Planning a Technical Talk

A worksheet for putting together a technical talk using storytelling techniques.
A companion piece to https://hackernoon.com/writing-a-tech-talk-using-storytelling-techniques-ff116392b4d8

Transcript

1. Planning a Technical Talk Gillian Armstrong https://twitter.com/@virtualgill https://medium.com/@virtualgill
2. PURPOSE Gillian Armstrong @virtualgill Why am I telling this story? What do I want people to know? What do I want people to have learnt? Everything in your talk should serve this purpose. Keep it in mind as you make all your decisions. NOTES
3. Gillian Armstrong @virtualgill Fill in the end first, so you can see where you need to get to. It will help you work out where you should start. What steps happened in between the start and the end. What are the most important ones? THE STORY START END STEPS NOTES
4. Gillian Armstrong @virtualgill Who are you giving this talk to. Will it be a mixed group? What should you be able to assume that the audience will already know. AUDIENCE NOTES ASSUMPTIONS
5. Gillian Armstrong @virtualgill This is for you, to help you think through the story. Every technology, application and person should be considered a character in this story. You might need more than one of this sheet! The description should be a single sentence that can be used to sum what what it is. The backstory fills in more details. Only what is needed of this will be shared as part of the story. Remember you are a character in this story too! CHARACTERS NOTES NAME DESCRIPTION BACKSTORY
6. Gillian Armstrong @virtualgill What do you need to explain for your story to make sense. SCENE SETTING NOTES • Add an epilogue – where can people reach you or find out more? • Practice, practice, practice. • Edit ruthlessly – cut whatever isn’t core to the story or aligned with the purpose. • Be you! FINAL PIECES You’re going to be awesome!