diff --git a/blog/authors.yml b/blog/authors.yml index 9426ca6..9c00183 100644 --- a/blog/authors.yml +++ b/blog/authors.yml @@ -4,3 +4,15 @@ - name: Rebecca Waters avatar: /authors/profile-rebecca-waters.png title: Chairperson +- name: Aidan Morgan + avatar: /authors/profile-aidan-morgan.png + title: Contributor +- name: David Meacock + avatar: /authors/profile-david-meacock.png + title: Contributor +- name: Allen Azemia + avatar: /authors/profile-allen-azemia.png + title: Contributor +- name: Amy Kapernick + avatar: /authors/profile-amy-kapernick.png + title: Contributor diff --git a/blog/images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg b/blog/images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4a07df Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png b/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff6a556 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-2.png b/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-2.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8f32a9 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-2.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f17fd6e Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-2.gif b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-2.gif new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00ac418 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-2.gif differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-3.png b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-3.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..009efce Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-3.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-4.png b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-4.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1deb0b2 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-4.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-5.jpeg b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-5.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ced79ec Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-5.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-6.png b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-6.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..007dae3 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-6.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-7.png b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-7.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1227d2 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-7.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8935dfd Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-2.png b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-2.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2639ea6 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-2.png differ diff --git a/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-3.jpeg b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-3.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c35ec03 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-3.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg b/blog/images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85e4523 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg b/blog/images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f79b57 Binary files /dev/null and b/blog/images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg differ diff --git a/blog/posts/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth.md b/blog/posts/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3c1b51 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth.md @@ -0,0 +1,82 @@ +--- +title: 10 Reasons to Speak at DDD Perth +date: '2022-05-04' +authors: + - Amy Kapernick +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg +ogImage: /blog-images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true +--- + +It’s that time of year again, DDD Perth is open for CFPs! After a slightly smaller event in 2021, we’re back for 2022 and this year we’re aiming for bigger and better than ever before, something we can’t do without an amazing lineup of talent to be our speakers. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-05-04-10-reasons-to-speak-at-ddd-perth-1.jpeg) + +If you haven’t come across DDD Perth before, we’re a not for profit conference that runs every year (we don’t talk about 2020) and creates an inclusive, accessible environment for everyone involved (volunteers, speakers, attendees, sponsors, when we say everyone, we mean everyone). + +In order to make sure our attendees have a great time, we make sure that our speaker lineup is top-notch, and in order for that to happen, we work with our speakers to give them the support and resources they need to give their best talk yet. In fact, in 2021, 16% of our speakers had never spoken at an event before and a further 25% had only done so once or twice, these speakers gave some of our best rated talks. + +Still not convinced? Well here are 10 reasons why you should be a speaker at DDD Perth in 2022 + +# Training for new (and old) speakers + +We don’t care if you’ve never spoken before or if you’ve presented at every conference since the beginning of time. At DDD Perth we know that first time speakers give just as good a presentation as our experienced speakers, and make sure we’re there to help give whatever support they need to get this done. + +In the months leading up to the conference, all accepted speakers get the chance to attend our speaker training course, a series of three workshops to help plan, build and give your presentation. This workshop is backed by some of the best international speakers that the Perth tech community has to offer, and you get the chance to draw on their experience and knowledge. + +These workshops are run in person and online, so if you’re not in Perth (or can’t make the IRL version), you can still attend remotely. The online sessions are also recorded so you can catch up if you miss both of them, or if you just want a refresher. + +Last year we also introduced backup speakers, who might just miss out on making the agenda, but get the chance to attend the training as well and are first in line if a speaker is unable to present on the day. Last year half of the backup speakers ended up on stage and got the chance to give their talk anyway. + +# Free Childcare + +For