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Ask HN: How do you prepare for presentations/tech talks?
I tend to rely a lot on "presenter notes" (text that only the presenter, and not the audience, can see), to the point that if the talk is a bit long or complex, I literally read out loud my own notes. This has the advantage of not having to "memorize" anything, and the disadvantage of not keeping a lot of eye contact with the audience.
I wonder if most people memorize what they'll say on each slide or just come up with something on the spot. Both options seem really hard and tiresome to me.
- mindcrime 7y agoI don't really "memorize" specific words, and I don't generally rely on a lot of "presenter notes". Instead, I just try to: A. know the material well enough that I could ad-lib the entire talk with the material on the slides just reminding me what I'm supposed to be talking about as I progress and B. mentally rehearse the talk (or at least parts of it) a few dozen times before hand. Again, not trying to memorize, just making sure I can talk intelligently about what I'm supposed to be talking about, for 60-90 minutes (or however long the slot is). When the actual talk starts, I just start talking and go with whatever comes out. Nobody is ever going to really know if I was "off script" or not, unless I go WAY off into la-la land.
- matijash 7y agoI am kinda similar! Actually, slides usually serve me as "notes" (although I never put too much content, just a few words or a code example).