Navigating Tech Conference Speaking
Public speaking can be daunting. But what comes after could be absolutely rewarding! I am, by no stretch of the imagination, excellent at or comfortable with public speaking. This was probably why, two years ago, I committed to making this a goal at one of my performance reviews (a lot of private cursing would follow). To make matters worse, I made it a top priority.
You see at that time I did it because I firmly believed that to grow personally and professionally, I had to be uncomfortable, sometimes. I needed to be nervous because I was venturing into unknown territory. And to me there was one big unknown terrifying territory: Conference Talking.
With no prior experience with regards to conference talking or even public speaking for that matter, I decided I was going to make this palm-sweating activity a goal and say it to colleagues I knew would hold me accountable. I boxed myself in. And after a bunch load of abstract writing, feedback sessions, submissions and more rejections than I would like to count, I proudly admit to you that that was one of the best decisions of my life. Don’t get me wrong, public speaking and just the thought of it still makes my dizzy but I have a better grip over it. I have done it a few times and I have those experiences to keep me from fainting on stage for all the future ones to come.
Conference talking can be scary. It takes a lot of preparation. At least it did for me because public speaking does not come to me naturally and I wanted to give it a fair shot before deciding if or not it was for me. So if you are looking at making conference talking something you want to tackle in the near future this post is for you! I hope what I have to share is helpful and useful as you embark on your journey of conference talking!
Today I want to share with you the step-by-step process I take to applying to and prepping for conference talks:
Flip the pages in your mind
This is the thinking phase. The one that will help you decide on a topic, an idea to talk about. Here are some ideas to come up with topics to talk about:
- Think about what you are currently working on, rewind back to ten months ago and think about what you would tell your past self.
- Or think about the story or card or feature that gave you sleepless nights. How did you deal with it?
- How do you work? What tools do you use? What are some tools that help with productivity?
- Remote work. It’s a pretty widely spoken about topic right now and there can never be enough tools/tips for remote work.
- Do you have a non-traditional journey into the tech industry. If yes, you should share it!
- What is an everyday task that you do as a part of your work? What are some common over looked things in it?
- As a part of your role what other people or roles do you work with? Are these specific communication tools or techniques that have been helpful?
- I also like to look at a list of tech conferences and browse through sessions from previous years. Sometimes I get ideas from here.
The list is endless. This is not an exhaustive list and it is not meant to be either. But hopefully it provides a good place to start.
Write down some talking points
This is purely a personal preference. And I like to do this as a way to make sure I have content on the topic I have picked. I try to make a list of five to ten things I can talk about. That makes me feel like I have picked a topic that I can talk about.
Topic selection feedback!
Next, I like to talk to colleagues I trust and colleagues I know have experience giving conference talks. I like to find out if my topic of choice is conference worthy. If they would go to a talk on my topic of choice. This helps me ensure the topic is of interest to fellow team members.
Abstract
It goes without saying that most conferences, if not all of them, ask for an abstract as a part of the conference talk submission process. The abstract needs to be concise and clear about what the audience can expect from your talk. Conference attendees need to know what they are signing up for when they attend a talk and the abstract must give them a good idea. I like to structure my abstract as follows:
- An opening statement: A fact that is relevant to the topic.
- The problem. This can be a question.
- A glimpse of potential solutions. Don’t give away the talk, but pick two of your most interesting talking points, shrink them to a few words and add it to your abstract.
- A conclusion. What can folks attending your talk get out of coming to listen to you talk, in a single sentence.
Feedback: Part 2
Once, I have poked all the holes I can find in my abstract and revised it multiple times, I ask my colleagues for feedback. I show them my abstract and ask for feedback. Does this concisely capture the essence of my intended talk? What are some changes we could make to make this better? And finally, if you read this abstract, would you feel like attending this talk.
Title
This has been the hardest part of abstract writing for me. To come up with a title that’s catchy, creative and conveys the message. Creativity is not my strongest suite and I struggle to come up with a creative title for my conference talk abstracts. Lucky for me, I have a friend who is not only amazingly creative but is also extremely helpful and I shamelessly rely on her for ideas. So if there is one piece of advice I will give you when it comes to coming up with a title, it is ok to struggle in this area but you should absolutely ask for help if you need it. It gets better with time, trust me. It also helps to go through session titles of tech conferences. You might be able to get some ideas from there.
Bio and Photo
You have an idea and you are ready to submit it to conferences. Before the actual submission process begins, make sure to find a picture of your self and make sure to update your social media as you see fit. Most conferences ask for a picture and some of them ask for your Twitter handle. Having these ready, if you choose to share them, will help your submissions go faster.
