Let's talk about speaking
Tags: speaking, conferences, meetups, talks
Published: 2017-10-21 16:45:09

---
title: Let's talk about speaking
published: true
description: Been in this game for years, made me a manual.
tags: speaking, conferences, meetups, talks
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/f9ntoqwlozciuownhhm6.jpg 
---

_**Note**: There are extra line breaks after some nested unordered list. The Dev.to team is looking into it. Oh and [Sticker Mule is hiring](https://dev.to/stickermule) =)_

[My first talk](https://wordpress.tv/2011/10/29/justin-dorfman-information-architecture/) was at WordCamp LA in 2011. Ever since then I kept an Evernote of things I have learned over the years. Hopefully, this might help someone. `Â¯\_(ãƒ„)_/Â¯`

### Pros: 
* Travel the world on someone else’s dime
* Meet amazing people
* Get into conferences for free
* Get out of your comfort zone
* Speakers lounge (unlimited food and soft drinks plus connect with other speakers)
 
### Cons: 
* Practicing
* Researching
* Self-doubt
* Anxiety
* Layovers

### Tips:
* **Hire a coach**
    * Investing in a coach is one of the best things you can do.
    * Pro athletes rely on coaches, amateur speakers should too
    * Find a coach that will give it to you straight and will give you constructive feedback not just “that’s shit”.
    * If you can't afford/find a coach, ask a co-worker or friend who isn't afraid to give you constructive feedback.

* **There’s no such thing as perfect**
    * Don't obsess over a transition, design, wording, etc
    * Just get it done

* **Use gifs/meme's sparingly**
    - Sometimes an animated gif/meme will work great
    - If every slide is a gif/meme, it gets old
    - Break it up with a real photo 
        - [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) is great 
            - Can be used for commercial and noncommercial purposes.
            - You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit

* **Research**
    * Make sure you know exactly what you are talking about
    * Give credit on the slide
    * Anticipate questions that will be asked

* **Conference organizers won’t be sitting there with a stop clock**
    * I use to worry that if I only had 20 min, I would get in trouble. 
    * Keynotes are carefully timed, a talk with less than 50 people in it won’t.

* **Expect low attendance (not a bad thing)**
    * Unless you or the company you work for are well known in the community, expect 2-20 attendees.
    * [My 2016 OSCON talk](https://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/oscon-tx-2016/public/schedule/detail/48446) had ~10 people in it
    * Conferences are very competitive, lots of tracks going on, expo halls with food and swag, etc.
    * If more people show up then cool, but set realistic expectations.
    * Honestly it doesn't matter how many people are at your talk, it is the quality.
        * 3 of ~10 at OSCON signed up for an [OSI](https://opensource.org/) account in the expo hall. ðŸ˜ƒ
        * I met [Gregor](https://github.com/gr2m) who was 1 of 4 people in the audience at [OS Bridge](http://opensourcebridge.org/sessions/1695).
            * He introed me to [Pia](https://twitter.com/piamancini) which led to [SustainOSS](https://sustainoss.org/)
* **Practice at meetups**
    * Just like comedians playing at small clubs before the big show
    * Get feedback e.g. were the slides easy to read? etc

* **Buy an adapter for every type of video in/output**
    ![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/bwk0c4i6o05v5zyw6lyu.jpg)
    * Don’t assume the conference will provide you one, they usually don't:
{% twitter 449136240571736064 %}
* **Turn off all notifications on your laptop and phone**
    * Phone: DND + silent mode (not vibrate, silent)
    * Laptop: Close Slack, Skype, basically the only program(s) that should be open are the ones that you will be using during your talk

* **Buy a wireless clicker**
    * Telling someone "next slide please" each time is lame
    * [Logitech Wireless Presenter R400 Remote Control](https://www.logitech.com/en-usLogitech Wireless Presenter R400 Remote Controlwireless-presenter-r400)
        * This is what the pros use, it is the best on the market
        * It has a frickin laser!

* **Don’t walk over to the projected slide and point**
    * If you must use a laser, but even that sucks.
    * Use actions/transitions to get the audience's attention. 

* **Promote your talk**
    * Twitter
        * Tweet mentioning the conference and hashtag
        * Pin tweet [Example](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/laaf3aw5l5hovbqbt4b4.png)
        * Update your background image [example](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/9exwecsiy8dhhf22xqet.png)
        * Organizers appreciate it more than you know.

* **Learn the difference between Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9)**
    * It’s no fun having to redo your slides to fit the required slide size

* **Panels are the best**
    * No practice or too much preparation needed.

* **Practice every day no matter what**
    * After breakfast, just get it out of the way.
    * Ask friends if you can rehearse for them.
    * Practice in the shower. Not joking.

* **Just be you, don’t mimic TED talks or any other speakers**

* **If your CFP doesn’t get accepted, don’t take it personally.**
    * In 1992, [Tim Berners-Lee's paper was rejected](https://www.ted.com/talks/ian_ritchie_the_day_i_turned_down_tim_berners_lee/transcript?language=en) for the Hypertext Conference
    * Sometimes they give you discount code to the conference
    * There are literally hundreds of similar events, check [Lanyrd](http://lanyrd.com/)
* **Have all your videos/slide decks available publicly so you can link to them when organizers ask.**
    * If you don't have any, have a friend record you doing a lightning talk at a meetup. They are always looking for people to talk and don't care if you have any experience.

* **Encourage people to ask questions at the end.**
    * It could fuck up your flow
    * If you don't have an answer, say something like "That's a great question, I honestly don't know the answer".
        * You can also encourage the audience to give their answer/opinion if you want.

* **If people walk out**
    * Try not to focus on it too much
    * Don't shame them i.e. don't say "thanks for walking out asshole"
    * It's almost nothing you did, it just wasn't for them

* **Avoid live demos**
 * Even the best can't get them to work 99.99% of the time
{% youtube znxQOPFg2mo %}

Cover Photo by [Marcos Luiz](https://unsplash.com/photos/W15cfW4qQR8)