Public Speaking: From Keyboard to Keynote

Speaking in front of an audience, whether in person or online, can be daunting – but it doesn’t have to be.

Dylan Beattie has delivered keynote presentations at conferences all over the world: NDC, JFokus, BuildStuff, DotNext, YOW!, and many more. In this 2-day workshop, Dylan will teach you everything he knows about how to create and deliver great presentations for technical audiences, whether you’re speaking at industry conferences, doing a talk at your local meetup group, or just sharing ideas with your own team.

Day 1
On day 1, we’ll focus on structure and presentation. You’ll learn how to design a talk - yes, great presentation don’t just magically appear out of nowhere. Like any other product, success starts with design. Gather ideas, create a structure, figure out what works. You need to understand your constraints: format, time limits, what kind of audience you’ll be speaking to. You need to understand the tools you can use: language, storytelling, humour, rhetoric. We’ll learn about how to rehearse effectively: how do you actually make sure you’re getting better each time, instead of just repeating the same mistakes over and over? Even seasoned presenters get nervous before a talk - so how do you deal with nerves?

We’ll look at some examples of great - and not-so-great - presenters, figure out what makes them work, and talk about what we can do to incorporate those ideas and techniques into our own presentations. Then we’ll put what we’ve learned into action: everybody in the group will prepare and present a short talk - just words, no slides - on a topic of their choice.

Day 2
On day 2, we’ll concentrate on visual material – slides, multimedia, and live demos. We’ll look at techniques you can use to make your presentations clear, accessible and engaging, and how to use images, animation and photography to support and reinforce the points you’re making in your presentation. We’ll look at tips for presenting code, the challenges of doing live demos, and how to use screen recording and video editing to take your live code presentations to the next level.

Then on the afternoon of day 2, everybody will prepare and deliver another short presentation – this time using slides, multimedia and/or live demos, depending on their choice of topic.

Workshop Structure

Intro

• Introductions. Who is everybody? What are you all hoping to get out of this workshop?
• What makes a great talk?

How to Design a Talk

• Collecting ideas, brainstorming, structures
• Classic talk structures – the narrative, the ‘top ten’ list, the three-act play
• Pacing and timing – how do you know how much content to prepare?

Secrets of Effective Rehearsal

• Measuring your own progress
• Identifying areas to improve

Understanding your audience

• How to pitching your talk
• Etiquette and codes of conduct
• Using humour
• Dealing with feedback
• How to do a good Q&A

Slides and Visuals

• Why use slides, anyway?
• Tips and tricks
• Working with technical content
• Advanced PowerPoint
• Copyright and fair use

Presenting Technical Content

• Pros and cons of live coding demos
• How to present diagrams and technical detail
• Working with videos and screen recordings

Practical Tips and Disaster Recovery

• How to prepare for the things you can’t prepare for
• Preparation timelines and coping mechanisms
• Speaker horror stories (and why they weren’t that bad after all!)