Page to Stage (part 1): where are topics hiding?
Hi! My name is Oleksandr Leushchenko. I’m a senior staff engineer at Tide and GDE in Flutter and Dart. Since 2012 I have been speaking at small local meetups and big international conferences. Several companies invited me to host workshops for their employees and share my experience about where I’m looking for speaking topics, how I prepare my presentations, what I’m doing on stage, etc. This series of articles is the summary of what I’m talking about at such workshops:
- Where are topics hiding?
- Preparing a topic.
- Working on presentation.
- The speech.
In this first article, I’ll share a few ideas about where I’m looking for topics and how I validate them, but before that — let’s talk about why you might want to do public speaking.
Why speak? 🤔
There is no correct answer to this question. Personally, that’s how I learn. When committing to do a public talk on a topic, I will have to dive two or three layers deeper into details than I would be satisfied with otherwise. What are these levels? Imagine that you’re explaining something to a three-year-old child. Whatever it is, as soon as you finish the sentence, you’ll get the “Why?” question. When answering, you’ll need to go one step down and operate with more basic concepts. That is the level. Levels are key elements of a presentation. We will review them in detail in part 2. So, when I want to understand some topic in depth, I start teaching others about it and preparing for their “why”s.
You may want to spread your vision. It’s always interesting to listen to speakers with original ideas or unique experiences, but old ideas presented skillfully are great too!
Maybe you found an underestimated problem that only few people care about? A presentation can be a great way to convey information about it.
Or maybe you are a skilled expert in your field who knows a lot but no one knows about you? Then the presentation can also help spread your knowledge and authority.
As I said, there is no right answer to this question. It is interesting that most of the people who initially told me “I don’t want to perform” after two or three “why?” came to the fact that they are interested in performing, but they don’t know what to talk about.
Where are topics hiding? 🕵🏻♀️
All around you, there are always plenty of interesting topics. You just may not be ready to see them yet. In the beginning, it’s worth getting into the habit of looking for them consciously, but eventually (very quickly), you’ll start to come across topics everywhere. So where to look for them?
In your work. 👨💻 We often consider our work to be something mundane. Well, what’s the deal with that script you wrote today that automatically deploys a complex server somewhere in the cloud? Anyone can read the same manuals and be able to do so too in just a couple of months. That is not interesting, right? Nope! You can greatly simplify the life of those who are just starting to understand the topic. Especially since something probably went wrong while you were writing the script, and dry knowledge from textbooks was enriched by your personal experience. Do not neglect to share basic knowledge, it is in demand for a reason.
Where else are the themes hiding? In amazement. 🤩 Noticed something that inspired you? Consider whether you can inspire others. Interested in how something works? Find out and tell others. Surprised or interested? Perhaps there is a good topic somewhere around.
As a separate category, I would put presentations that went from anger or frustration. 😡 These feelings, of course, can be the basis for your talk, but you should be cautious. It’s funny to watch someone rant, but firstly, it’s unprofessional, and secondly, it’s always better to bring positivity.
Do you think you found something interesting? Tell someone about it. If you hear “that’s interesting!” 🤔 from three or four people, it’s 100% a good topic. Pro-tip: listen to others, don’t focus on what is interesting only to you, but at the same time, be mindful about who you ask. If during a romantic date, after talking about monoids and functors, you did not hear “that’s interesting!”, it does not mean that the topic would not be interesting for a different audience.
Until topics start sticking to you automatically, I advise you to start an evening ritual: revisit the past day in your mind, and try to find some episodes from which you could make at least one topic. Do not analyze the idea too skeptically at this stage. Instead, write it down. Look at your list of topics once in a while (I do this weekly). It is likely, a topic that at first seemed mundane or boring will shine from an unexpected angle one day.
Eventually, you’ll find a topic from the list that inspires you, so you’ll want to develop it. What’s next? Verify if the topic passes the following checklist.
Topic checklist ✅
Is not a product or company advertisement 💸
This point is not relevant if you have to promote something at a specialized event when your audience expects this. In all other cases, make your presentation valuable without being tied to a product or company.
Does not describe unique circumstances 🦄
We love stories about unique circumstances that helped people or companies achieve success, but no one knows how to reproduce them and whether they will lead to the same result. This kind of speech is good for when famous people share their stories. If you focus on something that might never happen again — consider speaking about something else.
Has the main idea 💡
There should be a single main idea. When you encounter “and”, “also”, “as well as”, or “including” in the title, think about whether it is still a single idea. If it turns out that you want to talk about three related topics, divide the topic into three and make a series of talks. You will find out how to make sure a presentation indeed has one idea in the next part.
Carry the audience on a journey 🧙♂️
The average person in the audience will be able to understand the problem, and their knowledge will be enough to follow your thoughts throughout the presentation.
That’s it for today. In this part, we’ve talked about where you can find topics for your future presentations and how to validate them. In the next chapter, we will talk about the way you may work on the presentation.
Russia started an unfair and cruel war against my country. If you found this article interesting or useful, please, donate to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. I can recommend my friends volunteers —the “Yellow Tape”, you can be 100% sure that the money will support our victory. Thanks in advance to everyone who participated.
Glory to Ukraine! 🇺🇦