those with families, it can be really hard juggling events and kids, especially when the event falls outside of school hours. Luckily DDD Perth not only offers childcare at the conference, but it is free! This year we’re even expanding to include ages 12 and over, and have partnered with She Codes who are running a workshop for anyone 12 and over so your kids can learn as well. + +If you’d like, we can also give your kids a chance to see your presentation, in previous years we’ve had speakers who bring their families in to watch their presentation and get to see you in action! + +For those really little ones that aren’t quite ready to leave you, you’re welcome to have them with you as well, either in the front row or on stage with you (all stages have ramps for access). In these cases, we also have private rooms available for feeding or just having a quiet time out if you need it (this is available for all attendees as well). + +# Social Events + +We know how much work it is to put together and give a talk though, so we run a pre-conference event to give speakers a chance to relax and talk to some of the amazing people behind DDD Perth. This is usually held the evening before the conference and is a chance to chat with our volunteers and sponsors as well as our keynote speakers before everyone else does. + +# Speaker Mentoring + +Whether you’ve done it before or not, we can pair you up with an experienced speaker mentor to help throughout your journey. Whether it’s reviewing a proposal before you submit it, helping plan your talk, building your presentation, or practicing we can have someone to provide advice and feedback to help you give the best performance. + +Even on the day, if you just want a friendly face in the audience, we can make sure there are people in the front row. Maybe you need a volunteer during your presentation and want someone who can be called upon, we’ve got volunteers in every room who can help you out. Even if you just want someone to send out a positive tweet about how good your talk was, we have volunteers who are able to generate the online buzz about your speaking prowess. + +# Trained Room Coordinators + +On the day, each room will have a room coordinator, this person will make sure you’re there and setup with everything before your presentation starts. If you’d like to check things out ahead of time, you can arrange to spend some time getting comfortable in the space with them, they can also give advice on the best places to stand in the room. + +These room coordinators will be the ones that introduce you and will check what intro you want and whether you want questions at the end of your presentation. If you’d prefer not to take questions, they’ll wrap up for you, if you’re not sure you can ask them to facilitate questions for you. + +# Speaker Gifts + +While we know that our speakers do it because they love the experience, we like to make sure that they have something to remember the day by. Sometimes this is a photo of everyone together, other times it’s a handmade message board, others it’s a book or fun craft project we know that you’ll enjoy. If you’ve spoken at a lot of conferences and would prefer not to get a gift, we’ll make a donation on your behalf to a charity/organisation to support their cause. + +# Proof of your success + +Once the day is over and you’ve wowed your audience and broadened their minds, it’s great to have something to show what you did and to show the next conference how amazing you are. Your talk will be recorded (if you don’t want it to be recorded, just let us know) and made available online after the conference so you can share it with anyone who couldn’t make it, or who wants to know what it’s like to have you present at their event. + +There’s also a photographer in each room, so you’ll get plenty of action shots of you giving your presentation. If you’d like to take the chance to get a new headshot or profile picture, just ask your photographer, they’ll be able to help you out. + +# Accessibility is the default + +We believe that everyone should be able to attend and speak at DDD Perth, no matter their abilities. Every stage has ramp access, and the conference is on one floor, so you don’t have to continually navigate stairs/lifts between sessions. We also have parenting rooms available, a quiet room if you just need some time out, a speaker prep room if you need to make some last minute changes, and various other rooms if you want somewhere to practice or step away from all the noise and chaos of the conference. + +We’re working to make further improvements each year, this year with hearing loops in each room. This stretches to our catering experience and making sure that any and all dietary requirements are met, and that everyone has something to eat on the day. If there’s anything that we’ve missed, or that would make your speaking experience easier, please don’t hesitate to ask. + +# Bigger (and better) + +Every year we work hard to make a bigger and better DDD Perth than the previous year, and this year we’re going all out and expanding to nine (yes, 9) tracks! This means we’ll be looking at around 50 speaking slots being available! While in previous years a speaking slot at DDD Perth has been about as hard to come by as toilet paper is following a press conference from State Daddy, this year we’re expecting the additional slots to mean that 1 in every 4 submissions will be accepted. + +# An International Stage + +Not only is your talk recorded to show how amazing you are, but that means that people from all over the world are able to see your presentation and learn from it. This means that even if people can’t get an in person ticket, or can’t get to Perth, they’ll be able to watch your talk from anywhere in the world. This also means that we’re not limited to the ~200 people we can fit in each room on the day, but the hundreds and thousands more who can view it online. So no matter where in the world people are, whether they’re in Perth and unable to attend in person, somewhere else in WA, interstate or on the other side of the world, they’ll be able to see you present on stage at DDD Perth. + +If you’re still not convinced, you can email speakers@dddperth.com for feedback or advice on your talk proposal before you submit it. + +So now’s your chance, you’ve got until the 13th of May to submit your talk and become a speaker at DDD Perth 2022! diff --git a/blog/posts/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1.md b/blog/posts/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5b4477 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,214 @@ +--- +title: Speaker Skills Part 1 — Planning, Format, Structure, and Slides +date: '2022-08-06' +authors: + - Amy Kapernick +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png +ogImage: /blog-images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true +--- + +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-1.png) + +In this series of blog posts, we’ll be talking about the skills and giving tips, tricks, and feedback on planning, creating, and presenting a talk. This comes from our experience as tech conference speakers, but most of the advice can be applied in a wide variety of settings and talk topics. + +In this first part, we’re looking at the initial stage of preparing a presentation: planning it out, choosing your format, building out the structure, and then building your slide deck. + +# Planning your Talk + +## Know your Audience + +It sounds simple, but the first thing you need to do is work out who your audience is and what they expect from you. + +- Are they developers or is this more applicable for everyone? +- Do they want a higher level talk or a technical deep dive? +- Are they juniors, managers, or somewhere in between? +- Do they work for a large corporate, a startup, or themselves? +- Maybe you’re specifically targeting people who’ve changed careers later in life? + +Have a think about who you’re expecting at the event, and who you want to come to your talk. Are there any other talks on at the same time that you might be competing with? This includes having a think about people who might also benefit from your talk, you could be targeting designers but some front end developers might be interested in it as well and managers may benefit from knowing some of what the designers do? + +Most people will be in your talk because they know a bit about what you’re talking about, you’re expecting prior knowledge. But have a think about who else might also wander into your talk, is there anything you can briefly explain that helps them understand what you’re talking about and why it’s important. + +## How do you want to change them? + +As much as we love our audiences, we come into our talks wanting to change them. This could be something as simple as teaching them something new or you could be teaching them to have a different outlook. The audience is giving up their time to watch you and your talk, so work out what you want them to take away, and what goals you have for your talk. + +- Are you teaching them something new? Or about something new? +- Do you want to change their mind? +- Do you want to inspire them? + +Have a think about the people you might not expect to be as well, is there someone whose mind you can change? Someone who might see a different way of thinking or who can learn something they weren’t expecting? + +## Know your topic + +Now this sounds like an obvious one, but make sure you know what you’re talking about, and while you should know a bit more than specifically just what you’re talking about, you don’t have to know everything. In fact it’s just as important to know what you **don’t** know, as it is to know what you **do** know. + +In the leadup to a talk, take notes whenever you’re left wondering something, as the audience will likely wonder as well. Try and build something other than just a slide deck, maybe it’s a demo or working example, writing a blog post, and reading blog posts on similar topics to see how other people have covered the content. + +The most important thing about knowing your topic though is not pretending to know more than you don’t. Your audience doesn’t expect you to be an expert, if you’ve only used the technology for a month then you still have a month more experience than they do, and as someone who is newer to the topic you’re in a prime position to take the audience on the journey, a journey that you have literally just been on. People who are experts in a subject matter are amazing at what they do, but sometimes they’ve forgotten what it was like when they were first learning, what they didn’t already know and how lost they were to get started. So don’t pretend you know more than you do, if someone asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to (we’ll cover this more in the next post as well), don’t be afraid to say _I don’t know_ otherwise you risk giving incorrect information and having someone call you out. + +## Build your Points + +These points will form the backbone of your talk, and when you get lost you can continually refer back to them. Have a think about what you’re really wanting to tell the audience, what do you want them to learn? The points you use tie into your main goal and support your whole presentation, as they’re the evidence you provide to the audience. + +## Choosing a Format + +You’ve likely already chosen the best format to present your talk in, but there are a few different formats you can present in. Not all formats will work for your talk (eg. live demos don’t work as well for core skills talks), and some may provide logistical challenges or not fit well with the event you’re presenting at. It’s worth keeping these formats in mind any time you come up with a new presentation idea, especially at the start when you first write the talk proposal. + +**Traditional Presentation** + +This is the most common format, and typically involves standing and talking to a bunch of slides. There are slight variations on this though, perhaps you don’t have slides, or perhaps you’d like to risk it all and live draw your slides (if you’ve ever seen Jeff Patton present, he has a tendency to live draw his presentations, each and every time). + +**Live Demo** + +Particularly popular for deep technical talks, live demos allow you to show the audience what you’re talking about, with no tricks, just good solid live coding (and hoping that everything will work). We’ll cover the logistics of live demos a bit more in the next post, but when done well these can be a great way to showcase to the audience what the tech does and how to do it. + +**Panels or Audience Q&A** + +While not seen as often, having a panel of speakers and/or having questions from the audience can give a really powerful and interesting presentation. This