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> Finally, watch out for events that put video of their sessions online. Having a couple of YouTube links of you doing your thing in front of a live, appreciate

> Finally, watch out for events that put video of their sessions online. Having a couple of YouTube links of you doing your thing in front of a live, appreciate audience can make all the difference when a programme committee is looking at a handful of talks and can only accept one of them. This, very much this. I run a paid, one-day, mid-sized conference every year, and with only so many slots, we find it very, very difficult to risk choosing people who don't have videos of themselves speaking. A short meetup talk or a lightning talk at a different conference could make all the difference towards being selected, because we need to know that you're vaguely capable of conveying what you want to share to the audience.

ekjhgkejhgk 11mo ago
Thank you for the thought you put into this. It's really frustrating when a speaker has an accent so strong it's unintelligible.
NooneAtAll3 11mo ago
do you record and post videos of your own?
- Aachen 11mo ago
  The conference typically does it anyway, and otherwise you can ask a friend in the audience, or make a new friend who's willing to, or put a tiny tripod somewhere with your phone in camera-from-lockscreen mode. The point is showing that you can present on stage, so audio is most important I'd assume. It doesn't have to be amazing quality/angle
  - NooneAtAll3 11mo ago
    I'm not asking "do you think how good you are in your own criteria" I'm asking "with such demands do you give back as well by recording and publishing talks people give to you?"
Aachen 11mo ago
I don't want videos of me online. Would an audio recording + slides suffice in your opinion? Or would you doubt it was really live in front of a sufficiently large audience? Idk how common fraud here would be
- simonw 11mo ago
  Personally I would find a video that's slides with audio just as compelling as a video where the speaker was visible in terms of helping me understand if that person could give a competent presentation or not.
- benjojo12 11mo ago
  I feel like if you don't want videos (and I assume photos) of you online then speaking at a conference is probably not the aligned action to pursue that goal
  - Aachen 11mo ago
    Not sure if culture is different at other conferences but the ones I've been to had talk status recorded or not recorded. Requesting that pictures of you aren't shared online seems to be a common enough request
- michaelt 11mo ago
  If you're the sort of private person who doesn't want a big online presence - why bother to speak at a software conference? Especially a conference big enough they're selective about who they allow to present? About 90% of speakers at big events are there to promote their product, or to get their company's name out there for recruitment purposes, or to promote their consultancy, or to build their personal brand. If you don't give a shit about any of that stuff, maybe you don't need to bother?
  - ghaff 11mo ago
    I'd probably put it more diplomatically. But if you're speaking at a conference, there may be video, audio, and photographs which may be posted online and may be part of the terms you sign up for when you register. If any of that bothers you, you may not want to speak.
zahlman 11mo ago
Okay, but what about the first time?
- rwmj 11mo ago
  You can record yourself speaking about some topic. The barrier to entry to making a video online these days is very very low.
- Ayesh 11mo ago
  Local meetups are very easy to get selected into, and they often have two or three speakers lined up, with a balance of speakers they know and are experienced, and new speakers. Most of the time, the organizers are squeezed to find a speaker, so you are pretty much guaranteed to be offered a slot if you just ask the host.
- ValentineC 11mo ago
  > Okay, but what about the first time? Speak at your local meetup, and record yourself doing so if the meetup doesn't record the talks! Meetups often have trouble finding speakers (well, many of the non-AI ones here do), so it's a win-win for both the meetup organisers and the budding conference speaker. Another way to get your name out there is to speak at free (/low-cost), multi-track conferences like FOSDEM. Free conferences tend to be more receptive of first-time speakers because attendees didn't pay hundreds of dollars for their tickets. (If you are an up-and-coming speaker, please don't let my comment discourage you from submitting their proposals to larger conferences. Some conferences have the resources and willing alumni to run speaker mentorship programs.)
ghaff 11mo ago
My professionally produced video is a bit old though I have others recorded on a webcam. I don't know how often they're looked at (and I know a lot of people on the conference committees) but it's certainly useful to have at least something.
aleph_minus_one 11mo ago
> I run a paid, one-day, mid-sized conference every year, and with only so many slots, we find it very, very difficult to risk choosing people who don't have videos of themselves speaking. Some people are much more privacy-conscious than others and thus at least don't want more videos of themselves online than what is absolutely necessary.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 11mo ago
  It's the circle of those people even close to intersecting with the one for aspiring conference speakers?
  - cons0le 11mo ago
    New goal: to speak at DEFCON while wearing my dr doom mask to hide my identity

ekjhgkejhgk 11mo ago

Thank you for the thought you put into this. It's really frustrating when a speaker has an accent so strong it's unintelligible.

