A talk with advice and tips on giving your own talks

1. A TALK
ABOUT GIVING TALKS
@tweetingsherry @ #fullstackhants
Your first slide will be looked at longer than any other
A TALK
ABOUT GIVING TALKS
title
people like to tweet during talks
vaguely
relevant
illustration
@tweetingsherry @ #fullstackhants
Title - multiroom conferences - in the right room?
YOUR FIRST TALK
Everyone can give a talk.
2 Years ago I had never given a talk. I’m now preparing to talk at my second
paid conference. Getting into talking was the best thing I ever did. And you
don’t need to be perfect first time…

2. “SUCKING AT SOMETHING IS
THE FIRST STEP TO BEING
SORT OF GOOD AT
SOMETHING”
YOUR FIRST TALK
Find a local user group, practice speaking. They will appreciate you
spending the time and getting up and sharing.
YOUR FIRST TALK
FIND A SPEAKING STYLE
Inspirations can be taken from lots of places
YOUR FIRST TALK
FIND A SPEAKING STYLE
ROSS TUCK

3. YOUR FIRST TALK
FIND A SPEAKING STYLE
ROSS TUCK AL MURRAY
CHOOSE A SUBJECT
YOUR FIRST TALK
It’s okay to pick subjects you need to do further research into. In fact, it’s
often a great motivator to do so. Just don’t pick subjects you know
absolutely zero about
TELL YOUR SIDE OF THE
STORY
YOUR FIRST TALK
this talk is very oppinionated, it’s what works for me. And that’s the same for
your talk. If someone disagrees it’s not a fault, it’s an opportunity for
discussion and learning

4. WHEN SPEAKING
USE YOUR HANDS
WHEN SPEAKING
Getsiculate
If you use them too much, consider a diagram in your slides
Someone who is great at this:
I put this slide in before the election. I don’t like this man, but say what you
like, it worked.

5. MOVEMENT
WHEN SPEAKING
Move around if you want to, it can help with attention
Stay still if you prefer, that’s fine too.
Try and avoid rocking back and forth or other repetetive movements
WHEN SPEAKING
PRACTICE WITH A MIC
Lapel mic, wear something with a lapel, or a shirt with a collar.
Don’t hold the mic in front of your mouth - seeing the mouth is key for
listening

6. BE PASSIONATE
BE ENTHUSIASTIC
WHEN SPEAKING
People won’t remember what you said, but they will remember how you
made them feel. bored, tired or excited, intrigued, motivated?
LEARN YOUR TALK
WHEN SPEAKING
It’s hard to motivate people by reading to them
MAKE IT PERSONAL
WHEN SPEAKING
Much of your talk can be found in books. People have come to see your
take on it, how you feel about it. Use words like these..
Again, you are allowed me be oppinionated, in fact it’s generally preferred.

7. MAKE IT PERSONAL
I like We did I want to
My favourite In my opinion
WHEN SPEAKING
KNOW THE LENGTH
OF YOUR TALK
WHEN SPEAKING
[5mins]
Put markers in your speaker notes
Allow some room for delays
KNOW THE LENGTH
OF YOUR TALK
WHEN SPEAKING

8. QUIT NOISY PROGRAMS
WHEN SPEAKING
Slack for example.
SOME SLIDES CAN SPEAK
FOR THEMSELVES
WHEN SPEAKING
Keep it brief, take a glass of water whilst people read. It doesn’t need to be
100% talking. and sometimes you can over explain a slide - like I’m doing
right now.
DESIGNING SLIDES

9. BUILD FIRST
DESIGN LATER
DESIGNING SLIDES
Get the content right and the flow sorted. It will be easier to design after
BUILD FIRST
DESIGN LATER
DESIGNING SLIDES
‘DESIGN’ IS OPTIONAL
DESIGNING SLIDES
make it pretty if you like. (not comic sans)

10. ‘DESIGN’ IS OPTIONAL
DESIGNING SLIDES
This is also good, just keep it consistent (not what I just did, jarring wasn’t it)
Guarenteed to work well on any projector.
KNOW THE ROOM
DESIGNING SLIDES
KNOW THE ROOM
DESIGNING SLIDES
Visit it if you can.
Ask for the specs of the screen / projector. Widescreen or 4:3?
HIGH CONTRAST
FOR PROJECTORS
DESIGNING SLIDES
Black text on white works very well because of the way projectors produce
light.
Not so bad here, because blocky large text. Will look at this again with a
code sample.

11. DESIGNING SLIDES
CHECK THE SIGHTLINES
DESIGNING SLIDES
Raked seating or flat seating?
DEFINATELY VISIBLE
PROBABLY VISIBLE
QUESTIONABLY VISIBLE
2/3 rows back. Tall people.
What do you put in the bottom section then? leave it blank, or..
twitter, joindin, talk title,
conference name, etc
Leave it blank, or put things permantly there so if the heads align well it can
be seen.

