People who have spoken at tech conferences: what's one thing you wish you'd known before your first talk?
(RT for reach please?)
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A few things, in random order. I phrase in a generic way but recognize this might not apply to everyone.
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If you haven’t practiced you will run over. My first talk at a local meetup was supposed to be 30 minutes, I only got through half of the slides. This is solved by practice: actually rehearse the whole talk (to an empty room, then to an audience).
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Peak scary is ten seconds before the talk. I didn’t anticipate it to be this scary. But once you get into your element (by talking about things you care about) the fear goes away completely, it even becomes fun. At least it did for me.
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It helps if you have one idea to center your talk around. Like in Inception movie, what’s the one thing you want to put in their heads? This helps you decide what to cut (and you might have to cut things when you realize you’re running over the day before the talk).
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Hang out with other speakers! That’s the best part about going to conferences 🙂 It’s a very bonding experience and also helps you realize nobody has their shit together any more than you do.
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Oh, one more thing, make sure that you have a backup of the slides somewhere on the net that will run on a random laptop. My laptop didn’t connect to the projector, ’s laptop was stolen once, etc.
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Whenever you get nervous just take a pause. Breathe. Drink some water. It’s empowering to realize you can even make an awkward pause and everyone will just sit silently because you control the room 😎
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Make sure to check your slides on the projector before the talk. For example during the dinner break. Helps detect any connection issues and adjust mirroring settings. Pick the slide with smallest font size and go to the back of the audience. Can you still see it clearly?
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And turn the notifications off! Otherwise you risk exposing private messages hopping on the screen during the talk 😛
One more: it helps if you have a friend in the audience who you can easily find. Depending on the lighting you might not see anyone at all, but if you do, it can be discouraging to look at someone playing with their phone. Anchoring on a friendly face restores the confidence.
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