NooneAtAll3 11mo ago

do you record and post videos of your own?

Aachen 11mo ago
The conference typically does it anyway, and otherwise you can ask a friend in the audience, or make a new friend who's willing to, or put a tiny tripod somewhere with your phone in camera-from-lockscreen mode. The point is showing that you can present on stage, so audio is most important I'd assume. It doesn't have to be amazing quality/angle
- NooneAtAll3 11mo ago
  I'm not asking "do you think how good you are in your own criteria" I'm asking "with such demands do you give back as well by recording and publishing talks people give to you?"

Aachen 11mo ago

I don't want videos of me online. Would an audio recording + slides suffice in your opinion? Or would you doubt it was really live in front of a sufficiently large audience? Idk how common fraud here would be

simonw 11mo ago
Personally I would find a video that's slides with audio just as compelling as a video where the speaker was visible in terms of helping me understand if that person could give a competent presentation or not.
benjojo12 11mo ago
I feel like if you don't want videos (and I assume photos) of you online then speaking at a conference is probably not the aligned action to pursue that goal
- Aachen 11mo ago
  Not sure if culture is different at other conferences but the ones I've been to had talk status recorded or not recorded. Requesting that pictures of you aren't shared online seems to be a common enough request
michaelt 11mo ago
If you're the sort of private person who doesn't want a big online presence - why bother to speak at a software conference? Especially a conference big enough they're selective about who they allow to present? About 90% of speakers at big events are there to promote their product, or to get their company's name out there for recruitment purposes, or to promote their consultancy, or to build their personal brand. If you don't give a shit about any of that stuff, maybe you don't need to bother?
- ghaff 11mo ago
  I'd probably put it more diplomatically. But if you're speaking at a conference, there may be video, audio, and photographs which may be posted online and may be part of the terms you sign up for when you register. If any of that bothers you, you may not want to speak.

zahlman 11mo ago

Okay, but what about the first time?

rwmj 11mo ago
You can record yourself speaking about some topic. The barrier to entry to making a video online these days is very very low.
Ayesh 11mo ago
Local meetups are very easy to get selected into, and they often have two or three speakers lined up, with a balance of speakers they know and are experienced, and new speakers. Most of the time, the organizers are squeezed to find a speaker, so you are pretty much guaranteed to be offered a slot if you just ask the host.
ValentineC 11mo ago
> Okay, but what about the first time? Speak at your local meetup, and record yourself doing so if the meetup doesn't record the talks! Meetups often have trouble finding speakers (well, many of the non-AI ones here do), so it's a win-win for both the meetup organisers and the budding conference speaker. Another way to get your name out there is to speak at free (/low-cost), multi-track conferences like FOSDEM. Free conferences tend to be more receptive of first-time speakers because attendees didn't pay hundreds of dollars for their tickets. (If you are an up-and-coming speaker, please don't let my comment discourage you from submitting their proposals to larger conferences. Some conferences have the resources and willing alumni to run speaker mentorship programs.)

ghaff 11mo ago

My professionally produced video is a bit old though I have others recorded on a webcam. I don't know how often they're looked at (and I know a lot of people on the conference committees) but it's certainly useful to have at least something.

aleph_minus_one 11mo ago

> I run a paid, one-day, mid-sized conference every year, and with only so many slots, we find it very, very difficult to risk choosing people who don't have videos of themselves speaking. Some people are much more privacy-conscious than others and thus at least don't want more videos of themselves online than what is absolutely necessary.

isbvhodnvemrwvn 11mo ago
It's the circle of those people even close to intersecting with the one for aspiring conference speakers?
- cons0le 11mo ago
  New goal: to speak at DEFCON while wearing my dr doom mask to hide my identity