12. DESIGNING SLIDES
GO EASY ON
THE GIMMICKS
Metaphors are great ways to make things relatable/understandable. Don’t
work it to the point where the point of the content got lost. Say I used Cakes
as a metaphor for development.
DESIGNING SLIDES
I could fit more things into the cake metaphor - candles anyone? what is the
point I’m trying to make?
Analogies can be great, at this point am I’m using web design to explain
cakes or the other way around?
DESIGNING SLIDES
HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES
Try if you can, it makes a difference

13. DESIGNING SLIDES
HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES
CREATE SECTIONS
DESIGNING SLIDES
Keeps thoughts organised, less topic jumping and easier for the audience to
follow.
Perhaps show your sections in your design like chapters in a book.
CREATE SECTIONS
DESIGNING SLIDES

14. DELIVERING THE CONTENT
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
AVOID ASSUMPTIONS
Try and say things in a positive way.
Not everyone knows what you know. Try not to assume.
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
AVOID ASSUMPTIONS
Everyone Nobody We all
This is easy All the time

15. DELIVERING THE CONTENT
DON’T BE A DICK
Try and say things in a positive way.
Not everyone knows what you know. Try not to assume.
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
DON’T BE A DICKDON’T BE A DICK
BE SENSITIVE
HIGHLIGHT WITH OPACITY
Pointing at the screen / lazer pointer.
Also makes your slides easier to follow later on.

16. HIGHLIGHT WITH OPACITY
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
There is a lot going on here. Showing you everything means I’m not really
showing you much at all. Are we all looking at the same thing?
That isn’t even the whole image![click] In this case I can zoom in and pan
across the image to the bits I want to highlight[click], like this human
pyramid[click], or this grumpy donkey[click][click]. This also works for
websites…
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO

17. ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO

18. ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
So this exists. I’m not showing the entireity of the amazon web page, I’m
controlling what I want you to see - good for comic effect, as if we scroll
down…
Where’s boris and where’s nigel!
This keeps us in the slide deck, I’m not reliant on the wifi because I’ve used
screenshots.
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO

19. ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
ONLY SHOW WHAT YOU NEED TO
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
STAY IN THE SLIDEDECK
IF POSSIBLE
Stay in the slidedeck. Can I video it and embed that? liveslides perhaps?

20. DELIVERING THE CONTENT
STAY IN THE SLIDEDECK
LIVESLIDES.COM
IF POSSIBLE
PLAY ANIMATIONS ONCE
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
See, you’re not listening to me right now, you’re still watching a cat on a
roomba.
PLAY ANIMATIONS ONCE
DELIVERING THE CONTENT

21. DELIVERING THE CONTENT
Don’t leave your laptop
unattended!
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
Don’t leave your laptop
unattended!
THANKS DAVE
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
EXPERIMENT WITH DELIVERY
Perhaps simply talking to people isn’t the best way to get your message
across. Experiment with different ways of giving your talk.

22. DELIVERING THE CONTENT
EXPERIMENT WITH DELIVERY
DELIVERING THE CONTENT
EXPERIMENT WITH DELIVERY
CODE SAMPLES IN SLIDES
CODE SAMPLES
We can take some influence from our editors

23. CODE SAMPLES IN SLIDES
*THIS IS NOT
YOUR EDITOR*
CODE SAMPLES
CODE SAMPLES
AVOID IDE SCREENSHOTS
Can’t change anything. Too much other stuff going on.
<?php
use SymfonyComponentYamlYaml;
error_reporting(E_ERROR);
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app['debug'] = true;
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
$app['cvDataSets'] = function() {
$dataFiles = [
'contact',
'work',
'volunteering',
'skills',
'education',
'about'
];
$cvData = [];
foreach($dataFiles as $dataFile) {
CODE SAMPLES
Here’s the worst example of some code, I’m trying to talk about twig in this
example.

24. ELLIPSIS
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
CODE SAMPLES
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
MONOSPACED FONTS
CODE SAMPLES
BREAK IT DOWN...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
CODE SAMPLES

25. BREAK IT DOWN...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
CODE SAMPLES
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING
CODE SAMPLES
There are tools to help you copy and paste. From PHPStorm into keynote
usually works out the box.
Still not your editor, great for looking at all day, because it’s low contrast
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
HIGH CONTRAST
CODE SAMPLES
Even easier to read. Github theme familiar.
Dark on light for projectors

26. ...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING
CODE SAMPLES
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->register(new SilexProviderTwigServiceProvider(), array(
'twig.path' => __DIR__.'/views',
));
...
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return $app['twig']->render('cv.twig', $app['cvDataSets']);
});
...
SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING
CODE SAMPLES
Can I make this simpler?
...
$app = new SilexApplication();
$app->get('/', function () use ($app) {
return '<h1>hello world</h1>';
});
...
SIMPLE EXAMPLES
CODE SAMPLES
What are we showing?
Might be bad practice, but simpler to understand in an example.

27. FINISHING THE TALK
SUMMARISE
FINISHING THE TALK
If it’s a long talk, go back over the key points of the talk.
let people know you are ending
prompt questions
FINISHING THE TALK
MAKE FEEDBACK EASY
Talk to me after / at the pub
Tweet/DM me @tweetingsherry
Join me on slack
http://slack.phpdorset.co.uk
Leave Feedback on Joindin
https://joind.in/event/php-dorset-october-2016
Some people like to give feedback in person, don’t rush off after your talk
Some people prefer to give it online. Give a link to your joindin, twitter and
slack channels

28. FINISHING THE TALK
SAY THANK YOU
Thank you
FINISHING THE TALK
SAY THANK YOU
Thank you
FINISHING THE TALK
SAY THANK YOU
http://rosstuck.com/tips-on-speaking/

29. A TALK
ABOUT GIVING TALKS
@tweetingsherry @ #fullstackhants
Show your contact information at the end.