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Conference Speaking 101 & 102

Conference Speaking 101 & 102

Presenting at a conference is a very rewarding experience. But it isn't always obvious how to get started. How do you take a basic topic idea and refine it into an hour-long technical presentation? In this tutorial we will cover the steps necessary to take your desire to present from concept all the way to finished presentation, including brainstorming, abstract development, slide development, rehearsal tips, and tips on dealing with presentation jitters. There will be time during this tutorial to start working on your own abstract and talk idea, so bring a concept if you have one.

Jeff Carouth

May 09, 2015
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  1. Today we will learn how to go about making the

    worst decision of your life: becoming a conference speaker.
  2. About Me • Developer since 2003 • Lead Platform Engineer

    • Given >30 conference presentations since 2011 • Mentor & trainer
  3. Who are you? • Have you given a talk at

    a conference before? • Submitted but been rejected? • First time at a conference? • User group leaders?
  4. Agenda 1. About this tutorial 2. Call for Papers 3.

    The Idea 4. Abstracts 5. Writing the Talk 6. Rehearsal 7. Preparation 8. Giving the Talk 9. Rules of Speaking 10. Pro Tips
  5. Find open CfPs by following relevant Twitter accounts, getting on

    email lists, or just paying attention to conference websites.
  6. Presenting at a conference is a very rewarding experience. But

    it isn't always obvious how to get started. How do you take a basic topic idea and refine it into an hour-long technical presentation? In this tutorial we will cover the steps necessary to take your desire to present from concept all the way to finished presentation, including brainstorming, abstract development, slide development, rehearsal tips, and tips on dealing with presentation jitters. There will be time during this tutorial to start working on your own abstract and talk idea, so bring a concept if you have one. Conference Speaking 101 and 102
  7. Presenting at a conference is a very rewarding experience. But

    it isn't always obvious how to get started. How do you take a basic topic idea and refine it into an hour-long technical presentation? In this tutorial we will cover the steps necessary to take your desire to present from concept all the way to finished presentation, including brainstorming, abstract development, slide development, rehearsal tips, and tips on dealing with presentation jitters. There will be time during this tutorial to start working on your own abstract and talk idea, so bring a concept if you have one. Conference Speaking 101 and 102
  8. Presenting at a conference is a very rewarding experience. But

    it isn't always obvious how to get started. How do you take a basic topic idea and refine it into an hour-long technical presentation? In this tutorial we will cover the steps necessary to take your desire to present from concept all the way to finished presentation, including brainstorming, abstract development, slide development, rehearsal tips, and tips on dealing with presentation jitters. There will be time during this tutorial to start working on your own abstract and talk idea, so bring a concept if you have one. Conference Speaking 101 and 102
  9. Presenting at a conference is a very rewarding experience. But

    it isn't always obvious how to get started. How do you take a basic topic idea and refine it into an hour-long technical presentation? In this tutorial we will cover the steps necessary to take your desire to present from concept all the way to finished presentation, including brainstorming, abstract development, slide development, rehearsal tips, and tips on dealing with presentation jitters. There will be time during this tutorial to start working on your own abstract and talk idea, so bring a concept if you have one. Conference Speaking 101 and 102
  10. When attempting to introduce tests into a legacy application, you

    might run into situations where it is impossible to discern what constitutes a testable unit because you are encountering a page script, a big ball of mud, or otherwise highly coupled segments of your application. Writing proper unit tests for these pieces as is is impossible so often we look to writing higher level tests and accept that as the end of our testing journey. But we should aim to get actual unit tests into our application. In this talk we will cover situations where breaking dependencies between components would allow unit tests to be written and how we can write unit tests for code as we move through the application. Testing Legacy: Breaking Dependencies
  11. When working with a legacy application, it is often difficult

    to figure out how to add unit tests because of highly coupled segments and components in the application. In this talk we will look at how we can break dependencies between highly coupled components for the purpose of introducing unit tests. Walking out of this talk you should have a great idea how you can improve the architecture of your codebase and introduce lower-level tests where you had none before. Testing Legacy: Breaking Dependencies
  12. PHP7 is going to be released soon. There are a

    lot of new improvements to the language. In this talk I will introduce the better parts of PHP7 that you can use if you upgrade. I will show you new features with examples of how you can use them in real-world applications and even some tips on how you can use PHP7 today with your existing applications for testing. New Features in PHP7
  13. Ruby on Rails is a popular framework in the Ruby

    community. In this talk I will tell you: • How to install Rails • How to make a new application • How to deploy an application • Where to learn more about Rails Ruby on Rails
  14. Conference Speaking 101 & 102 ============================= Outline ------- 0. Intro