is often great for core skills and culture related presentations where people may have specific questions they want answered that relate to the overall topic. This also ensure the audience maintains their attention and the content is relevant because they’re the ones driving the show! + +## Choosing a Structure + +There are many different structures your presentation can take on, depending on the content of your talk it may lend better to a certain structure. There are also a number of other structures that you can choose, so find what works best for your presentation. + +**Numeric** + +This is a really good one that helps the audience to know what they’re getting out of it, eg. _10 tips to be a better conference speaker_ or _5 reasons why vanilla CSS is better than Tailwind_ . This structure is also much easier to build your presentation out as you know what your points are and what content to include but make sure you number things properly because the audience will notice. + +**Chronological or Hero’s Journey** + +Using a chronological order can be fairly easy to do as well, take the audience on the same journey you went on. This is often similar to the _Hero’s Journey_ , throughout the talk you tell the story of how you started, the bumps and challenges along the road, and how you ended up where you did. For this structure, don’t be afraid to ease into the story telling side of things as well, play up your role as the narrator, and take the audience on an adventure. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-06-speaker-skills-part-1-2.png) + +**Problem & Solution** + +A bit simpler than the chronological option, this structure takes a more simplified look at the journey. Rather than taking the audience through each twist and turn, start off with the problem you faced (the problem is likely generic enough that the audience can easily relate to it), and then present the solution you came up with, and how it was best able to solve your problem. + +**Narrative Journey** + +The narrative journey tells a story, and if it works for your talk, this is one of the best structures to use (if it works). Some of the other structures follow a similar format, but will only use a couple of the different steps. + +- **Landscape** : Set the scene +- **Analysis** : What you’re going to highlight +- **Problem** : Core issue you’ve found +- **Options** : What could fix the problem +- **Solution** : Best option and how it works +- **Bigger Idea** : Why does this matter and why should the audience care + +## Forming an Outline + +Once you’ve got your points and your structure, you can begin building the outline of your presentation. This can just be something that you use to help plan or it could be something you share as part of your presentation. + +Even without sharing it, a good outline should help the audience to follow your presentation (it gives you a good logical order to follow), and supports your main points. Now this could be just shared in a simpler version to give the basic outline of your presentation, and the rest of the outline will be built out to form your slide deck. + +How you plan the outline is up to you and how you work best. Perhaps you could write a blog post on the topic (this is useful as it gives you a resource to share at the end of the presentation), or a flow chart of even sketch noting your ideas and topic. When writing a new presentation, I often start to build the outline out on a Kanban board, because I can visualise all the sections as columns with a different card for each slide and planning out my notes and what resources I want to share at each point. + +# Building your Deck + +Once you’ve formed the outline, that can then be built out to become your slide deck or the full presentation. At a minimum your presentation will include: + +- **Introduction** : should be welcoming and let the audience know what to expect +- **Body** : Your main points, presented in a coherent and logical sequence +- **Conclusion** : Purposeful conclusion to summarise the main points and provide resources + +## Introduction + +We often spend so much time working on our presentation, we don’t actually work out how we’re going to start off. Do we begin with a bad joke? _Is this mic on_ ? _Hi, my name is {name} and today I’m going to talk about…_ ? + +Have a think about what you’re going to say to start off, try asking the audience a question to ease into it. It’s also a good way to gauge who you’ve got in the audience, get a show of hands on what level they’re at, how familiar they are with the content you’re talking about. Or start off with a fact, _Did you know…_ , get their attention at the start and go from there. + +## Sections + +Depending on the length of your talk, you’ll want to break the main body of your talk up into a few different sections. Sections help the audience follow your presentation, and should line up with the outline that you’ve developed. + +Sections don’t have to have a separate title page and you don’t have to announce that you’re moving sections, transitions can be a little more subtle and will get easier with time. For example, you could use different feature colour for each section, or have a small heading a the top of each slide. + +Even when not obvious to the audience, sections help to break your talk up into smaller chunks, without them your talk can feel like one big long speech. By adding sections to your talk, it adds breaks to let the audience reconcile their thoughts. + +When you first start presenting, transitions between sections can feel a bit awkward and hard to get used to, but it does get easier with time. + +- _Now that we’ve explored {x}…._ +- _Moving away from a focus on…_ + +These transitions help show the audience that you’re moving through the talk, and help them navigate the various points that you’re covering during your presentation. They can be non-verbal as well, perhaps you even just move to a different part of the stage or make eye contact with a different part of the room + +## Conclusion + +Once the main body of your talk is done, your conclusion is your chance to sum up your main points and recap the presentation for the audience. It gives the audience a chance to remember what you talked about, and provides them with a list of resources and references to find more information after you’re done. + +A good conclusion also lets the audience know that you’re