How to Speak at a Conference

I really did love this presentation and it is filled with the exact information you'd need to get into giving conference talks but i did have one complaint, but not about the presenter or the content of the presentation - it's some people in the audience.

Beth told people they'd be allowed to ask questions as she presents, which i have no problem with. The issue is that this eventually turned into people interjecting every 30 seconds with comments like "well i do this.." and "you should go about this like that". The people in the audience started becoming the presenters.

This format may very well work for some people, but i was quite annoyed with these interjectors when i really wanted to listen to Beth's content and not to random people in in audience.

My 2 cents is that Beth might want to tell people to hold their questions until the end. But i know personally i am less nervous when the audience is actively engaged in the talk.

Beth presents this (and other) material quite well, moving at a good pace and clearly identifying what she wants to cover and what is important for the attendee to take away. While I might not have been the target audience, I did get a lot out of the material and the discussion in the room. That said, I feel that she could have wrangled in some of the audience comments a little better, either in a moderation role or even just to move the talk along.

Thanks, I'm going to join a user group and start making an online presence (blog/twitter) so I can start submitting my own talks.


and thanks for the t-shirts.

I thought this was a really good introduction to how to structure and design a talk, as well as points for giving them. Ironically, one of the slides should have been how to manage time, as the talk sped up due to time constraints and the audience adding their own thoughts (which wasn't technically her fault).

Overall the information was spot on and should help any speaker, new or old.

Beth nailed it. I'm looking forward to applying the information to my future presentations.