Global Diversity CFP day: Tokyo
The first Diversity Call for Papers (CFP) Day was organized by Scotland JS and ScotlandCSS in 2016 to encourage more underrepresented minority groups in tech to participate in conference talks. A big hit, it was expanded globally in 2018. Yesterday, 53 workshops took place across the globe for the second successful year of Global Diversity CFP Day.
I had the great privilege of attending one of these workshops in Tokyo. The great volunteers from Women Who Code Tokyo brought together impressive mentors for a bilingual English/Japanese event sponsored by Google Japan. Since I moved to Tokyo two weeks ago and am still pretty mediocre at Japanese, this was an exciting opportunity for me to meet other English-speakers involved in the local tech scene, especially fellow young women.
This blog post provides a summary of my notes from the day’s panel discussion, which will be helpful for anyone getting ready for their first tech talk. Here are the external video links shared during the workshops with tips about how to craft your bio, structure your tech talk, design your presentation slides, and prepare for the day of the event. Here is the slideshow about preparing slideshows that one of our great panelists presented and published online.
Two of the panel speakers responded to questions in Japanese, and two responded to questions in English. Unfortunately my Japanese is not yet proficient enough to include the Japanese responses, so these answers are coming from two non-Japanese women, with fluent-native English level, who are working and living in Japan.
How do you pick a topic for your talk?
- Your community comes first. Questions to ask yourself: How can you add value to your community? Why should this specific talk be given? Why should you be the person to give this talk?
- Always consider who your audience is, and how you can inclusively help them.
- Pick a topic that you can convey interactively. Your audience should be able to play with and feel a topic during your performance. They should gain more from your presentation than what they could by simply watching a YouTube video or reading a blog post.
Is it okay to speak even though you’re new to your field?
- The entire panel responded with a resounding yes (or Japanese hai) for this one!
- Despite their aura of authority, many tech speakers feel similarly afraid. It’s necessary to start somewhere.
- From the perspective of someone who is a highly experienced in her field, she needs to hear the perspective of what it’s like starting out.
- More importantly, other newbies need to hear these voices in order to feel encouraged moving forward, and new talent is necessary for the thriving future of her field.
Do you have any tips for writing successful proposals?
- Present a problem statement and solution.
- Consider who you’re talking to. Does your audience have advanced knowledge in your field? You never want to disengage your audience with technical jargon that isn’t commonly understood.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of titles! Catchy titles are best for novice-intermediate level audience, while more academic titles are best for advanced audiences.
- If your proposal is rejected by a bigger conference, try smaller conferences first instead of scrapping your talk all together.
How has your public speaking improved over time?
- Improving body language is key. BEWARE OF T-REX ARMS.
- Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable
- Learning to stay authentic
Do you have any advice for giving a presentation in a language other than your native one?
- Give yourself extra time for preparation.
- Since you might speak more slowly and need more time to explain complex concepts or forgotten words, expect to take a longer time presenting than you would need if it were in your native language.
- As an audience member, the panelist is always impressed when a speaker presents in their non-native language. So relax. The audience is only concerned with the content, not perfect grammar.
- Above all, giving a presentation in another language is empowering and will make you feel super badass.
Thank you for reading! Did any readers attend Global Diversity CFP Day in another city?
