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sevenseacattoday at 3:19 PM4 repliesview on HN

I'm giving my first conference talk in a few weeks.

I'm hoping it makes people want to talk to me so I don't end up sitting alone during breaks! I have not managed to experience the mythical hallway track that everyone raves about...

(Another speaker said they're bringing stickers to bribe people - shit why didn't I think of that)


Replies

jlev1today at 4:42 PM

One other trick you can do: mention one or two well-chosen things in your talk that are interesting and related to your topic, but that you can't go into further detail on (for lack of time). Say you'd be happy to discuss them after the talk with anyone who's interested!

This way, anyone who wants to talk to you has a freebie question they can ask (and that you have interesting thoughts on), which may lead to further conversations.

As a bonus, pointing out 1-2 connections like this usually improves your talk for everyone, by adding context.

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simonwtoday at 3:35 PM

Tip: put a big note on your closing slide that says "Come and talk to me about this in the hallway".

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RangerSciencetoday at 3:53 PM

Pro tip: Every other slide (ish) is a joke referencing / setting up the next slide. Gives you a beat to change gears, keeps the audience really engaged, and lightens the mood. Also ensures you’re breaking things up into bite-sized pieces.

I gave a talk with a section on curried functions and interspersed the content slides with pictures of Tim Curry, for example.

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raesene9today at 4:18 PM

In case it's useful, I did a talk about giving talks earlier this year which covered various things I've encountered/learned over the talks I've done and seen

https://tagt.mccune.org.uk/ - has sections and links to specific parts of the video, so you don't have to watch the whole thing to get to a bit that seems interesting :)