Those following me on social media or having a gander through the blogs I write day in and day out may know that I‘ve recently taken part in the Software Architecture Conference as a speaker. I‘ve prepared for the event just like I prepare for any other conference: I‘ve researched details, prepared slides, and timed the speech so I don‘t go overboard when speaking, and, preparing for the worst, I‘ve also uploaded the slides for the conference to Google Drive.
I‘ve put my fair share of preparing for the conference before the event, but that didn‘t stop me from running into an issue!
When it was my time to speak, I connected to the conference using a link I‘d been given before my speech (conference speakers weren‘t visible on the „live screen“ until the host made them visible when it was their time to speak), waited for the speaker before me to finish his speech and for people to ask questions, and then waited to be introduced to the viewers and spoke at the event.
As I was being introduced, I fired up my slides, closed down all of the „alerty“ things such as social media notifications and others, and prepared my microphone.
Always Speak In Presenter Mode
The mistake I made was not putting the presenter mode on when starting to speak and that was the reason behind the fact that while I changed slides when speaking, slides on the screen to the general public remained unchanged. That was the source of confusion to the hosts who, a couple of minutes into my speech, told me that they couldn‘t see slides being changed. Hey, that‘s why you always speak in presenter mode! Not switching the presenter mode on is the source of mistakes like mine.
Full Screen Mode, Anyone?
After I made the mistake of not speaking in presenter mode, I could‘ve just switched the slides into presenter mode and re-started my speech, but I decided that as I had a backup of the slides on Google Drive, I‘d just continue from there. So, I just fired them up and presented my speech that way, but again, I messed up not putting the slides in full screen, thus making the text within the slides difficult to entertain – folks, always put your slides into full-screen mode so the viewers can watch you speak… If you can‘t find a button to do that (that can happen due to simple stress), click CTRL + F5. Phew, lesson learned.
Time Your Speech
There‘s a reason so many good speakers have stopwatches that they glance at when they speak – if your speech is 30 minutes and you talk for an hour and a half, that‘s probably not going to go down well. In my case speaking at the Software Architecture Conference, things here were better than I‘d expected them to be: even though I messed up the first part of my speech, conference attendees said that due to the fact that the rest of the speech was good, they counted the mistake as a little technical issue that did not affect anything.
The rest of my speech was good because I‘d timed my speech in advance and knew that I had to restart my speech until I hit a specific slide – when I did that, I knew that I could slow down the pace and not feel bad about it.
Always time your speech, folks! You don‘t know what‘s going to occur necessitating you to speed up/slow down. I know of speakers that have/had stopwatches nearby when they‘re speaking and glanced them once or twice during their speech so they know where they stand – there‘s a good chance that if they hadn‘t done that, they‘d gone over their limit.
Reading From the Slides is a No-no
You know one mistake that almost every first-time speaker makes? He/she reads from his/her slides! That may not be an issue for guys in middle/high school, but when you speak at software conferences, you can‘t focus on your laptop – the focus has to be on your audience.
A focus on an audience provides a vital connection and the key to this is rehearsal – many speakers practice their speech at least 10-15 times before jumping on a plane, reaching their hotel, rehearsing their speech there, and speaking on stage.
The same goes for bullet points and the same deal with fonts that are too small, too – I‘ve made my fair share of mistakes at the Software Architecture Conference (ahem, not presenting the slides full-screen was a big one that could‘ve led to this.) Always look at your fonts from the audience‘s point of view in full-screen to avoid that from happening.
If You Speak Remotely, Moving Around Is No Longer Necessary
Most speakers speaking remotely have multiple luxuries available to them:
- They don‘t have to worry about flights and/or accommodation
- They can present their speech without having to re-setup their laptop
- They present in a space that‘s already familiar to them
Aside from that, they don‘t have to worry about becoming „the statue“ that doesn‘t move around when speaking! No one likes to see a speaker that‘s glued in place without engaging with the audience by moving back and forth – but for remote events, that‘s no longer a necessity. The audience are now the viewers of the YouTube stream!
No Forced Slide Templates
One thing that some conferences do is make people use slide templates. For some conferences, that might be fine (e.g. if the conference is organized remotely and the speaker speaks while sitting in a chair), but for others, that can be bad.
A conference speech is more than just the template or pictures on a screen – speakers share their experience that often conveys some sort of emotions. For example, a speech on the „dark arts of technology“ (i.e. how to stop black-hat hackers) may necessitate a lot of dark colors and shady characters and it may not be a fit for a white background. Given that, some conferences do share more than one template a speaker can use and do include darker as well as lighter variants, but in my opinion, speakers need to be provided with an artistic reign that they can use at their discretion.
Many remote conferences provide an option to use their slide templates, but that‘s only that. An option, not a necessity.
The Good Things
Enough bad news! There are a lot of good things that all conferences do and there are some things that conferences organized remotely such as the Software Architecture Conference do exceptionally well, too. Starting from not forcing a slide template on their speakers to giving speakers links to test and see how they‘re being seen or heard beforehand to organizing the conference remotely. They all deserve kudos!
Pre-recorded Sessions are Good
Many remote conferences feature pre-recorded sessions. For some, that may seem weird, but conferences do that because they want to set up everything in advance – most conferences that do this will ask for slides and a video of your recorded speech a week or a couple days prior to the event which is all good because as a speaker, you‘re likely to present yourself in the best way possible when you know that you have multiple do-overs if necessary. You don‘t even have to record your speech on the same day.
Some conferences, such as Percona LIVE, may even allow attendees to ask you questions while you speak since your speech will be pre-recorded. You can answer more questions and not necessitate extra time at the end of your speech – win-win, no?
On the contrary, asking for pre-recorded sessions three months before the event begins may not be a great idea – this industry changes rapidly, and it‘s possible that speakers will have to remove/add something from their slides closer to the event.
You‘re Using Your Own Devices
Many speakers will agree with me that conference laptops aren‘t often the very best. Many speakers have to prepare their speech and possibly show a demo or two which may necessitate certain software – the fact that remote conferences allow you to use your own devices is awesome because you are in control of everything that‘s happening and no one knows your devices better than you do. Aside from that, you can be 100% sure that you‘re not getting any notifications because you‘ve turned all unnecessary apps off.
More Impact!
The last thing that speakers speaking remotely can achieve is more impact. There‘s no longer a need to fly to a different country that may be on the opposite end of the world, and at the same time, many attendees of the conferences can attend and watch the conference remotely, too.
Many conferences are accessible via live streams on YouTube and while people may need to log in to ask questions, they can also do so from the comfort of their own home.
Summary
Speaking at a conference remotely may be a different experience when compared to speaking at a live event, however, it comes with perks unique to itself as well.
Did you speak at a remote conference recently? I‘d love to hear your thoughts – share your experience in the comment section, and until next time.