Submission
Once you have your title and abstract ready, you can now start submitting your talk to conferences! I love this part. This gives me more satisfaction than writing an abstract. I look for upcoming conferences in the following locations:
- Airtable
- confs.tech
- Twitter/LinkedIn (I would recommend a hashtag search to find conferences of your choice)
Find conferences that you think your topic might be a good fit for. Most conferences have a list of tracks they are looking for talks on. Make sure to go over that list before making your submission.
If social media is your thing and if you want to be notified of future conference Call For Papers aka CFPs, make sure to follow the conference of internet on social media. This way you can stay up to date on CFPs.
The wait…
The waiting game is hard. Sometimes the rejections are harder. But worry not! Failure is just re-direction (I don’t say that lightly). If you would like, reach back out to the conference committee to see if they have any feedback on your submission. That feeeback is bound to help with your next conference submission!
Acceptance
Cherish it. Enjoy the moment. Submitting to a conference and getting accepted is not easy. You did it! So, congratulations!
Make sure to confirm your acceptance. Make sure the assigned slot works for you. If you have a preferred time, make sure to communicate it. If you have a conflict make sure to communicate that as well. Be sure to do this ASAP.
The Presentation
Now comes the actual work, the task of putting together a presentation! I usually use keynote for my talks, but as with most other things I am sure there are several tools out there. For your first draft, I would say don’t worry about the tool. Just focus on getting all the content in one spot. Start by just typing into slides. A brain dump. It doesn’t have to look pretty right away. Remember the list of talking points from earlier? Put those into slides. And then start your iterating process. A sequence I like to follow is:
- Title slide
- About me
- Agenda
- Motivation (Statistics/Personal experience/Why am giving this talk?)
- Talking points
- Conclusion
- Final slide (Additional resources/ References/Contact information)
On all of the above slides, make sure to give credit wherever due. Make sure to cite references.
Practise
I like to practice my talk several times before I actually do demo presentations for feedback. I use the presenter notes heavily. Print out your slides of that helps. Make sure to practice consistently while leaving reasonable breaks between practice sessions. An important thing to take into consideration is to time your talk. Make sure you are well within your allocated time period while also taking into consideration time for q&a, if you need to account for it. Once you feel comfortable, move on to more practice but in front of other folks.
Practice with company
As soon as I find out that my talk has been accepted, I pick at least two folks I want feedback on my talk from and I make sure they are available and willing to give me feedback. Then I schedule an hour’s session to present my talk like I would at the conference for feedback. I try to space out these feedback sessions at least a week apart. I schedule these meetings as soon as I find out my talk has been accepted because that helps me focus, stay on track and gives me dates I can work backwards from (to have my actual presentation ready). During these sessions it is important to make note of all the feedback. While scheduling these demo presentations make sure to leave enough time after them to incorporate any feedback you may receive.
Pre-talk Prep
Most conferences are excellent about making sure the speakers know what is available and what they are expected to bring: cables, cords etc. Make sure to go through the list thoroughly. Make sure to also follow presentation guidelines if any. If a conference does not give you this info, reach out to them asking about what the set up looks like and what they provide at least a week or two before the conference. I also like to keep a PDF version of my talk so that if hell were to break loose (worst case) I can at least present using a PDF doc. If anything, it makes me sleep at peace until the conference. Another good idea is to upload the final version of the talk to the cloud (iCloud/Google drive etc) so that if for whatever reason you have to use another computer, you can access your talk directly on that computer.
Also make sure to check out other sessions at the Conference and make a note of the ones you want to attend. A lot of conferences have apps that you can use to keep track of this information.
Talk time!
Your big day is here. If you are like me, you will probably have a very disturbed night the day before your talk. That is ok. You will be very tired post talk but hey there is time to catch up on sleep. I like to see my venue ahead of time, earlier in the day to get a feel for where I will be presenting my talk. Talk to the organizers and make sure to hook up your laptop to the projector in your room to make sure you are all set and remember this: “Even if you forget something, remember that no one in the audience knows” (courtesy of one of my favorite colleagues and friends).
Post-Talk
Yay! You did it! You prepped and gave your conference talk 🥳 As much as you might want to leave the room and go celebrate, just hold out for a few more minutes. Chances are folks from the audience want to come talk to you. So wait, talk, socialize and then celebrate.
Conference talking was one of the best things I decided to give a shot. I have a loooong way to go but I am very proud of how far I have come. It’s still nerve wracking to present in front on more than 10 people. But I love the way I feel after I have given the talk. Never been to Mt. Everest but I feel that way after my talks: On top of the world.
Speaking at conference not only helps you grow as a professional but is also a great way to give back. The talks I have done so far have all been things I wish someone had told me when I started out or when I got to a certain place in my career. Inspiration comes from your past experiences!
Good luck on your upcoming and all future conference talks!
