Unlike a lot of industries, conferences for developers are actually worth it. They aren’t just an excuse to spend your T&E budget, stay in a new hotel and see some bands that are over the hill.
Why? Between learning the actual skills of programming and the actual work of building, leading and creating teams of developers, there is a massive skills gap. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a mentor with all the answers you need to grow your career, the best way to learn what you don’t know is by tapping into the developer community.
Conferences are one of the primary ways that developers learn and interact with other developers and industry professionals to learn about trends and topics in software development. Millions of software professionals attend conferences every year to network with and hear presentations with thought-leaders in their fields.
But if you're reading this, you knew all this already.
Conferences and events makeup to a trillion-dollar industry and have been playing a major role in connecting people from different parts of the world and exchange ideas. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the first major tech conference that got canceled due to health and safety concerns was the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the annual gathering of electronics makers.
Along the way, similarly, Facebook also canceled all physical conferences and events by June 2021, including the major F8 Developer Conference and most awaited Oculus Connect 7 virtual reality event that was supposed to be held in San Jose.
Week by week, day by day, then hour by hour. On the week of the 9th of March everything changed. And it changed fast. That week I was in New York for the Business Agility Conference and I watched COVID-19 spread quickly through the state, but fear spread faster.
I want to share our experiences as a community organisation and our response - specifically in the context of running a major conference at the exact moment everything changed.
An Event Apart: Online Together is a single-day online conference with an intense focus on digital design, UX, content, code, and more, giving you deep insights into where we are now and where things are going next.
AEA! With a brand new online version of their conference! That’s awesome. AEA is a best-in-class web conference, so if you’re looking for a conference to help get your mind going on big-picture web design and development stuff again and connect with some like-minded industry people, this is your opportunity.
There are some great resources out there to help conference speakers give better talks, but fewer for people who are preparing to take on the role of emcee at meetup or conference.
I've been fortunate enough to emcee conferences more than 20 times now, most recently JAMstack_conf which I help organize. I also enjoy hosting smaller, less formal meetups which benefit just as much from having somebody to keep things rolling nicely along.
Since emcee-ing is a rather visible role, I often get asked, "Got any tips for emcee-ing?" I do. At the same time, note that there is no substitute for finding the approach that fits you and lets you be yourself. But I've found what works for me, and what I enjoy in an emcee when I'm attending or speaking at a conference.
Here's my advice:
Biggest tip: Enjoy yourself.
I find that trying to relax (yeah, easy to say) and remembering that the audience want you to succeed really helps. When you remember that you're not hosting the Oscars (if you are reading this in preparation for hosting the Oscars, please contact me directly. DMs are open), and that people are very happy with you being human and personable, it gives you license to relax and talk to the room as if everyone is your friend. That’s liberating and helps you to be more natural.
The crowd's view of the stage at Vue.js London. Image copyright www.edtelling.com.
To err is human
While we all want things to run as smoothly as possible, mistakes happen. Don’t panic or let them throw you off too much. I find that owning mistakes and communicating them honestly to the audience can be a feature rather than a bug. It also helps them trust you and be on your side. (I believe that there is only one “side” at a conference anyway. And this can help to establish that.)
Many of the moments I consider highlights have come from some silly mistake I’ve made on stage, like giving the wrong information and being corrected by the audience. It’s fine. We’re in it together. Have a little fun with it.
Technical difficulties
It’s really common for there to be technical difficulties during a conference. They often only take a few moments to resolve, but they can occasionally drag on and become a little uncomfortable.
As a speaker it is horrible to think that you are on your own to fix things while a room full of people impatiently watches on. As an emcee, you can help enormously by being ready to jump in if it looks like things might need some time and concentration from the speaker, or if a helpful member of the audio-visual team is sprinting to the stage.
I like to step back on the stage to provide a little buffer. No need to panic. Often just a little company on stage and some headspace is all that is required. My trick is to keep a little pocket-sized notebook on me all day. I keep a few notes ready, things like news and announcements for the audience. Where will the refreshments be later? Who are the sponsors and where can you find them? What are the details for the social later on? Those kinds of things. You may need them at the start of the next break anyway, but you can buy a little time for the speakers and save time for later by being ready to share that at this "handy opportunity."
“Me again! We’ll get this fixed in a second. While we have a mo...”
