5 ms·

Tips to rock your next conference talk

54 points by rizwanj 10y ago

noobhacker 10y ago
I find books are much better treatment of complex topics like public speaking. Blog posts of people who give several talks a year don't have the breadth and depth - they are essentially a list of small tips that work for that individual. I would recommend the book "Even a geek can speak". I did find the tips the author shared. But if you are fundamentally a poor speaker, you want to work on the fundamentals rather than marginal tips.
- rizwanj 10y ago
  I would definitely push for improving your speaking before you address these types of details.
scott_s 10y ago
This doesn't really apply to academic conferences, which tend to have a more subdued atmosphere. (And you don't control the environment you present in, and there will be multiple talks in the sessions.) I am on board with "hook them from the start", but you have to change it for an academic crowd. They will bristle at trying to be sensational. In an academic computer science context, it means put your conclusions first, along with your best results. People may tune out after the first few minutes, so you'd better tell them the most important stuff right away. The rest of your talk is then supporting and explaining how you achieved your best results.
- rizwanj 10y ago
  Good point. These are general tips to do if you are able to. :)
- sokoloff 10y ago
  I agree (with the sibling comment) that this is more general advice than just for academic settings. I can't tell you how many presentations I sit through (or emails I read) that read like murder mysteries. Tell me the conclusion or essential element up front, so that I can frame my consumption a little better. Don't start with the Big Bang, the creation of matter, the coalescing into galaxies and planets, etc, etc and then build up the conclusion from all those constituent elements.
rotorblade 10y ago
For academic seminars, I have started to always go through David Tong's ``How to Make Sure Your Talk Doesn’t Suck'' [0], before and after writing the presentation. I believe that it has at least helped me improve and feel more confident. [0] www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/talks/talk.pdf
- rizwanj 10y ago
  Thanks for sharing the great resource. I was hooked on the first slide. :)
preinheimer 10y ago
My number one tip for a conference talk is to use the 5 minutes before your talk starts (but people are filing in) to start connecting to the audience. During the talk itself there's high expectations. People may have paid a lot, travelled overnight, found a baby sitter to be there. But during the travel time and breaks the expectations are much lower. Use that time to your advantage. Tell a joke, an anecdote related to your topic, ask a good question of the audience. Start building that rapport before your slot even begins. This helps your audience warm up to you, and helps you slide more comfortably into your talk.
- rizwanj 10y ago
  Love this tip. I like to hand out a worksheet before my talk personally to each attendee. This way I get to meet them personally to make a connection. This helps me relax as well. :)
juskrey 10y ago
0. Tell something useful
- rizwanj 10y ago
  That's a pre-requisite. :)
idlewords 10y ago
Tips are fun! Here are mine: - Make sure to provide a text version of your talk online, in a sane format. - Keep text off your slides. Use them to show code, or kittens, but not bullet points. - Remember that you're speaking to an intelligent audience. They'll have more fun if you leave some stuff unsaid, and let them come to their own conclusions. - Go through the painful process of watching yourself speak on video, to identify and correct the many verbal tics you didn't know you had. - Have a single shot of booze ten minutes before liftoff
- rizwanj 10y ago
  Great tips. Watching myself speak is extremely painful. Last time I could only get through half of the talk. The next time I plan to sit through the whole talk. I haven't tried the last tip but I will definitely try it next time. :)
- tptacek 10y ago
  Do you write your entire talk out before you give it?
  - lathiat 10y ago
    A tip I was recently given so haven't been able to fully execute on yet, is to write into the speakers notes not actual notes but instead "Questions to self" which you will then go ahead and answer. This seems like a fantastic idea and it makes a lot of sense, given I can often make up a lot on the spot. The questions for self let me capitalise on that but also keep it on topic and in the correct direction, not forgetting things. I never however "pre-write" my talk, but I do tend to write quite a lot of dot points or occasionally sentances into the speaker notes to try and remember. This also works MUCH MUCH better if you can see your speaker notes in a "stage monitor" type position so you don't look away from the audience to a laptop but sadly that is rarely the case.
  - idlewords 10y ago
    Yes, as many times as I can stand.

