Speak at Your First Conference

What I learnt Speaking at niDevConf

My name is Darren, and my first speaking appearance at a conference was the 2019 Northern Ireland Developer Conference; niDevConf, where I had a 10 minute lightning talk.

This quick post has some advice and tips for others thinking about speaking at a conference! Steps I took from submitting to presenting:

1. Submitting my talk

Submitting my idea was an easy process, and for the 2020 niDevConf there will be a submission section; you’ll get something like this:

You only need a synopsis, not any slides, and whether you want to apply for 30min full slots, or 10min lightning slots.

2. How I prepared

Setting aside the time to carve out my structure

Before starting my slides I had designed 3 key focuses;

1. Why we chose cloud technology.
2. Benefits of the cloud in relation to business connections.
3. How you can achieve the same.

My main content slide count was 12, leaving just under a minute a slide.

My slides needed to follow LIT standards, so after taking the time to prepare each slide I filled them into our LIT template.

NIDC Public Speaking Workshop

• A Friday afternoon session hosted by NIDC for techniques for competent speaking and trying them out in a mock 3 minute talk.
• I also received feedback to help iterate and improve.

3. Get it approved!

If you are successful you’ll get a message like the below, and a free ticket:

I then had to get internal approval in work; depending on your own company you may need to do the same!

4. On the day, check out the agenda

Everything will be organised for you. As you walk into the event just;

1. Register yourself as the speaker table.
2. Grab a tea/coffee.
3. Go checkout your speaker room if there is one
4. Setup the slides on presenter mode, make sure everything is good.
5. Enjoy the day and support everyone else speaking!

Going first

I was originally scheduled for 7th.

But as I was setting up early I was asked by the organisers if I could start as their first speaker had called in sick.

Only for prepping early was I happy to go first and not wait as long to see it through! Haha.

Giving the talk itself was a very enjoyable experience and I’ve been told I might have “the bug” for public speaking. Perhaps only for limited timed talks like this one!

Relaxed atmosphere, but timed

I was free to present how I thought it best to convey my message, everyone is allowed to present on/off slides, but everyone has to do their best for 10 minutes.

The organiser will start to approach your table and you’ll want to wrap but as best you can to be considerate to other speakers.

That said there are set break-times to help with any overflow too.

Speaking on behalf of your company

You’ll probably have your slides vetted and approved before you present but while you are up speaking you re-present not only yourself but your company so have your words prepared too that focus on your 2–3 main keys areas, it will help you stay on the message you want to share.

Unexpected, Taking questions

There was time for questions even though it has a tight schedule so have an opening for questions before you finish, that way you can recap on your last slide with your main focus points.

5. Going forward

I will definitely be looking for other opportunities to speak and present areas of technology that I find interesting and hope others will too.

If another wants any more info or advice you can buzz me at any time.

Best of luck and thanks for reading!