Even when there isn’t a problem, the speaker might still take a little time to plug in their laptop, be certain that they can see their speaker notes, and so on. If the conference does need each speaker to plug in as they come to the stage, I like to invite them up while I introduce them, and then check that they are ready when it looks like they have stopped tinkering with their setup. This doesn’t need to be a secret from the audience. “It looks like Jina is ready to go. Are you all set? Excellent! OK, a big round of applause please, for...”
Longer pauses. Oh this is getting awwwwwkward!
Every once in a while, there is a larger technical issue. The audio-visual team is on it, but you’ve used up all your padding material, pulled a couple of jokes from your back pocket, and now you and the speaker are stranded on stage with nothing to say and that horrible feeling of not knowing where to put your hands so that you look natural. Not to worry. Be honest.
Eventually the audience will start to feel awkward too, so cut this off at the pass. If things look like they really do need a few minutes, tell the audience. A bright and breezy update buys you some time and some good will.
"It looks like we still need a couple more minutes to figure this out, so we’ll step off stage for a moment and then come on again to enjoy a second, bonus round of applause. Don’t go anywhere, we’ll be right back!"
This sort of thing can take the pressure off everyone. Including the audience. And you can milk that second round of applause for the speaker as they return.
Just be honest. Everyone is on your side, remember.
Practice all the names
A mistake that makes me uncomfortable is botching somebody's name when I introduce them. That is a bit of a fear I still have and I've done it many times despite my best efforts. I like to watch YouTube videos of all the speakers that I don't already know to get a sense of what they've spoken about in the past, and also as a chance to listen to how they introduce themselves. I practice them out loud and write them down phonetically if they are tricky.
If you find a name particularly difficult, you can even use the voice recorder on your phone to capture how they pronounce it on YouTube, or your own best try, and then have it ready as a last-minute primer just before you need it.
Know more than the speaker's bio
Speakers often get introduced by someone reading out their bio. I don't think this gives the impression that you have enthusiasm for, or awareness of them. Both of which are, I think, valuable for creating trust with the audience and comfort for the speaker. I like to look them up and make some notes based on previous talks, the links on their own sites, or whatever else I can scrounge. I like to have an intro that goes beyond the bio that the attendees all have and will recognize as being read verbatim when they hear it.
Introducing Divya Sasidharan onstage at Vue.js London. Image copyright www.edtelling.com.
... it shouldn't matter if the speaker has published 18 books, or if they're just an intern starting out their career, their talk content is what matters.
Yes! Listing their full resume isn't the point at all. I personally just like to convey that I know who this is, and that I'm not encountering them for the first time as I read the schedule — and that I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say, irrespective of how extensive their previous experience or fame may be.
It's also worth double-checking that the job title and company details you have for somebody are still correct. It's nice to make sure that you didn't miss a recent role change.
Another good nugget from Jake is to avoid surprising the speaker. I've wandered into this territory before where I've enthused about a speaker in their introduction and mentioned a bunch of things that they were planning to say for themselves in their intro. As he says:
Make the speaker aware of the kind of intro they'll get, so they can adjust their own intro accordingly.
That's good. Communicating with the speaker ahead of time so that you can tune your own intro is likely to be easier than them adjusting their own content, what with slides and timings, etc.
"No surprises" is probably a good motto for this.
Avoid "in jokes"
When you emcee, you might sometimes be introducing somebody you know. Perhaps it's a friend, a colleague, or somebody you shared a nice chat and giggle with at the reception or dinner the night before. While I think it's fine to reference a history or relationship in an intro for context, It's safer to focus on things that everyone can relate to and not just those who already know you or the speaker.
Private jokes don't mean anything to the vast majority of the audience, and can even alienate you a little by creating a bit of a clique as Jan thoughtfully mentioned on Twitter.
Don't assume or rely on "fame"
"This next speaker needs no introduction" is rarely true. Even if it's likely that a lot of people in the room might already know who a given speaker is, there will be some who don't.
Don't assume the audience knows who the speaker is.
Each speaker deserves a nice introduction. And there will always be some in the audience thinking "who dis?" Even a little background can be a helpful foundation and give the speaker a nice springboard to get started.
Announce and thank people with vigor
I've been introduced quite a few times in ways where I've been unsure whether the intro is over or not! I like to be sure that the final thing I say is the name of the speaker. (Not their talk title, although I'll likely mention that and possibly the themes in my introduction.)