done, rather than awkwardly stopping at the end of a sentence, pausing awkwardly and them wondering if that’s it. This is also your chance to ask for questions (if you’re taking them) and let people where they can find the slides, how they can get in touch with you or anything else that you want to share with them (like a #_ShamelessPlug_ ). + +It helps at this point to share a link to your slides, so the audience can recap on what you talked about or so they can easily find the resources you recommended. There are a few different services that you can use to do this, like Notist or even just a Dropbox or Google Drive link. Sharing your slides also means the audience can focus on the presentation without having to worry about taking a bunch of notes or writing down URLs. Remember your slides should only support your presentation, so they’re still not a huge benefit to anyone who wasn’t in the room. + +## Timing + +When it comes to presentations, timing really is everything and there are multiple areas you need to think about timing. Think about how long it takes you to tune out to a presentation, your audience is probably going to be the same. Try not to spend more than 10min on a section without moving on to another section or taking a break, if you’ve got a lot of content without a break try throwing in some demos, anecdotes, activities, or questions to the audience. + +## Utilising Anecdotes + +Remembering a memory (especially one of our own), is much easier than content than we’ve rehearsed, especially when you’re stressed (like when you’re standing on stage in front of a bunch of people). They’re also more engaging to the audience and can help them to relate to you as the speaker, and why your experiences are similar to theirs. + +When presenting, anecdotes are a useful tool to break up heavy sections of content and can keep the audience engaged. They’re also a good way to start up, warming up both yourself and the audience, it’s much easier to relax and feel comfortable on stage when you’re telling a story you’re familiar with. + +Anecdotes are also great for helping to keep you talk to time, because you know the content you don’t need to include it in your slides, so you can add it in if you’re running a little fast and you can skip over it if you’re running behind. + +## About Me + +When you present, most of the time you’ll be introduced (not always though, so check first), but either way you’ll likely have one or two slides to tell the audience a bit of information about yourself. How much information you include depends on if you’re being introduced (you don’t want to double up), the event and where it is, there’s a scale from too much to not enough info so make sure you find the sweet spot. + +If you give too much information, you risk coming off as thinking a bit too much of yourself, but not enough and people might wonder why they should listen to you. So work out what the audience needs to know to know you’re speaking from a position of authority, and how much they’ll want to know. + +## Slides + +If you’re using slides, remember that they’re not everything, slides are there to support your presentation and the structure, but they’re not the whole story. There are a number of slides you’ll likely include in the presentation (like a title slide, or some conferences will ask you to include a sponsor slide), but for the most part the rest is up to you. + +Don’t worry about having too many slides either, some speakers will flick through a slide every 10 seconds, it’s better to go through them faster rather than speaking to a slide for an extended period of time, that runs the risk of the audience zoning out. + +Your slides support your presentation, so for the most part they’ll use visuals over text, large fonts and not many words. Try and keep your slides to simple, soundbites, tweetable snippets to support what you’re saying and for people to take away. Your slides will need to be visible from the back of a large room, so this isn’t the time to cram as many words as possible onto the screen, that also distracts your audience and they end up trying to read what’s on the screen rather than listening to what you’re saying. + +If you’re on social media like Twitter, it’s worth making sure that you have your handle on each of the slides, or if you have a hashtag you want the audience to use include that as well. Remember you’re going to do an amazing talk, so make it easy for them to tell the world about it! + +## Slide Design + +When it comes to the design of your slides, don’t overthink it too much, simple is better. Some of the best advice I’ve heard is to rank your design skills on a scale of 1 to 5, that’s how many colours you’re allowed to use on your slides. Keep the design consistent, are the fonts colours and layout the same across the whole presentation? Or does it look like you’ve thrown a few different things together. + +If you’re not sure what to do with your slides, try just changing the background colour to something that isn’t quite white and the text colour to not quite black. This shows that you’ve changed to something other than the default and the colours are a bit easier on the eyes. If you’re showing code samples try inverting the colours, as it’s generally easier to read code on a black slide background. + +A lot of the time, you may find that your slides tend towards visual rather than text content, which is totally fine. Depending on the event (and your speaking style), you may even lead heavily into gifs or memes (tech conferences are pretty good on this front). Where possible, make sure you’re using high resolution images, that are the full size of the screen. If you can’t make it the full size, try making the slide background plain black; this will draw attention to the image and make the slides look clean. If you’re planning to share the slides, make sure you have permission to use the images as well, sites like Unsplash are great for free high definition images to use for your presentation. + +# Levelling Up + +Once the base of your slides are built, there are a few things you can do to level up your presentation and wow the audience with how fantastic a speaker you are (other than your stellar content of course). + +## Diversity and Inclusion + +There are often a lot of small changes you can make to your presentation to make sure you’re being inclusive to everyone in the audience (and making sure you’re abiding by the event’s Code of Conduct). + +Make sure there’s enough contrast between the text and background colour, as the difference will get even worse when on an older projector or if the lighting in the room is bright. Similar to having large text, you want to make sure that there’s enough of a difference between the colours you’re using so that people at the back of the room or people with vision impairments are able to see it clearly. When using multiple colours, the best combination is deep blue, cyan, red and yellow as 99.999% of the population can tell the difference between them. + +When choosing images, have a look at the people in them as well. Are there people that are different from you? Are you showing people doing different things? Are you actively trying to challenge our stereotypes and biases? Are you slides full of images of white middle-aged men in suits shaking hands? + +This extends to your examples that you use as well, are you continually referring to male people in your examples? Are you referring to women as non-tech savvy people, eg. _So easy a mum could do it_ . Most of the time you may find that you don’t actually need to assign a gender to your hypothetical people. This may seem like a little thing, but it can go a long way to ensuring that everyone in the audience feels included and that they’re not being singled out as the _noob_ in your case studies. + +## Other Speakers + +Depending on the event, you’re probably going to have other speakers talking before or after you, likely on similar or tangential topics. Each time you present at an event, have a look to see if anyone else is talking on similar topics, and if they’re scheduled before or after you. It’s worth reaching out to see what they’re covering, and it’s a good chance to make sure you’re not doubling up on the same content, and perhaps an opportunity to refer to one another. + +If the speaker is presenting after you, maybe you’re touching on what they’re talking about, so throw in a slide or tell the audience to check out their talk to hear more about that particular topic. If you’re presenting after them, see if you’re able to pop in to their session and find a few points to refer to throughout your presentation. Even just a couple of notes, eg. _As {name} has spoken about this morning…_ , it shows that you’ve attended other presentations at the event and helps to show how the content can interrelate with other topics. + +So now that you’ve heard the tips and tricks from the experts, you can put them to the test for your own presentation and wow the audience with your new found skills. + +# Resources + +This information has been collated from a number of existing resources including but not limited to the below. This includes further recommended reading. + +- _Demystifying Public Speaking_ by Lara Hogan +- On Submitting to Conferences +- Notist Blog +- Color Oracle Color Blindness Simulator +- _Pull the Plug on Change: Bullet Points are Bullshit_ by Lynne Cazaly +- Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities +- WebAIM: Contrast Checker diff --git a/blog/posts/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2.md b/blog/posts/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ae5ce8 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2.md @@ -0,0 +1,244 @@ +--- +title: Speaker Skills Part 2 — Performance and Delivery Tips and Tricks +date: '2022-08-12' +authors: + - Amy Kapernick +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg +ogImage: /blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true +--- + +In this series of blog posts, we’ll be talking about the skills and giving tips, tricks and feedback on planning, creating and presenting a talk. This comes from our experience as tech conference speakers, but most of the advice is applicable in a wide variety of settings and talk topics. + +In the last part, we looked at the initial stage of preparing a presentation: planning it out, choosing your format, building out the structure, and then building your slide deck. In this part, we’ll be looking at the performance, tips, and tricks for delivery, and techniques on the day. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-1.jpeg) + +# The Basics + +## Timing + +Timing all takes into account the length of your presentation and makes sure you stick to time. While it’s hard to work timing out when you first start presenting, it’s important to practice and work out how close you are, and ways that you can mitigate either running behind or ahead on the day. The event organisers have given you a certain length of time slot, and it’s important to stick to it. Most of the time they understand going under the length a little (think about 10% of the allotted talk length as a buffer), but going over your talk length shows a lack of respect to the event organisers, the audience and the other speakers (and I’ve seen presentations go 10–15min over the allotted length). + +When you practice, keep track of how long each section typically is, and work out what can be tweaked when necessary. It helps to either have a stopwatch that can track each section, or keep an eye on the speaker notes timer. In lieu of a separate app, you can add timings to your speaker notes, to keep an eye on where you should be up to at that point. + +It’s also worth finding out from the organisers if someone in the room will be keeping track of time. For example, some events will have someone in the room who’ll give you a signal at 10min, or 5min remaining and then let you know when time is up, it can often be better to have someone in front of you giving the signal in case you miss it on your speaker notes. + +When practicing, it’s also worth keeping track of whether you talk faster or slower on the day. When nervous, most people have a tendency to talk faster, which means you need to prepare some more content. But over time that may change, when you get more comfortable on stage you may start to talk slower or elaborate more throughout your presentation and need to prepare less content than before. + +## Breathe + +It sounds like an obvious one, but make sure you remember to breathe when you’re presenting. When you’re nervous, or getting excited about what you’re presenting on, it's easy to get lost in the moment and find we’re talking faster and faster, and maybe we’ve forgotten to stop and take a