

Ask YC: Speaking at your first conference - PStamatiou

I have been invited to speak/lead a discussion at a tech conference in Italy this summer. It appears to be a large thing, turns out Aaron Swartz is also on the speaker list. I said that I'd go (after telling my summer class profs I'd be out a while). My "speaking" experience is comprised of various class presentations and pitching Skribit.com at a startup weekend and a handful of interviews. I'm not so much concerned about the talking as I am actually answering (hard) questions from the audience. What do you do to prepare? It's not until July so I have time.<p>Thanks
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mixmax
Here is a comment I wrote yesterday, which might apply here as well:

I think that this is not the kind of thing you learn by reading a book - or
sitting in front of a computer. It's a people thing. People have a knack for
seeing through other people, whether they believe what they are presenting,
like what they do etc.

These are the things I would recommend if you want to do a great
demonstration:

\- Love your product - nothing shines through like enthusiasm. Don't be afraid
to show it either.

\- Talk to people, study their reactions, smile to the waitresses, hook up
with girls (or guys if that's your preference), start conversations with
strangers on the bus. Like in all other walks of life if you practice
interacting with people you will become good at it.

\- Study great speakers when they do their thing - Start by looking at some of
Steve Jobs keynotes. The guy is amazing. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are
great at it too.

\- Be prepared - Do your presentation until your girlfriend starts complaining
that you talk in your sleep and she has heard more about you product while you
sleep than she has heard about her other girlfriends sexlife. And that's a
lot... Steve Jobs recites until everything is absolutely pixel perfect, and
every eventuality is covered - and it shows. On their keynotes I heard that
they have three independent AV systems. Just in case two of them break down.

\- Read Dale carnegies "how to win friends and influence people - it's much
better than all the modern crap. It's from the 1930's if my memory serves me
correctly.

Good luck :-)

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bkrausz
If you pick up the book (and I highly recommend it), order one from a while
back. I hear the newer versions have edits to remove offensive parts (it was
written 70 years ago, women didn't work, etc.), but I also hear these edits
sometimes detract from the overall messages being conveyed.

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fortes
Practice as much as you can, in front of people whenever possible. All it
takes is 3-4 smart people to come up with at least 80% of the questions you'll
encounter. Know those, and you'll be way ahead of most speakers.

For the main talk, I found it also helps to write out a full transcript of my
talk -- even though I usually don't follow it, it forces me to organize
something coherently, and gives me something I can easily send to others for
review.

Best of luck, and enjoy Italy!

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qthrul
Get an explicit understanding of what is expected of you from the event
organizers. After the crowd, they are the most important people to satisfy if
you want to be on the future short list :)

With that in mind, prior research on the crowd is great to have.

If you can get a DVD, Google Video, or other archive of the conference prior,
you can get a good baseline on what might be expected of a speaker and how the
audience reacts.

When you say "lead a discussion" if that means a panel or you acting as a
moderator for others, it is good to know the personalities that will share
stage. Definitely reach out to them for conference calls (if the organizer has
not already) to map out what you plan to say and build quorum around time
limits, pacing, and what you feel the crowd gets from the talk.

If you have access to similar audiences or students of those profs prior to
the event you could offer to provide pre-event talks and collect surveys to
grade how you performed.

Lastly, make sure you go easy on the food and drink prior to getting on stage
;-)

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stephenfleming
Practice in front of a live audience... even if just your roommates. Videotape
yourself presenting and watch it (painful). I just put some points on
presentation materials at [http://academicvc.blogspot.com/2008/04/raising-
capital-part-...](http://academicvc.blogspot.com/2008/04/raising-capital-
part-11.html) and that might be interesting. Try to have a chance to test out
the technology the night before... I know you use a Mac, so that eliminates a
bunch of potential failure modes, but still..

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wheels
I feel like, as in many things, you learn to give presentations by giving
presentations. Offer to give the same talk to your college's ACM or LUG groups
a couple weeks before.

To me questions are always the meat of a presentation -- getting good
questions means that you succeeded in getting people thinking. The most
important thing is to know what you're talking about (a surprising number of
presenters / politicians / whatever don't). If you know your topic reasonably
well, you answer a question as far as you can and if it goes beyond what you
know it's ok to say, "I don't know." You can use that too to sidestep
questions that aren't really on topic and take away from relevant questions.

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phaedrus
As an undergraduate, I volunteered to present part of a another student's
Ph.D. work at a tech conference. Like you, I was most nervous about questions
because it wasn't my research and I wasn't even a grad student, so I was
afraid that I would lose my credibility with the audience if they questioned
me too closely. But I decided to just go in with confidence, and I learned all
I could about the research I was presenting.

My talk was at the end of a long day, and due to a poorly organized
conference, most of the potential audience had gotten fed up and gone home
before I even got a chance to give my talk. In the end, I gave the talk to a
nearly empty room and no one asked any questions.

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csmajorfive
Have someone you trust and who knows the topic well ask you questions from a
variety of standpoints. Practice answering asshole, condescending questions
meant to trip you up. Practice off-the-wall/off-topic questions, just plain
hard technical questions, etc etc. I did this with my research professor
before my first talk and it really paid off -- I got a really condescending
question and managed to deflect it and get some laughs too.

Basically, just practice :)

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wallflower
OK. Here's a subtle technique. For prior to your big presentation. People like
people who they have met. Before your discussion, stand by the entrance and
greet everyone (handshake). If you can't do that, introduce yourself to as
much of the audience as you can (prior to the talk).

They'll like you better and your talk because they have had (albeit very
brief) contact with you.

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ezmobius
I like to write my slides and presentation the night before my speeches in the
hotel at the conference. Helps keep it fresh. Say you have 50 minutes to
fill... if you know your subject make about 30 slides and just be able to
bullshit for 1-2 minutes per slide and you will do great!

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jcder
are you really trying to ask what to do or just plugging the fact that you
have invited to speak at some conference ie. enhancing your ego?

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jakewolf
do a live webinar beforehand and have us ask you questions. i'm sure you'll
get the hard questions you're looking for.

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makecheck
It can help to have friends in the audience. They can "ask" specific questions
that you're already prepared to answer confidently (no one else in the
audience knows who they are). This keeps you in a better frame of mind to deal
with the rest of the audience's tough questions.

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jcder
hehehe yeah, maybe follow some training classes, being confident that you can
get them at 15$ a month :-)