An onstage introduction at Vue.js London. Image copyright www.edtelling.com.
Ending the intro with the speaker's name seems painfully obvious, but I do this even if I've used their name earlier in the intro. It makes the handoff emphatic and acts as an obvious cue for audience applause. Using an intonation which suggests "it's time to clap right now!" is also helpful. Again, it seems obvious but giving the audience clear cues is important.
Let the speakers give the talks
You might sometimes be opinionated about the topic of the next talk. Maybe you’ve given talks on the same subject yourself. Great, that will come in handy if you need to ask informed questions after the talk. But don’t fall into the temptation to show this off during your intro. The speakers are “the show” — not the emcee. And the person you are introducing is the one invited to share their expertise.
I sometimes show I value the upcoming topic, but I advise against flexing your knowledge muscles during an intro. You might cannibalize the content, or even contradict it. And you’ll never communicate it in an intro as well as the speaker can during the actual talk. You might come off as being cocky.
Don’t step on the speaker's toes. Let them present the content. This is why everyone is here.
Prep speakers for questions and answers
If there is Q&A that you’ll need to lead or curate, it’s important to know that in advance. It is one of the first things I’ll ask the organizer in the run up to a conference. I like to ask the speakers at the speaker dinner the night before the event or when they are getting mic'd up (but earlier really is better, especially when they have time to think while being relaxed) if there is anything they'd like me to ask or avoid saying altogether. There are often things people can't include due to time and this can be a chance to squeeze that in and also serve as a nice soft ball question to get things started and let them settle in.
Some speakers might not want to take questions. I like to make sure about that first, and steer the event organizers away from it if somebody prefers not to have it.
Housekeeping is a good boilerplate
At the opening of the day, I usually jump quickly into the various housekeeping stuff of toilets, exits, code of conduct, etc. soon after saying my initial hello and maintain an enthusiastic posture about the day. It doesn't require much imagination and can help you settle in.
Don't forget to introduce yourself too!
Ask the organizers what they need
Along the way, there might be a need to mention sponsors, inform people of food, or even other things. I like to check in with the organizers at every break to see if there is anything they need me to announce. Maybe there can be a private Slack channel or Whatsapp group so you can stay in contact with them. That way you can find out if they need to adjust timings or any other odds and ends as you go.
Most of all though, and to repeat my first point a little, allow yourself to enjoy the experience. It's so much fun when the speakers and audience are enjoying themselves.
Make sure you ride that wave and have fun too!
My checklist
I have this little checklist as a starting point for the events I'll be emcee-ing. It changes a bit depending on what the conference needs.
Prep speaker intro notes
Prep speaker name pronunciation notes
Confirm format for Q&A with organizers
Prep seed questions for each talk
Share event notes Google Doc with organizers
Access/create emcee slack channel or WhatsApp group
Confirm or create event intro/outro slides if appropriate
Get housekeeping notes from organizers
Get familiar with code of conduct and contact info to share
Confirm event hashtags to share
Get sponsor call-out requirements from organizers
Meet AV team and discuss transition format
Brief speakers on transition format and get ok for questions
Get water / pen / notepad / mic
Breath. Smile. Have fun.
What have I missed? Got any good tips? I'd love to hear them. Feel free to leave thoughts and suggestions in the comments.
DevOps has come a long way and it has become the driving force of the software industry today. While many companies would like to embrace DevOps culture, the need for a better understanding is required initially to make a strategic plan around the DevOps approach.
Apart from hiring the experts with good domain knowledge, the other important aspect is to attend conferences and learn from the industry experts working in other companies that are already successful with their DevOps implementation. We all know, nothing can beat listening to the industry experts talk and learning from them.
The following is a guest post written by Jennifer Bourn. With 21 years experience as a graphic designer, 15 years experience as a web designer, 14 years as a creative agency owner, and 11 years as a blogger, Jennifer Bourn has worked with hundreds of service-based businesses to build brands and establish profitable online platforms. She also co-organizes the Sacramento WordPress Meetup and WordCamp Sacramento.
After being the lead organizer for WordCamp Sacramento for two years, speaker wrangler for two years, managing the program for a year, and speaking at several WordCamps and non-WordPress related conferences myself, I have seen a lot of amazing and a lot of awful speaker submissions. Some speaker submissions have been from people I know personally — people I want to choose and say yes to — but ultimately couldn’t because their submission was subpar.