breath. + +Whenever you find yourself feeling out of breath, stop and take a deep breath, take a sip of water and take the chance to recover. If you find you forget to take a breath, try adding reminders to your speaker notes, an emoji or note to stop and take a breath for a second. + +## Be Silent + +The same as we utilise white space in a website design, we should also utilise silence in a presentation. There is a right amount of _white space_ to include in our presentation, a chance to stop and recover and let what you’ve just said sink in with the audience. + +Purposefully pausing is one of the most important tools that a speaker has, it’s not only a chance to rest but it can also help to shock the audience back into paying attention, as they digest what you’ve just said or what is currently displaying on the screen. + +If you have a tendency to forget to stop and breathe, make notes on your slides where would be a good chance to pause, and use the opportunity to trigger the audience and take a drink of water so you can recover, before moving on. + +## Be Prepared + +We all know the deal, if something can go wrong it probably will, so make sure you’re prepared for what could happen on the day. Make sure that you have a backup of your presentation (on a device other than your laptop), and if possible be prepared to present from someone else’s device. + +If you’re doing a live demo, make sure you have a backup recording of your demo (or small video snippets of what you’re planning to present), include them in your slides so you can play them easily if you need them. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-2.gif) + +The more you present, the more chances that you’ll end up encountering AV issues at some point, so it’s better to be prepared before it happens. It could be the entire AV system not working (I’ve had to present without anything before), it could be no audio, it could be interference with the speakers, it could be no working internet. I’ve been at a conference where a speaker gave six presentations across the event, and he experienced serious AV issues with 4 of them. I’ve even seen while at a Microsoft conference, there be issues that took down the entire Azure portal (only for about half an hour), but that just goes to show that you’re never safe. + +## Nerves + +When you stand on stage in front of a group of people (or prepare to do so), your body thinks it’s under attack and invokes the fight or flight response. This means your body starts producing adrenaline, readying you to fight or run away, and when you don’t use that adrenaline it invokes feelings of nausea (which doesn’t tend to help the nerves). + +Although the nerves will get easier, they never truly go away, whether you’re giving the keynote to thousands of people at an international conference or talking to a small group at a community event. Different events will affect you in different ways, new talks and live demos might increase the nerves again and presenting online might make you more or less nervous (I can never relax when presenting online, my whole body stays tense the entire time). If you take some time off presenting, you’ll likely have to learn to deal with nerves all over again. + +The first thing to do is learn to reduce your nerves enough that you can deal with them. This is different for everyone, so find what calms you best, it could be: + +- Listening to music (doesn’t have to be _relaxing_ music either, I find deep house works best for me) +- Having a cup of tea (try avoiding caffeine heavy teas though, adrenaline doesn’t need the help) +- Distract yourself, chat to friends or fellow speakers +- Take a quiet time out, see if the event has a quiet space where you can step away and relax yourself + +It will also help to practice diaphragmatic breathing. When the body goes into fight or flight, your heart rate increases and the body produces adrenaline to prepare for battle. Diaphragmatic breathing involves breathing with your belly rather than your chest, and tricks the body into a state of rest and recovery. Practicing this kind of breathing helps your body to calm down and can keep nerves at a manageable level before you get on stage. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-3.png) + +Work out what relaxes you best, and use it in the leadup to your presentation. When the nerves are manageable you can then use them and the adrenaline your body has produced to your advantage. Adrenaline helps you wake up and provides energy as well as altering your voice. We talked about practicing until you sound bored, when you get on stage the adrenaline will then energise that boredom and give you an excited, confident stage presence. + +You may even find that you enjoy it, so embrace the nerves and the adrenaline rush. Some people like sky diving or base jumping, some people swim with sharks or drive fast cars to get that same rush, but me, I stand in front of hundreds of people and talk tech. + +## Eye Contact + +Have you ever been in a presentation where the speaker makes eye contact with you and you feel like they’re talking to you directly? It’s a trick, you don’t have to actually make eye contact, just look in someone’s direction and it has the same effect. + +Don’t dart your eyes around the room though, it gives the impression that you’re nervous. Find a few people around the room and make eye contact with them. Keep cycling through and coming back to them (at regular but not too often intervals), preferably find people who look engaged. + +## Movement and Gestures + +As much as you monitor your eye contact, make sure your movements are deliberate and big so they can be seen at the back of the room and look intentional rather than the result of nerves. You can use the gestures to anchor ideas or prompt the audience, eg. + +- Raise your hand if you want people to answer a question out loud rather than just internally +- Use your fingers when counting points or steps +- Point at things on the slide with your arm rather than your laser pointer, easier for people at the back of the room to see + +## Questions + +After dealing with the nerves and everything else associated with getting on stage, we’re then confronted with an even more terrifying choice — do we take questions? If we do take questions, what if someone asks a question we don’t know the answer to? What if someone asks a question that isn’t really a question? What