[EuroPython] What I did for Easter

[Jacob Hallén]

I wrote an instructional text for speakers. The intention is that we should a) 
have the track chairs send it to all the speakers and b) publish it on the 
website for public consumption.
Feedback appreciated.

Jacob

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We are very happy and grateful that you have decided to give a talk at
Europython. When you get to the conference, there will be quite a few
people who are ready to spend their time listening to what you have to
say. You should use their time well by giving a clear and easy to
understand presentation of your topic.

By the following piece of advice, we hope that we can help you avoid
the biggest pitfalls. Even if you have a lot of experinece giving talks,
there may be one or two hints here that may be useful for you. Please
take the few minutes it takes to read these hints.

General
=======

- Start by saying the most interesting things you have to say
Make a very brief introduction of yourself. Skip long introductions
to your topic. If you need to lay foundation, do so as briefly as possible,
before getting to the most interesting parts.

Sort your topic by how interesting and useful each thing is. Do them in
falling order of interest. This way, if you have underestimated your time,
the pieces falling off the end will not matter all that much. You will still
have said the most interesting things.

- Don't try to say everything. Give information about where to learn more.
You want to give people an incentive to learn more and enough information
to get started. 

There is no way in the world you can cover a toolkit or a whole new
compiler in a 30 minute talk, so don't try. Say the best things you
have to say and then stop.

- Make your materials available before the conference
Some people will actually read it before your talk, making them able to
pose interesting questions and follow what you say better. Usually
it is the people who are most interested in your topic, and thus the
people who are most interesting for you, who will download your paper
or your slides.

Presentation
============

If you build a talk with slides, there are a number of things to remember
in order to make your slides properly support your presentation.

- Colours are important
For best readability, text should be in black or a strong colour.
Dark blue, red, purple, dark grey or brown are good choices.
Bacgrounds, chart bars and other surfaces should be white or a light
pastel. Light yellow, baby blue, light pink and light green and very
light grey are good choices. 

- Fonts, sizes, amount of words
Use fonts at 14 points or larger for things you want your audience to
actively read.
Never ever use a font smaller than 12 points! Not even the people in the
front row will be able to read your slide.

Use a simple clear font. Use the normal face of the font for most text.
Use bold and bold italics or emphasis. Use italics for passages of text
that don't belong in the context.

You can use one font for headings, one for inline text and one for code,
but avoid having more fonts than that. The same font for headings and
inline text is usually quite sufficient.

Keep the amount of words low enough that people will have time to read
the slide and listen to what you have to say before you move to the
net slide. Drop unnecessary words.

- Code
Python code is nice to display on slides, because it promotes understanding.
Remove all unnecessary parts from your examples. Highlight the parts that
are crucial to understand by making them bold. Use a monospace font.

- Pictures, diagrams, information density, chart junk
Pictures, diagrams, flow graphs; even UML diagrams are usually much
better than your typical Powerpoint presentations for bringing your
message across. They take more time to make, but remember that every
minute wasted in your presentation has to be multiplied by the number
of people present.

Don't try to embellish your diagrams. The simplest possible is what
is easiest to understand. Avoid 3D effects, shadows and other elements
that do not carry information.

There is nothing wrong with presenting a slide with very high information
density, as long as it is easy to understand and people get enough time
to view it.
 
- Avoid clutter and toys
Animated transitions between slides take attention away from your
presentation. Avoid them like the plague.

Text that shows up line by line as you go through the slide force
people to read the side at your pace and not at their own pace. They
will resent you for it, so don't fall in this trap.

Witty sayings, cute pictures and other things just clutter up your
slides and take attention away from what you are saying. If you want
to be funny, make a hole in your talk, when you are funny, then get on
with the important stuff.

Preparations
============

Preparations on site before your talk are a rather simple but VERY
important step.

- Find out where the room for your talk is well before the talk.

- Check to make sure you know where the necessary appliances are.
    * Where do I plug in the video port of my computer?
    * Where can I get power for my machine?
    * If I need a network connection, where do I get that? Am I set up to
      connect to it?
    * If I need a whiteboard/blackboard, where are the markers/crayons?

- If you need to plug your computer to a video projector, test that it
actually has the right resolution.

All these steps should be taken well before hand; preferably the day
or evening before your talk. We will provide special test sessions,
where you can get help in making sure that your setup works.

Speaking
========

- Don't repeat your slides. This makes for a very boring talk.
A good talk has a mix of the following techniques:
    * Point out the most important parts on each slide.
    * Say what the slide says in a different way. 
    * Elaborate outside of what the slide contains. 
    * Explain your code examples.
    * Have a couple of questions for the audience. This makes for good
      variation in the talk.

- Talk to the people at the back of the room
If you talk too quietly, a lot of people will miss important parts of your
talk, or even lose interest and walk away. We will generally not have
microphones and loudspeakers. The aucoustics of the conference rooms
are very good, but you need to speak in a loud voice.

People wo have a hard time doing this can often get better results by
changing their posture. You need to stand up straight, with your shoulders
slightly drawn back, and your chin slighty higher than normal (look at the
people at the back of the room when speaking, not at your notes or your
laptop).

Ask someone to help you regulate the volume of your voice. Do a soundcheck
before the session, or have someone at the back of the room signal if you
are too quiet, too loud or just right.

(You still need to do the same if you have a microphone, it's just harder
since there are more factors involved.)
 
- Try to make your session interactive
By engaging more parts of your participants brains than the information
storage, your talk will have a much higher impact. There are many ways
of activating your audience. Try to find at least one.

- Make enough time for questions
People come to the conference to have exchanges with other people. If
they were just coming to hear your talk, you could make a video at
home and distribute it over the internet. It would save a lot of time
and expense for everyone involved. So make sure your audience can have
an exchange with you.

Just before opening for questions, it can be useful to repeat the most
important points of yourtalk. It makes a nice end to it.

- Repeat peoples questions
If you are not absolutely certain that evereyone has heard a question
from the floor, repeat it, or include enough context in your answer
that everyone can follow. (This is much harder than it seems. You will
not be good at it to start with, but people will appreciate the
effort.)