It’s incredibly tough to both apply to speak and select speakers from applications.
If your title is confusing, weird, unclear, too cutesy, or it feels like you put no effort into it, that will work against you. Organizers want talks attendees will be interested in and excited for. It must be easy to understand what the talk is about based on the title alone.
If your talk description is all about you, is only one sentence long, is sarcastic/unprofessional, isn’t aligned with the event focus/theme, or it’s totally self-serving, you should rethink things. Your talk isn’t about you, it’s about helping attendees expand their knowledge and move the needle and helping organizers host a successful event.
It is never ever a good idea to disparage or put down a person, job, tool, piece of software, or anyone/anything to make your point or make your topic interesting. If the only way you can communicate your point is through negativity, reconsider the topic. Being controversial may have been a draw in years past, but now it’s a risk most organizers aren’t willing to take.
Consider that someone else (or several people) may submit a talk on the exact same subject. Your title and description need to convince organizers why your submission should be picked over the other person’s submission.
Consider that if you submit multiple talks, none of them may be selected if your titles aren’t interesting and your descriptions are not descriptive. It must be clear what the talk is about and what the takeaways are, and how this talk will benefit the attendees.
Always think about how you can make the organizers’ or event planners’ jobs easier and follow instructions. For example, if they ask for bios in third-person, provide your bio in third-person. If they ask for full name, provide your full name.
Spell the name of the conference, software, industry, etc. correctly in your speaker application. Want to speak at a WordPress event? Double check that you’ve capitalized the P and proofread your submission.
Look at the topics requested by the event organizers. Submit talks on those topics and your chances of being selected will be higher because they are telling you what they want. Lists of preferred topics are usually included because that is what their local community has specifically requested.
Don’t submit the same talk you’ve submitted 10 times to other events. Put in some effort. Look at the event theme and submit something that relates to it or customize the talk title/description to include the theme.
Look at the past event schedules, agenda, or programs. Look at the types of talks they accept. For example, if a WordCamp has only had 2-3 business related talks in the past four years, it might be a sign they aren’t looking for business talks and want talks focused more on using WordPress.
Look at the topics the event has already covered in previous years. Then find the gap and find something they haven’t already heard or done.
Steer clear of the marketing hype. Avoid topics related to killing it, hustling, crushing, and dominating. Don’t refer to yourself as a guru or a thought leader (that’s only cool when other people say it about you). Avoid negativity, sarcasm, and assumptions about the audience.
If organizers ask how or why you’re qualified to talk on the topic being submitted:
It’s okay to be new/just learning — fresh voices are awesome.
Don’t just copy and paste your bio into the field. They already have your bio and that’s not what they meant or what they want.
Never assume the people reviewing your application are experts on your talk topic or have the same technical background you do.
Avoid submitting a talk that is all about one piece of software — i.e. one plugin — especially if the software is premium and requires an investment. An entire session dedicated to a paid plugin 1) excludes those who have not purchased it or cannot purchase it and 2) will apply to few attendees. Instead, consider a compare/contrast presentation that covers both free and paid options or a talk that introduces attendees to multiple options.
It’s okay to submit opinion pieces as talks, but be careful to NOT position your opinion or approach as the only one or the right one, when there are other options. Often there isn’t one right way (unless it’s technical and there is one right way).
If the submission form asks what skill level audience your talk is the best fit — Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced — don’t pick them all. That isn’t helpful. The same is true if they ask who your talk is aimed at — designers, developers, or users, etc.
Organizers for events like WordCamps need to satisfy a diverse audience. The attendee makeup often ranges from those who make a living with WordPress all the way to newbies who just learned what WordPress is a few days ago, so talks at and for every skill level are needed and valued. Don’t skip applying because you think your talk isn’t advanced enough.
If there is a ‘notes to the organizer’ field in the talk submission form, communicate that you’re open to suggestions or making tweaks to the talk focus to ensure it’s a great fit for their audience. Often a talk being reviewed is close to what they want, but it needs a small tweak to be selected.
If something funky happened when you hit submit, don’t be afraid to submit your talk again. Organizers would rather have duplicate submissions than miss your submission. Also, it’s okay to reach out to confirm your submission was received.
