    the format of the talk?
    

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13. Talk type
    Location Topic
    

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14. Brainstorming
    talk ideas!
    

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15. There are no
    stupid ideas
    

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16. Keep track of
    your ideas
    

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17. Develop the
    “that-would-make-a-good-talk”
    voice in your mind
    

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18. Workshop:
    1. Form small groups (2-4).
    2. Using the Location, Talk type and Topic questions/
    exercises as inspiration, take 10 minutes to write down all
    the ideas you can think of.
    3. Discuss your ideas in your groups. Ask each other
    questions to fine-tune the ideas.
    

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19. Talk type
    Location Topic
    Where is this talk?
    Is it at a specific conference or meetup? Is
    it internally at work? Who is your audience?
    What is their background? What do they
    know already?
    What is the talk about?
    What message do you want people to take
    away from it?
    What is the talk format?
    Is it a lightning talk or a longer talk? Are you
    live coding or demoing something? What is
    the format of the talk?
    

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20. Topic
    Write down all the topics you’re interested in and you know
    about. It doesn’t matter how obscure - add it to the list!
    Think back to what you’ve done the past month. What
    problems did you come across that were challenging to deal
    with? What things did you work on that you’re proud of?
    What did you spend a lot of time on that maybe could have
    gone quicker if you knew something you do now?
    Can you remember any long emails, slack messages, git
    commits, pull requests, internal docs or long conversations
    recently, where you’ve explained something to someone?
    Would someone else benefit from learning that?
    

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21. Topic
    Think about recent conversations and discussions with
    friends or colleagues. What topic could you easily talk hours
    and hours with them about? What excites you? What
    infuriates you?
    What’s something that you wish you could know more
    about? Are there any questions you have that you wish you
    knew the answer to? Coming up with a talk will give you a
    push to dive into that topic.
    Think about your favourite books, music, movies, museums,
    restaurants, sports teams, famous (or nonfamous) people,
    cars, anecdotes, countries, food, animals, games.
    

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22. Topic
    Think back when you started your career - are there any
    topics that you think could have helped you if you had heard
    about it earlier?
    What processes/work/things do you do that make your life
    easier? If other people did it too, would it make their lives
    easier?
    Take a look at talks or speakers that inspire you. What do
    they have in common? What would your take on it be?
    

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23. Talk types
    Write down what types of talks you’re interested in.
    Examples: lightning talk, internal work presentation, small
    meetup, conference talk.
    Do you want to do demos? Or live coding? Or making the talk
    more interactive? Think about the type of talk that you
    would enjoy giving.
    

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24. Location
    Write down specific conferences or meetups that you’d like
    to talk at. Does the event have a theme? What type of
    audience attends? What’s their background?
    Look at the event’s past talks or their call for papers. Are
    there specific topics or areas that they are interested in?
    Look at the event’s past speakers - do you agree or disagree
    with their opinions?
    If you were at that event, what talk would you want to see?
    What talk would be on your must-watch-don’t-miss list?
    

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