NLJUG speaker academy 2023 - session 1

1. #jfall
NLJUG
SPEAKER ACADEMY 2023

2. #jfall
Agenda
• 19:00 presentation by the mentor(s):
• Introduction to knowledge sharing
• Introduction to the speaker mentoring program
• How does a ‘call for papers’ work?
• How to write a great conference proposal
• 20:15 hands on: selecting a topic, writing a proposal,
reviewing of proposals
• 21:00 drinks

3. Introduction
to the speaker academy
and mentors

4. Introduction
to knowledge sharing

5. Have you ever
shared your knowledge?

6. Do you think it’s fun
to share knowledge?

8. Must I share knowledge?

9. Sharing knowledge
is fun!

10. Sharing knowledge
is important.

11. Knowledge is the only thing
that multiplies when you share it.

12. Ways to tell your story

13. Keynote

14. Technical session

15. Deep dive

16. Hands-on lab / workshop

17. Panel discussion

18. Byte size

19. Ignite session

20. What defines a
good presentation?

21. A good presentation
entertains the audience

22. A good presentation
educates the audience

23. A good presentation
inspires and introduces

24. A good presentation
makes contact with the audience

25. A good presentation
shares a passion

26. A good presentation tells
your story
the results
what you’ve done
what you’ve learned

27. Top 4 reasons
for not starting
with presenting

28. “I don’t know
what I should talk about”

29. “I don’t know
where to start”

30. “I’ve never presented before”

31. “I’m afraid
I’ll make a fool of myself”

32. Any other excuses? 😉

33. Preparation
How to prepare a killer talk?

34. Advice from a friend
https://blog.frankel.ch/advices-junior-conference-
speakers/

35. Getting started with speaking
• Start small
• Pick the right event
• The appropriate session type
• The proper talk/topic
• Don’t be afraid to submit
multiple talks
• Submit early
• If you get rejected
• Don’t worry!
• If you get accepted
• Let’s go!!
Source: https://blog.frankel.ch/advices-junior-conference-speakers/

36. Talk preparation
• Create your material (slides,
demo’s, code)
• Focus on variety (afwisseling)
• Practice!
• Prepare the logistics:
• Wifi
• Adapters
• Clicker
• Microphone
• Timing:
• Not too much / not too little
content
• “buffer content” helps:
• skippable slides to save
time
• extra slides to fill time
• Stopping early is fine!
• Going over time is not
Source: https://blog.frankel.ch/advices-junior-conference-speakers/

37. On stage
• In the final minutes:
• Get water
• Come early
• Size up the room & audience
• Relax!
• During your talk:
• Use the stage
• Look around
• Q&A
• To Q&A or not?
• Rephrasing questions
• Don’t lose time
• Afterwards
• Stick around
• Cultural gaps
• Publish slides
• Re-use & polish
Source: https://blog.frankel.ch/advices-junior-conference-speakers/

38. More advice
- from another friend ;-)
https://www.morling.dev/blog/ten-tips-make-conference-talks-suck-less/

39. 10 tips for conf talks
1. 💦 Rehearse, Rehearse,
Rehearse
2. 🎬 Start With a Mission
3. 📖 Tell a Story
4. 👀 Look at the Audience,
Not Your Slides
5. 🧹 Put Less Text on Your
Slides. Much Less
6. ✂ Tailor the Talk Towards Your
Audience
7. 3⃣ Rule of Three
8. 🚑 Have a Fallback Plan for
Demos
9. 💪 Play to Your Strengths
10.🔄 Circle Back
Source: https://www.morling.dev/blog/ten-tips-make-conference-talks-suck-less/

40. 7 bonus tips
from Olivier Revial
1. Make sure images in your
slides are not copyrighted
2. Avoid gifs (or not.. ;-)
3. Note chapter times during
rehearsal
4. Practice difficult parts/
sentences
5. Rehearse in front of people
6. Do small breaks as you talk
(water, thinking pause, etc)
7. If you get questions: don’t
bullshit if you don’t know
Source: https://www.morling.dev/blog/ten-tips-make-conference-talks-suck-less/

41. Call for papers
how does it work?

42. How to write a great
Conference proposal

43. How to write a great
Conference proposal
• follow the cfp rules
• write quality text, be concise
• invest in a good title
• be respectful
• no product pitches
• be creative and original
• be authentic
• what’s in it for the audience?
• focus on:
• your story
• the outcome
• what you’ve done personally
• what you’ve
learned
• have it reviewed

