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About me
● Self-taught public speaker
● Conference organizer
● Program committee and talk
proposal reviewer
● Speaker mentor
Aka my credentials
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PUBLIC SPEAKING IS
A LEARNED SKILL
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I’m new
● 2016: 1st conference talk
● 2017: USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, 1st keynote
● 2018: 2 keynotes
● 2019: E_TOO_MANY_KEYNOTE_REQUESTS
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Call for Proposals (CFP)
● CFP opens from 6 to 3 months ahead
● Sample proposals:
○ https://github.com/akaptur/pycon-proposals
○ https://talk-talk-talk.readthedocs.io
● Get a mentor to review your proposal
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What to talk about?
● Things you’ve learned
● Things you’re passionate about
● Things you wished you had known
● Things you know a lot about
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Proposal structure
● Who is the audience?
○ Everyone
● What will they learn?
○ Everything about “something”
○ How to build “something”
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Proposal structure
● The elevator pitch
● Be specific, be focused
○ What is “something”?
○ Why learn about “something”?
○ Why learn about “something” from you?
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Proposal rejected?
Facts:
● PyCascades 2018: 201 proposals for 20 talk slots.
○ Acceptance rate < 10%
● PyCascades 2019: 235 proposals for 20 talk slots.
○ Acceptance rate < 9%
● PyGotham 2018: 252 proposals.
● DjangoCon US 2018: 259 proposals.
● PyCon AU 2017: 250 proposals.
● WriteTheDocs Portland 2017: 100 proposals
● North Bay Python 2017: 117 proposals.
● SeaGL 2017: 138 proposals.
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Proposal rejected?
● It does not mean your proposal is bad
● Try again at other conference / next year
● Don’t wait for feedback from reviewers
○ Find a mentor to pre-review your
proposal
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SCARY
PUBLIC SPEAKING IS
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Why is it scary?
● Afraid I will forget what to say
○ Write script/notes, practise
● Afraid of the questions after talk
○ Say no to Q&A
● Afraid to face strangers
○ Have a friend sit in front of you
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REWARDING
PUBLIC SPEAKING IS
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Perks
● Free registration
● Travel cost covered
● Gift, dinner, etc
● Build network
● Establish yourself as an expert
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Other resources
● https://github.com/vmbrasseur/Public_Speaking#proposing-talks
● https://github.com/akaptur/pycon-proposals
● https://ballingt.com/wanna-do-a-talk/
● https://pydanny.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-tips-for-speaking.html
● https://talk-talk-talk.readthedocs.io/
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PyCascades 2021 CFP is open (we have mentors + perks):
https://pretalx.com/pycascades-2021/cfp
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@Mariatta
[email protected]
THANKS!
Sponsor Mariatta on GitHub:
https://github.com/sponsors/Mariatta