Speaking online at EuroPython 2020
Tags: techtalks, remote, django, python
Published: 2020-07-29 06:42:58

---
title: Speaking online at EuroPython 2020
published: true
description: An article about my first participation as a speaker at an online conference: EuroPython 2020.
date: 2020-07-23 22:00:00 UTC
tags: techtalks,remote,django,python
canonical_url: https://www.paulox.net/2020/07/24/speaking-online-at-europython-2020/
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/o294fiaf9x53i9d0d4kk.jpg
series: PauLoX's Article
---

*An article about my first participation as a speaker at an online conference: EuroPython 2020.*

Yesterday I gave a talk at the EuroPython 2020 Online Edition with title ["A pythonic full-text search"](https://www.paulox.net/2020/07/23/europython-2020/#europython-2020/) which is now available here on my blog.

> In the last few years I gave a lot of talks in various tech conferences in Europe, but it was my first talk in an online conference, so I decided to share some thoughts about this experience.

The EuroPython team did a great job organizing everything. They made a list of tips and a complete guide for speakers that I suggest, to organizers and speakers of other conferences, to read.

![Tips for Speakers — EuroPython 2020 Online · 23-26 July 2020](https://www.paulox.net/images/europython-2020-social-online-card.jpg)
<figcaption>ep2020.europython.eu/events/tips</figcaption>

Besides reading the guide and attending the rehearsal session, I've spent a lot of time trying to have a good setup. I copied from other conference speakers, and to have a working virtual background in zoom, I used my two external monitors as light panels.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-00.jpg)

Attending an online conference is a new experience , but giving a talk remotely is way more strange than in a regular conference. There's nobody around to speak with, smiles at or asking to take a picture, so I shoot by myself some pictures of me during the talk.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-01.jpg)

At the same time, I was able to capture some screenshots of myself giving the talk from the live Youtube channel, so I have a picture of me from the other side of the screen in the exact moment of the above picture.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-02.png)

In the speakers guide there was this suggestion: "Throw in some jokes. Even bad jokes. Even a really bad pun.". I tried to make a joke about synchronization problems in full-text search, a very dangerous thing to do, but here I'm laughing at my own joke during the talk.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-03.png)

Another suggestion from the organizers was to use "Pictures instead of bullet points in slides. Pictures are great. Everyone loves cats." so I used:

- an elephant (the logo of PostgreSQL)

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-04.jpg)

- a famous guitaris (Django Reinhardt from whom the Django web framework takes its name)

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-05.jpg)

- some books

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-07.jpg)

- a picture of me at EuroPython 2017 during the sprint on Django

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-06.jpg)

In an online conference people are more interactive and free to do other things watching your talk, so I published in advance a post on my blog with the slides and other information about the talk, and I shared a QR-code linked to it and also all my other contacts.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-08.png)

Giving online talks is a stressful thing, but answering questions is way more difficult, you are not able to see who is asking the question and its expression. In these pictures I was at the end of the talk after a few questions, waiting for an applause.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-09.jpg)

This was my first time giving a talk in an online conference, it was a very challenging experience but I enjoyed it. I learnt a lot of new stuff, also how to take a picture of myself after the talk, to share it online.

![](https://www.paulox.net/images/20200724-10.jpg)

I'll gave other talks this year, I listed them on my talks page:

[!["All of my past and future talks, including links, slides, pictures and videos." "All of my past and future talks, including links, slides, pictures and videos."](https://www.paulox.net/images/talks.jpg)](https://www.paulox.net/talks/)
<figcaption><a href="](https://www.paulox.net/talks/)">www.paulox.net/talks</a></figcaption>

**See you at the next conference!**

<hr>

> _This article is based on a thread posted on my Twitter account [@pauloxnet](https://twitter.com/pauloxnet/status/1286688556707196928)._


# Original

Originally posted on my blog:

[www.paulox.net/2020/07/24/speaking-online-at-europython-2020/](https://www.paulox.net/2020/07/24/speaking-online-at-europython-2020/)