On Presenting
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This document outlines Adam Keys' tips for giving a successful presentation. It recommends determining the purpose and ideas for the presentation, writing an engaging title, hook and abstract. It also suggests writing a bio, preparing by storyboarding, outlining or using other visual aids, writing the presentation, practicing extensively, rewriting from scratch if needed, rehearsing, delivering the presentation, thanking the audience, and posting the presentation online. The tips are organized with bullet points and emphasize the importance of preparation and practice.
Editor's Notes
- #3: Fame. Glory. Free conference admission. The joy of teaching. The roar of the crowd. Awkward silences.
- #4: Challenges you mastered, buzzword bingo, something you want to know more about. Just do it, don’t need to be an expert.
- #5: The main fields in any conference submission. You need a title that doesn’t blend in, an hook that makes it sound interesting and an abstract that makes it sound insightful and time-appropriate.
- #6: Conferences sell themselves on the back of speakers, so you have to say who you are. What you say isn’t horribly important, they just want this. I write them in the third person and include as many inside jokes as possible.
- #7: The submission deadline is usually 3-6 months in advance of the conference. They will tell you that the accepted talks will be posted on some date. They will slip that by four-eight weeks. You would too if you had to read through a pile of submissions.
- #8: Really, you shouldn’t wait. Start writing the presentation right away. (I should do this.)
- #9: Get all your ideas in order. Organize them. Use whatever tools work best for you.
- #10: Entertain before you educate. Don’t put too much code on a slide. Don’t put content on the bottom third of the screen. Use a nice font. Get pre-cooked templates or color/font schemes.
- #11: Every time you *talk* through your presentation, it will get better. You will get better at thinking about it on your feet or you’ll tweak it so it works better when you’re walking around talking.
- #12: Get in front of a bunch of people and do it. Nothing brings out the flaws better than saying it in public. Defeat the self-psych-out.
- #13: After you practice it in front of people, you’ll realize how awful it is. Go fix it. Its a good thing you started three months early, eh?
- #14: Getting to Carnegie Hall, etc. Eliminating your so’s and uhh’s.
- #15: Don’t stand behind the lectern. Look at the audience, but don’t fixate. Ignore your inner psych-out.
- #16: Once you’re done, thank everyone for your attention. They have lots of choices and they chose you. That’s an awesome gesture on their part.
- #17: Put it on your website, SlideShare, LinkedIn, etc. Give people the URL.
- #18: Do it all again next year. Feel good about spreading the word.