TBC* - A talk on giving talks

*yes, that's the title.

This is a talk I gave at a tech group meetup to encourage others to give talks.

Transcript

1. TBC* *yes, that’s the title
2. A talk on giving talks… ...how meta!
3. Presented at Code Cumbria November 27th, 2013
4. #1 Always introduce yourself
5. David Murphy http://schwuk.com @schwuk
6. #2 Be prepared
7. Know your subject ...and if you don’t know it, this is a good chance to learn it!
8. Know your purpose A short, focused talk is greater than an hour long monologue
9. Outline > Detail > Sequence Start with the purpose, then fill in the details. You can re-order it later.
10. #3 Slide decks - the bane of audiences everywhere!
11. Don’t be afraid to use them ...but don’t abuse them
12. We’ve all seen them. The walls of text or lists of bullets points that the presenter proceeds to read verbatim in a monotone voice at a much slower pace than the average person reads. You’ve gotten to the end of the slide and they are still wrapping up the first sentence. So now what? Listen attentively until they’ ve finished? Nope. Half the audience are pretending not to fall asleep while the other half are on Twitter or watching that hilarious cat video. You know, the one where it sneaks up on the camera like a ninja. What do you mean you haven’t seen it? Anyway, back to the talk. If by any chance they’re still engaged at this point then you’re going to lose them with the next slide which is … wait for it … another wall of text! Oh joy, oh rapture, oh … look … it’s video of someone drunk playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 with an Occulus Rift. I should share this with my all Facebook m8tes… Oh, and if the audience is still reading this, they’re not listening to you!
13. Slides should be brief and to the point
14. The worlds most accurate pie chart
15. A good slide reinforces what you are saying but doesn’t distract the audience
16. But don’t rely on them hardware failures, software failures, network failures, presenter failures, audience failures, room failures, failure failures
17. #4 Murphy’s law is alive and well (and giving this talk)
18. #5 Avoid stock templates
19. It’s easy to make your own
20. Colours kuler.adobe.com colourlovers.com
21. Backgrounds and images images.google.com flickr.com (don’t forget attribution!)
22. Layouts This is using a stock layout, but thanks to colours and fonts it doesn’t matter
23. #6 Plan B Have multiple copies, in multiple formats, and be prepared to not use slides at all
24. Enough about slides Let’s talk about talking
25. glossophobia Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking or of speaking in general. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread. ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossophobia
26. It can be overcome How? Practice!
27. Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice!
28. Talk to yourself
29. Talk to a mirror
30. Talk to others
31. #7 Practice!
32. #8 Talk to the room
33. #9 Talk to people
34. but still talk to the room!
35. #10 Tell a story
36. a beginning, a middle, an end If the audience is engaged, they will remember more
37. The end ...for now...
38. Questions? @schwuk
39. Why is this talk called “To be confirmed”? It’s a reminder to not get hung up on the title - just get out there and present!