How to Give a Talk

This article is for anyone who has not given a talk before, but veterans may also find it useful.

User Groups

A local user group such as ours is a great place to get started. The atmosphere is very welcoming and supportive. People are there to learn and to help each other learn.

Lightning Talks

If you're completely new to giving a talk, I highly recommend starting with a lightning talk. Preparing five minutes of material is really easy if you scope the talk correctly. The purpose of a lightning talk is to introduce a topic briefly. The audience should learn the basics of your topic and have a good idea why it may be useful, and where to get started if they need to learn more.

Preparation

Preparing a talk longer than five minutes can be a lot of work. Try to have the slides ready a week in advance, and those often take longer than you'd expect. This also gives you time to reorganize your talk.

One strategy for preparing a talk is to do the slides first and use them as an outline. Create each slide and title it. Then you edit their content. The content of the slides should usually be your talking points. They will help you stay on track and cover every aspect. If you've researched your topic well, you shouldn't have much trouble talking about each point during your presentation.

Tips

As with any talk, it's usually a good idea to describe the problem your topic is solving. Don't take it for granted, and even if it's obvious, it gives you a good place to start.

A common misconception is that you need to be an expert to give a talk. The reality is you can still be new to something and still make a good presentation. You don't need to have all the answers, and it's always OK to say, "I don't know." One reason to do a talk is to force yourself to learn more about your topic. If you've done your research, you should have plenty to say, and you should have a good idea where to point people for answers you don't have.

Watch this: How To Public Speaking w/ Zefrank