54 points by rizwanj 10y ago

I find books are much better treatment of complex topics like public speaking. Blog posts of people who give several talks a year don't have the breadth and depth - they are essentially a list of small tips that work for that individual. I would recommend the book "Even a geek can speak". I did find the tips the author shared. But if you are fundamentally a poor speaker, you want to work on the fundamentals rather than marginal tips.

rizwanj 10y ago
I would definitely push for improving your speaking before you address these types of details.

scott_s 10y ago

This doesn't really apply to academic conferences, which tend to have a more subdued atmosphere. (And you don't control the environment you present in, and there will be multiple talks in the sessions.) I am on board with "hook them from the start", but you have to change it for an academic crowd. They will bristle at trying to be sensational. In an academic computer science context, it means put your conclusions first, along with your best results. People may tune out after the first few minutes, so you'd better tell them the most important stuff right away. The rest of your talk is then supporting and explaining how you achieved your best results.

rizwanj 10y ago
Good point. These are general tips to do if you are able to. :)
sokoloff 10y ago
I agree (with the sibling comment) that this is more general advice than just for academic settings. I can't tell you how many presentations I sit through (or emails I read) that read like murder mysteries. Tell me the conclusion or essential element up front, so that I can frame my consumption a little better. Don't start with the Big Bang, the creation of matter, the coalescing into galaxies and planets, etc, etc and then build up the conclusion from all those constituent elements.

rotorblade 10y ago

For academic seminars, I have started to always go through David Tong's ``How to Make Sure Your Talk Doesn’t Suck'' [0], before and after writing the presentation. I believe that it has at least helped me improve and feel more confident. [0] www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/talks/talk.pdf

rizwanj 10y ago
Thanks for sharing the great resource. I was hooked on the first slide. :)

preinheimer 10y ago

My number one tip for a conference talk is to use the 5 minutes before your talk starts (but people are filing in) to start connecting to the audience. During the talk itself there's high expectations. People may have paid a lot, travelled overnight, found a baby sitter to be there. But during the travel time and breaks the expectations are much lower. Use that time to your advantage. Tell a joke, an anecdote related to your topic, ask a good question of the audience. Start building that rapport before your slot even begins. This helps your audience warm up to you, and helps you slide more comfortably into your talk.

rizwanj 10y ago
Love this tip. I like to hand out a worksheet before my talk personally to each attendee. This way I get to meet them personally to make a connection. This helps me relax as well. :)

juskrey 10y ago

0. Tell something useful

rizwanj 10y ago
That's a pre-requisite. :)

idlewords 10y ago

Tips are fun! Here are mine: - Make sure to provide a text version of your talk online, in a sane format. - Keep text off your slides. Use them to show code, or kittens, but not bullet points. - Remember that you're speaking to an intelligent audience. They'll have more fun if you leave some stuff unsaid, and let them come to their own conclusions. - Go through the painful process of watching yourself speak on video, to identify and correct the many verbal tics you didn't know you had. - Have a single shot of booze ten minutes before liftoff

rizwanj 10y ago
Great tips. Watching myself speak is extremely painful. Last time I could only get through half of the talk. The next time I plan to sit through the whole talk. I haven't tried the last tip but I will definitely try it next time. :)
tptacek 10y ago
Do you write your entire talk out before you give it?
- lathiat 10y ago
  A tip I was recently given so haven't been able to fully execute on yet, is to write into the speakers notes not actual notes but instead "Questions to self" which you will then go ahead and answer. This seems like a fantastic idea and it makes a lot of sense, given I can often make up a lot on the spot. The questions for self let me capitalise on that but also keep it on topic and in the correct direction, not forgetting things. I never however "pre-write" my talk, but I do tend to write quite a lot of dot points or occasionally sentances into the speaker notes to try and remember. This also works MUCH MUCH better if you can see your speaker notes in a "stage monitor" type position so you don't look away from the audience to a laptop but sadly that is rarely the case.
- idlewords 10y ago
  Yes, as many times as I can stand.