The case for shorter conference talks

Thanks to Sara Fleming for the image of TypeCon 2016 attendees.

We recently launched our call for talk submissions for the 20th anniversary of TypeCon. In the past, we accepted 20 min or 40 min talk submissions. This year, we’re trying something new.

If you don’t know about TypeCon, it’s the longest-running annual US-based typography, lettering, and font-focused conference. It’s one of the few remaining conferences where the programming is not driven by invitation-only speakers; we call for talk and workshop submissions, and are open to anyone who applies. We use a double-blind voting process to determine the accepted speakers. Each member of the voting committee does not see the name, gender, ethnicity, or biography of the applicant, and does not see how the other members of the committee votes. After implementing this process two years ago, our program diversity has increased.

It’s our 20th anniversary, and instead of one keynote speaker, we’re going to have three — the fabulous Lauren Hom, Louise Fili, and Nina Stossinger.

In part to balance this increase in longer keynote talks, we’re switching up the program to contain only 20 minute talks and panels. Here’s why we’re trying it this year:

1. Attention spans
   Scientific data available about the average human attention span is highly variable and debatable; some (questionable) studies report the fantastical figure of 8 seconds; others (with unacceptably vague sources) say 7–10 minutes. Even without hard evidence, I am confident that the average attention span is definitely not 40 minutes. Successful speaking models concur; Ted Talks generally stick to 18 minutes, and Pecha Kuchas are 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
2. Better content
   As a long-time conference audience member and a victim of drawn-out corporate meetings, I feel confident that in general, the content of a 40 minute talk can be condensed to 20 minutes and be much more compelling. Packing a ton of content in a shorter period of time forces editing, decision-making, and (in general) results in tighter, more successful talks.
3. Longer coffee breaks
   By only having 20 minute talks, the pacing of the conference can be adjusted to allow for more lengthy coffee breaks and more opportunities for the community-building parts of the conference that everyone loves.
4. More diversity and inclusion
   We must turn away many fantastic proposals each year due to the fact that we can only accept so many speakers. By removing the 40 minute slots, this year we should be able to accept a few more speakers, and even more diverse content.

This year, we’re going to try out the 20 minute talk program and see what happens. It may or may not work, and we can always switch back next year if needed.

Do you have something to say? Say it at TypeCon’s 20th anniversary and submit your talk here: http://www.typecon.com/archives/6364