Don’t skip applying to speak because you don’t think you know enough yet or don’t have enough experience yet. Everyone has value to contribute and fresh perspectives are always appreciated. Plus, there are people who just discovered or figured out the thing you want to talk about exists — I guarantee you can help them.
Behind the scenes organizers work hard to create a diverse lineup of speakers that provides representation for everyone in the community. Organizers can ask, beg, plead, and do loads of outreach, but ultimately, they are limited by who is willing to apply and/or who is willing to accept an invite to speak. So please say yes and apply.
When organizers make the offer to help you brainstorm talk ideas, craft a talk title/description, and even create your slide deck or watch your practice, say yes. Take them up on the offer. Asking for help doesn’t make you any less awesome. There are a lot of people who are incredibly talented and smart with great value to share but find it difficult to put what they know into a talk format. If that’s you, you’re not alone and there are people who want to help.
Interested in trying your hand at speaking for the first time?
Every event has limited space. When securing rooms for multi-track events and planning the schedule, organizers need to be able to split attendees across the different rooms/tracks. This means they need competing talks in each track that will be a draw and attract attendees. No one wants one full room and one empty room. No one.
If you don’t get selected, don’t get down on yourself. Often the selection choice has nothing to do with you and is simply a matter of many submissions on the same topic(s), needing to balance topics across disciplines to serve the range of attendees or skill sets, and looking for more diverse representation in the speaker lineup.
If the event is local to you, always apply. Many times event/conference organizers want to fill the speaking spots (or at least half of them) with local people from their community or region and you’ll have a leg up on the out-of-towners. Similarly, if there is a meetup group in the area tied to the event/conference, go to the meetup and get to know the organizers and other attendees.
New to a subject/topic? Just learning it? No problem! Consider submitting a talk reviewing your experience as a new user. Share surprises and obstacles encountered, lessons learned, and suggestions for improvement. This can be hugely valuable for advanced users who tend to what new users deal with and it can provide a different perspective and voice.
Want to learn a topic better? There’s no better way than to teach others about it. Submit the talk, do the work to learn it, and teach everything you’ve learned so far. For example, if you want to build a membership site, submit a talk on how to choose a membership plugin, document your research in finding the right plugin, and share what plugins you reviewed, what criteria you used for evaluation, what you discovered (pros/cons), and which you ended up choosing.
Never underestimate the power of awareness. Consider pitching a talk that presents options to expand attendees awareness of what is available or possible and gives them a starting place to research things on their own.
I’m writing this post as I’m sitting in the airport, leaving the CodeMash conference. This has been my first “true” conference for a while, because I was able to not just speak and stand in a sponsor booth but actually participate in a lot of sessions and talk to a lot of people. I had a blast, and both the IRS and my wife consider this a work trip.
I have been presenting in international conferences for over a decade now and I wanted to put in a few words for people who are speaking at a technical conference. None of this is new, mind you. If you have been reading any recommendations about how to present in conferences, I’m probably going to bore you. I’m writing this because I saw several sessions that had technical issues in how they were delivered. That is, the content was great, but the way it was delivered could be improved.
There’s not much talk about frameworks here. There’s no shaming about old techniques, or jokes about JavaScript. There’s just a couple hundred people all around me laughing and smiling and watching talks about making things on the web and it all feels so fresh and new to me. Unlike many other conferences I’ve visited, these talks are somehow inclusive and rather feel, well, there’s no other word for it: inspiring.
I’m sitting in a little room buried underneath the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland and I’m here for my third XOXO. And I can’t stop smiling.
Although the festival is not entirely focused on coding and front-end development, there are a lot of developers here that make art on the web for fun. From Jenn Schiffer’s pixel art to Monica Dinculescu’s emoji projects and Nicole He’s buck-wild enhance.computer, there’s a lot of interesting discussions about coding — but! — it’s from a very different perspective than the one I’m familiar with.
Most conferences tend to focus on being practical. Here’s the newest technique! Here’s how to improve your career! Here’s the coolest new folks that you should be following! But it’s important to remember that the web isn’t only a serious place for serious work. It can be this entirely other thing, too.
The web can be for fun. It can be utterly weird and unexpected. And that’s what we’re all seeing in this little room right now at XOXO; websites that can’t be monetized, websites that can’t be controlled by corporate interests or giant ad networks.
