Effective Technical Presentation

An informal session on how to deliver an effective technical presentation.

Transcript

1. Effective Technical Presentation Prashanth Pai Software Development Engineer
2. Practice what you preach not today, sorry!
3. Presentation/demo - Where? • Sprint completion • Team KT sessions • Hackathons • Conferences and Meetups • Potential customers • Potential investors
4. Brevity, relevance and time I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter. - Blaise Pascal I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one. - Mark Twain
5. Prep • Who’s your audience? • Care for topic and audience • Make informal/random notes • Research - prior material; FAQ • Do NOT wing it; Iterate • Awareness - mannerism, grammar, fillers
6. Technical content – Visual Aids • Live demonstration • Slides • Whiteboard • Notes
7. Live demo • Consider recording • Is outcome > implementation detail ? • “Why”, not just what and how • Installation, idempotency and reset • Code: syntax+contrast highlighting, line numbers • Eliminate distractions + fix information leak
8. Slides or death by powerpoint • YOU are the content, slides are Table of Contents • Sets the structure; serves as a reminder • Text: less is more • Maximum threshold: 1 slide/min. • Conference time: 25 + 5, 40 + 5 • Slide content: 1-6-6 rule
9. Conferences – why? • Attend – Humbling experience – Networking and jobs – Not reinventing the wheel • Talk – Learning – Perks – Career
10. Submitting a talk • CFP process • Title, abstract, bio • Examples
11. Technicalities • Visibility and readability • File formats • Screen aspect ratio • Conference templates • Demo recording • Cables/converters
12. Non-Technical Stuff • Pacing • Don’t avoid eye contact • Relatable references + pop culture • Feedback form/link • Slide and reference availability
13. My personal toolkit • Vim (or any editor) • Markdown (github, gist) • Google slides • Libreoffice • Draw.io or excalidraw.com • asciinema.org • Speakerdeck • Go present tool (niche and idiomatic)
14. Answering questions • Clarify your preference – interruption or no • Prompt during the session (topic change, pre-requisites) • Repeat/Paraphrase the question • No need to be impulsive • Embrace “I don’t know” • Embrace “We’ll take it offline”
15. Thank you