@Mariatta Demystifying Public Speaking

Image placeholder About me ● Self-taught public speaker ● Conference organizer ● Program committee and talk proposal reviewer ● Speaker mentor Aka my credentials Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

PUBLIC SPEAKING IS A LEARNED SKILL Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

I’m new ● 2016: 1st conference talk ● 2017: USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, 1st keynote ● 2018: 2 keynotes ● 2019: E_TOO_MANY_KEYNOTE_REQUESTS Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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 Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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 Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

Proposal structure ● Who is the audience? ○ Everyone ● What will they learn? ○ Everything about “something” ○ How to build “something” Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

Proposal structure ● The elevator pitch ● Be specific, be focused ○ What is “something”? ○ Why learn about “something”? ○ Why learn about “something” from you? Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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. Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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 Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

SCARY PUBLIC SPEAKING IS Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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 Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

REWARDING PUBLIC SPEAKING IS Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

Perks ● Free registration ● Travel cost covered ● Gift, dinner, etc ● Build network ● Establish yourself as an expert Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta

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/ Demystifying Public Speaking @Mariatta PyCascades 2021 CFP is open (we have mentors + perks): https://pretalx.com/pycascades-2021/cfp

@Mariatta mariatta@pyladies.com THANKS! Sponsor Mariatta on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/Mariatta