44. Even more advice
- from yet another friend ;-)
https://www.tomcools.be/post/june-2023-cfpreview/

45. Replying to a CFP: Anti-patterns
by Tom Cools
1. Spelling, Grammar & Typos: Use
spellchecking tools;
2. On the Right Track: Make sure
you submit content to the correct
track;
3. Timeliness of Content: Make
sure your content is still relevant;
4. Provide value: What is the
audience going to get that is of
value to them?;
5. Abstract Length: Some
abstracts are too long,
some too short;
6. Do or do not, there is no
try: don’t use soft
language that minimizes
your talk;
7. Be kind: leave a note for
the reviewers, recognize
them as humans
Source: https://www.tomcools.be/post/june-2023-cfpreview/

46. Example: abstract
Debugging distributed systems
Nowadays, most software projects are distributed systems: components are
located on different networked computers which communicate and coordinate
their actions by passing messages. Debugging distributed systems is not easy. When
two components don’t play nice together, the cause could be virtually anything:
software, DNS, routing, firewalls, proxies, load balancers, TLS.. and more!
In this talk, I’ll share my experience with debugging distributed systems. We’ll look
at typical issues and share ways to debug those issues and find their root causes.
We’ll dive into networking, infrastructure, logging/tracing/metrics, testing,
remote debugging and more. I’ll share lots of examples and war stories along the
way. After this talk, you’ll have practical knowledge on how and where to get
started with debugging distributed systems yourself!

47. Example: abstract
Building microservices with Vert.x
Vert.x is a toolkit for building reactive applications on the JVM. It was awarded for "Most
Innovative Java Technology" at the JAX Innovation awards. Vert.x is event driven, non
blocking and polyglot, which makes it an excellent platform for building microservices.
In this talk, I'll share experiences and real-world use cases from a Dutch company that
started building reactive web applications with Vert.x about 3 years ago.
You'll learn the concepts behind Vert.x, why we chose Vert.x, how we're using it and the
challenges we faced. Topics include the anatomy of our projects, (micro)services
architecture, deployment model and DevOps, scalability, the upgrade from Vert.x 2 to
Vert.x 3 and cooperation with the team behind Vert.x.
At the end of this session, you'll know enough about Vert.x to get started yourself right
away!

48. Example: abstract
Security Warning: Your Java Attack Surface Just Got Bigger
Building cloud-native Java applications is undoubtedly awesome.
However, it comes with undeniable new risks. Next to your own code, you are relying on so
many other things.
Blindly depending on open-source libraries and Docker images can form a massive risk for
your application.
The wrong package can introduce severe vulnerabilities into your application, exposing your
application and your user's data.
Join this talk where we’ll show common threats, vulnerabilities, and misconfiguration
including the recently disclosed issues in Log4j.
Most importantly, you’ll learn how to protect your application with actionable remediation
and best practices.

49. Example: abstract
Making Maven Marvelous
Have you ever used Maven, ran into a bug and thought: “How on earth can a project this
old have this bug?”. Then join this session! Maven, although a well-known and well-trusted
project, is run by a relatively small bunch of people. There’s simply more work to do than
these people can do! So instead of getting angry, or looking for alternatives, you can
contribute to Maven yourself and work on making it even better. Join us on our journey
from “how on earth” to “works like heaven”. We’ll discuss how we did it, what we did, and
most importantly: how you can start contributing to Maven as well! As you walk out the
room, better reserve some time in your calendar to start working on that bug ;-).

50. Writing a bio
• Be short and descriptive
• Typically in 3rd person
• Don’t brag but be factual
• Include things like:
• Name
• Role / tagline
• Company / brand
• 2-3 most impressive and relevant achievements
• Optional: a quirky fact about yourself (if appropriate)

51. Example: bio
• Bert Jan is CTO at OpenValue and focuses on Java, software
architecture, Continuous Delivery and DevOps. Bert Jan is a
Java Champion, JavaOne Rock Star speaker, Duke's Choice
Award winner and leads NLJUG, the Dutch Java User Group.
He loves to share his experience by speaking at conferences,
writing for the Dutch Java magazine and helping out
Devoxx4Kids with teaching kids how to code. Bert Jan is
easily reachable on Twitter at @bjschrijver.

52. Example: bio
• Sr. Developer Advocate for Snyk, Java Champion, and
Software Engineer with over a decade of hands-on experience
in creating and maintaining software. He is passionate about
Java, (Pure) Functional Programming and Cybersecurity. Brian
is a JUG leader for the Virtual JUG and the NLJUG. He also
co-leads the DevSecCon community and is a community
manager for Foojay. He is a regular international speaker on
mostly Java-related conferences like JavaOne, Devnexus,
Devoxx, Jfokus, JavaZone and many more. Besides all that,
Brian is a military reserve for the Royal Netherlands Air Force
and a Taekwondo Master / Teacher.

53. Hands on
Selecting a topic, writing a bio + proposal

54. Need help?
speakers@nljug.org

55. Presentation practice
5 min presentations, audience gives feedback
Next session
To be planned: somewhere in sep/oct