Useful links from the "Finding your Signature Talk" presentation

links.md

Key Takeaways:

Coming up with ideas:

• The best talks are an overlap of what you know, what you are passionate about, and what the audience cares about
• Iterate on your talks and deliver them multiple times
• Dump ideas into a notepad somewhere and let them congeal into talks
• Lean into your persona and try not to be someone you're not

Building the talk:

• Who is it for?
• What do you want them to do when you're finished?
• Your abstract should get right to the point so someone knows what they'll see
• Narrative arcs are important for a compelling talk
  • Establish background, build the pain, solve the problem, reiterate what you learned/fixed
  • Rinse and repeat!
• Long talks need stanzas
• Short talks need focus
• Build your structure from your congealed ideas then flesh it out

Delivering the talk

• Practice, practice, practice
  • end to end in front of people
  • Talk through hard sections
  • Practice transitions between ideas
  • Practice for timing
• Make sure you give the audience a rest

Now what?

• (If you're at GitHub) join the Speaker Bureau!
• Submit a talk to GitHub Universe

Links:

• Scott and Mark Learn to Code - Scott Hansleman and Mark Russinovich
• There's No Such Thing as Plain Text - Dylan Beattie
• Storyteller Tactics
• Speaker Bureau
• GitHub Universe
• @damovisa