Are you presenting at Kiwi PyCon? Thank you! Your contribution is an essential part of our conference. Here are some tips to help make your presentation a success.
First, be sure to review our code of conduct and health and safety policy. These policies are there to help provide you with a supportive and safe environment in which to share your experience, knowledge, and ideas with the Python community.
You’ll need to buy a ticket to secure your spot at the conference and support our efforts. As a presenter, you can buy your ticket at a reduced price. We will contact presenters with information on how to buy these tickets.
General tips
Prepare your presentation early and practise by delivering it to other people. Many people speak more quickly when in front of an audience, while others will speak less quickly.
Have a backup plan! If you’re using slides, have them saved in multiple locations. If you plan to use the Internet during your presentation, have a plan for what you will do if you can’t get online. Besides the practical value of having a backup, you will feel more confident if you know you’re prepared for problems.
Use polite and inclusive language. Don’t let your message get lost by offending people with the way it is delivered. If you offer criticism of the work of others, be sure that it is constructive and tactfully stated.
Tips for speakers
There’s no perfect formula for the number of slides to use, but in general each slide should be shown for at least one minute.
Minimal slides are best - avoid walls of text and long lists of bullets.
Use large text. If you find yourself selecting a smaller font to fit on a slide, you should probably reduce the amount of text rather than a smaller font size.
Use contrasting colours and avoid colours that are difficult for people with colour blindness.
Slides should reinforce and enhance your talk, but your talk should “work” even without slides. If you show a chart or a graph, describe it so that people who don’t see the slide still get the information.
A good talk includes some pauses to let the audience catch up. Slide transitions are typically good places for this.
Before you connect your laptop to the projector, make sure you have every window except for your slides minimised or closed to avoid accidental information disclosure.
Make sure you turn on your computer’s do not disturb mode before starting your presentation to avoid interruptions. You don’t want your talk interrupted by popup notifications. You may also want to turn off your screen saver.
If your computer needs a dongle to connect to an HDMI cable, please bring it. We’ll have most of the common ones, but it always helps to have one that you know works.
It’s a good idea to share your slides online for people to review later. Your talk will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube, so look for it and post a link to your slides in the comments.
Tips for posters
Prepare a quick “elevator pitch” about your poster so that you can quickly introduce your topic to people.
Highlight the key takeaways from your presentation with large text and graphics in the middle of the poster.
Use the left and right sidebars of your poster for additional details for people who take a special interest in your topic.
Include a QR code linking to a web site or code repository if you have one.
Use your phone to take a photo of your poster. Show the photo to someone else and see if they can identify the gist of your presentation.
Thanks to Alterconf and DjangoCon US for their speaker information. Some of their points are included here, and their own web sites include additional useful information.