    (1 min) 1. About this tutorial. (4 min) a. It's a workshop. b. About me c. About you d. Agenda 2. A CfP (3 min) a. What is it? b. What they are looking for. c. How to find open cfps. d. Elements of a submission i. Abstract ii. Notes to organizers iii. Tips and tricks. 3. The Idea (13 min) a. Passion. b. The 10 minute rant rule. c. CfP tells you what talks they want. d. Exercise (10 min) 5. Abstract (23 min) a. What to include. b. What not to include. c. Formatting. d. Refinement. e. Abstract review. f. Examples g. Exercise (15 min) 6. Writing the talk (25 min) a. Outline. b. Flow. c. Rule of Three. d. Slides. e. Exercise (20 min) 7. Rehearsal (20 min) a. Privately. b. Publicly. c. Timing. d. Frequency. f. User group. g. Exercise (20 min) 8. Preparation (4 min) a. Backups. b. Backups. c. Projector. d. Bag essentials. i. adapters. ii. Batteries. iii. Remotes. iv. Chargers. 9. Giving the talk (8 min) a. Rules for day of: i. Do not edit slides. ii. Night before: get some rest. b. Bring water. c. Get up to the stage as early as possible. d. Connect your laptop, ensure you can project. e. Remove your conference badge. f. Silence your phone. g. Ensure notifications are turned off. h. Plug in your laptop. 10. Rules of Speaking (5 min) a. Talk don't read. b. Slow down. Pause. c. Learn your filler words. d. "Engage." e. Work in some jokes. f. Examples. 11. Pro tips (7 min) a. Speaker survival kit. b. Questions. c. Include ways to contact you. d. Go to the restroom before your talk. e. If you have bullets, put a joke in the last one. f. Write slide transitions in your speaker notes. g. Schedule live tweets of your talk (Omni)
  15. Presentation Flow Act 1: Statement of Problem Act 2: Resolution

    of Problem Act 3: Summary and Retro 5 min
  16. Presentation Flow Act 1: Statement of Problem Act 2: Resolution

    of Problem Act 3: Summary and Retro 5 min 35 min
  17. Presentation Flow Act 1: Statement of Problem Act 2: Resolution

    of Problem Act 3: Summary and Retro 5 min 35 min 5 min
  18. • You should use bullet points sparingly. • If you

    do want to use bullet points in your slides, that is okay. But be careful of how much content you put into each bullet and how many bullets you are using per slide. People get very bored reading a bunch of text in bullet lists. • Large and long bulleted lists are distracting to the audience. They will be reading the slides instead of listening to you. People are not good at reading and listening. So you could just say complete nonsense and likely 75% of the audience wouldn’t even know. • The general rule is to have at most three bullet points per slide. I would also suggest not using full sentences as it will only lengthen how many words you need on the slide. Bullets
  19. Legible Code Samples <?php class Container { protected $s=array(); function

    __set($k, $c) { $this->s[$k]=$c; } function __get($k) { return $this->s[$k]($this); } } class Foo { } class Bar { protected $foo; public function __construct(Container $c) { $this->foo= $c->foo; } } $c = new Container(); $c->foo = function() { return new Foo(); }; $bar = new Bar($c);
  20. Even More Legible Code Samples <?php class Container { protected

    $s = array(); function __set($k, $c) { $this->s[$k] = $c; } function __get($k) { return $this->s[$k]($this); } }
  21. Connect your laptop to the projector. Ensure you are able

    to project what you want to project.
  22. Imagine if I turned my back to you and started

    reading this slide to you. Wouldn’t that be terrible?
  23. Try to talk with your audience rather than speak to

    them. Your talk should feel engaging.
  24. Make it easy for attendees to talk about your talk

    and to ask follow up questions.
  25. Steps up to Radyr Station - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartherbert/4782800980/ Passion - https://www.flickr.com/photos/photobrixie/4873166236/

    Rest, Rant - https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/7911122500/ Mobile and wireless technologies review - mindmap - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbelshaw/4865571845/ Three Threes - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/4146565830/ 2008 World's Strongest Man Contest - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonscottmeans/2838522958/ Rubber Duckie, You're the One - https://www.flickr.com/photos/realestatezebra/2608418319/ Go ChiLUG! - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fallentomato/8042130250/ Time - https://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5281453002/ plastic water bottles - https://www.flickr.com/photos/zone41/4102673364/ Engaged - https://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/3543135684/ Standup Comedy - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmic_flurk/5712236914/ Just Slow Down Baby - https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/7884404756/ Restroom - https://www.flickr.com/photos/smartsignbrooklyn/10213630306/ NoPhone - https://www.flickr.com/photos/k6designs/14730252400/ Photo Credits