This document provides advice for giving effective presentations and talks. It discusses how to get invited to speak at events, including being active in blogging and asking organizers directly. It recommends having useful content for the intended audience and providing an outline of the talk in advance. The document also reviews classic and improved talk structures, emphasizing a title slide, introduction, content, and conclusion. It suggests using techniques like humor, media elements, rehearsing, and reviewing talks from other speakers.

1. Aug 2014 - Balsamiq 2014 Retreat
A Talk about Talks Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni

2. Aug 2014 - Balsamiq 2014 Retreat
Talkity-Talkity-Talk Peldity-Peldity-Pel-Pel

3. Table Of Contents

4. Talkity-Talkity-Talk TOC
❖ How to get invited!
❖ Structure!
❖ Techniques to use!
❖ Tools to help you

5. How to Get Invited

6. So, you want to give a talk…
❖ Cheap way to travel!!
❖ Your ego needs a BIG stroking!!
❖ You just LOVE hotels!!
❖ You want to be invited to the speakers’ dinner

7. How to get invited
❖ Be male, white, tall and in your early thirties :(!
❖ Blog!
❖ Be famous!
❖ Start by going where no-one else wants to go!
❖ Pick your target and flat out ask the organizers

8. Have Something Useful to Share
❖ No Sales Pitches!!
❖ Base it on your most popular blog post(s)!
❖ Ask the organizers what they expect you to talk about!
❖ Send the organizers a few talk ideas!
❖ Send the organizers your talk’s outline

10. Know the Audience
❖ What kind of people are they? Ask the organizers!
❖ Why are they going to the conference?!
❖ What do you wish someone had told you when you
were just getting started?

11. Structure

12. Classic Structure
1. Title Slide!
2. About Me (establish credibility)!
3. About this talk (what I’m about to tell you)!
4. A few topics (telling you)!
5. Review (what I just told you)!
6. Thanks and Links and Contact Info

13. 1. Title Slide
❖ Title of the talk!
❖ Your name and Twitter handle!
❖ Date and name of the event!
❖ Suggested hashtags (both event and yours)

14. 2. “About Me” Slide(s)
❖ Use VERY sparingly! People have already read your bio
in the conference program guide!!
❖ Make you look salesy and douchy!
❖ Much better to let the content speak for itself

15. http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/10/4/presentation-skills-considered-harmful

16. 3. Table of Contents
❖ Make it quick

17. 4. The Meat of The Talk
❖ Jot down ideas on paper / notes
❖ Let the structure emerge later, in Keynote

18. 5. “Review” Slides
❖ Sprinkle them as needed to help the audience get back
on track!
❖ No “Build In” effects

19. 6. End with Thank You + Links
❖ “Thank you”!
❖ Your name, email, twitter handle!
❖ Short link (bit.ly) to PDF of slides!
❖ Social links galore

20. Classic Structure
1. Title Slide!
2. About Me (establish credibility)!
3. About this talk (what I’m about to tell you)!
4. A few topics (telling you)!
5. Review (what I just told you)!
6. Thanks and Links and Contact Info

21. Better Structure
1. Title Slide!
2. About Me (establish credibility)!
3. About this talk (what I’m about to tell you)!
4. A few topics (telling you)!
5. Review (what I just told you)!
6. Thanks and Links and Contact Info

22. Kathy Sierra Structure
1. Title Slide!
2. About Me (establish credibility)!
3. About this talk (what I’m about to tell you)!
4. A few topics (telling you)!
5. Review (what I just told you)!
6. Thanks and Links and Contact Info

23. Techniques to Use

24. Give it time to ripen
❖ Start as early as you’re comfortable with (I started this
on Aug 9).!
❖ Start rough, plant the seed, close Keynote and walk
away. You’ll get more and more ideas over time. Add
them to Keynote as they come.!
❖ Iterate, at least 5 times, up until the minute you give it.

26. Try to Be Funny
❖ Make fun of yourself!
❖ Steal other people’s funny!
❖ videos!
❖ cartoons!
❖ memes!!
❖ puns over jokes

27. –Pelduccimus, MMXIV
“Don’t make the audience read your slides,
except for short quotes.”

29. Media

30. Use “Title” Slides
❖ They help with pace!
❖ They prompt your memory

31. Use Photos
❖ Big photo + 0-3 words = Great Slide!
❖ No obviously “stock photo” photos (except ironically)

32. Use Video
❖ It’s very powerful!
❖ Don’t overuse it!
❖ Keep the clips short!
❖ Requires the venue to have audio!
❖ For technical talks: talk over a no-audio video instead of
doing live demos

33. Use Screenshots
❖ Yep.

34. Use Quotes
❖ Use short ones, and give people time to read them!
❖ From people the audience looks up to!
❖ Somehow people will magically attribute them to you!
❖ Bonus points: quote previous speakers and provide a
respectful counterpoint! (i.e. Pulling a Paul Kenny)

35. Use Cartoons
❖ Use cartoons the audience might love - people love
thinking “I remember this one!”!
❖ Give people 5 seconds to read the caption before
starting to speak

36. Use Charts / Infographs
❖ Prezi-style!
❖ Careful that they don’t overshadow your content

37. Process

38. Flip through it over and over!
❖ “Play it” in Keynote hundreds of times!
❖ It’s a dance, choreograph it!!
❖ It’s like a song or a poem, pay attention to the cadence!
❖ Stub slides with words, then find images to replace the
words

39. Rehearse!
❖ Show it to at least one more person, it’s like a code-
review. Even if they have no feedback, it will be useful
to you!
❖ It’s the only way to know how long it will actually take!
❖ If it’s important, rehearse at least 4 times, 2 of which in
front of someone

40. Tools to Help You

43. CMD+SHIFT+4 and Preview

49. Review
❖ How to get invited!
❖ Structure!
❖ Techniques to use!
❖ Tools to help you

50. Further Reading
❖ “Presentation Zen” book!
❖ “Presentation Skills Considered Harmful” - Kathy Sierra!
❖ http://resonate.duarte.com/ - Nancy Duarte!
❖ Watch 25 “Business of Software” talks (here and here)!
❖ Watch 25 TED talks (here)!
❖ …hundreds of articles

51. Thankity-Thanky-Thanks!
Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni!
peldi@balsamiq.com!
@peldi - #balsamiqRetreat #talkitytalk