if someone tells us we’re wrong? What if no one asks any questions? + +Questions can be powerful, they can allow you to re-enforce your main points and allow you to fill in any missed bits or sections that you glossed over. You can ask yourself a question to get the ball rolling, or have a friend in the audience who can help prompt you with one. Asking for questions can also help you fill in remaining time if you happen to finish early. + +Getting a question from the audience can also allow you to see another point of view, how someone else views your talk or highlight content areas you didn’t think of including. It can allow you to see how someone with different level of expertise or from another area might understand your content and help you to improve the presentation for next time. + +Like we discussed in the first post of this series, it’s ok to not know everything, so if someone asks a question and you don’t know the answer you can say _I don’t know_ or defer it until later. Something like “_That’s an interesting question, how about we talk about it after?_ ” or _“I’m not too sure, come and find me after and we can discuss it further_ ”. + +It’s also worth letting the audience know if you’re available for questions after, throughout the rest of the day, or if they can contact you outside the event. There’s no obligation to do this, and you can let them know whatever restrictions you like, for example maybe you’ll happily take questions after but they need to give you an hour off first to recover after your presentation. + +If you’re feeling nervous about taking questions, check to see if the event organisers can help you to moderate them. Maybe there’s someone in the room who can help to moderate questions from the audience and deal with arguments or questions that aren’t questions. The most important thing to remember though, is it’s also perfectly ok to opt out of questions altogether. Taking questions isn’t a requirement, so if you don’t want to allow questions at the end, that’s a valid option. + +## Humour + +A lot of the time people talk about opening with a joke, or including humour throughout a talk. This isn’t a requirement and depends on a number of things including you and your presentation style, the talk topic, the audience and the event that you’re presenting at. + +If you want to include jokes, try including a small, safe joke at the start of your talk, and use the audience’s reaction to gauge future performance. If they don’t react well at the beginning, maybe give it a miss and continue with a humourless presentation, otherwise you risk offending or putting the audience offside and ruining an otherwise good presentation. + +# Live Demos + +Live demos are a special kind of nightmare when it comes to presenting, both for the presenter and also for the audience at times. At the bare minimum if you’re doing a live demo make sure that you have a video recording as a backup. Even if you think that nothing could go wrong, you have no guarantees (see previous section on being prepared). + +Make sure you have any logins or multi factor logins sorted for the live demo, and have a think about it anything needs a physical security key to login, and if you can login on someone else’s device if you need to switch. + +When planning a live demo, it’s worth having a think about whether this is the best option and whether you could do something else instead. The issue with live demos is it’s hard to be able to talk through what you’re doing while you’re doing it, especially at the beginning. Does the presentation have the same effect if you just pre-record your coding segments, or show the sections of code on your slides, leaving you free to explain the code and what it’s doing to the audience. + +If you do decide to live code, and you have slides as well (especially if you’re switching back and forwards between the two), investigate using multiple virtual desktops to keep your slides and demo separate. This is a feature available on Windows and Mac, and helps to easily switch between slides and code/browser windows without continually having to exit the presentation. + +If you have access to a portable second monitor, that can also be useful as you can keep your laptop screen mirroring whatever is showing on the projector and you can keep your presenter view and notes on the second screen. While portable monitors can be expensive and not necessarily worth it for occasional use, there are plenty of apps that allow using a tablet as a secondary monitor, or to use another Windows device as a monitor if you can borrow another laptop from a friend. + +In the event that something breaks or doesn’t work, take a deep breath and see if you can solve the issue while talking it through with the audience. They don’t care that you’ve had something break (we’re all developers, we know it happens), they only care how you handle it, they’ll probably learn more by seeing you talking through and fixing an issue (what are the chances they’ll have the code work the first time anyway). If you can’t fix the issue within a minute or so, move on to the next thing or switch to your backup recording, don’t spend the entire show code fixing. It could also be worth setting up various git commits for each step of your demo, that way if something doesn’t work you can easily switch to code that does work. Or negate the typing altogether and just switch commits. + +# Practice + +When you’re starting out, it’s not just a case of practice makes perfect, practice until you’re bored with it. Even if you sound bored when you’re practicing, the adrenaline that hits you on stage will help to increase the tempo and you’ll sound excited again. + +If you get nervous, try memorising the first few minutes of your presentation. If you know that bit off by heart it’ll help you to get started and relax on stage, until you get into the swing of things. In my first conference talk I knew the first 10 minutes off by heard and without any slides. I’d recite it over and over, when cooking, while going to work, even in the shower, so that when the nerves kicked in I knew what I needed to say, enough to get me started until I relaxed into it. + +When practicing, focus on your main points and remember the actual words you say doesn’t matter as long as the points get across. Work out what works best for you, whether that involves using cards or speaker notes to prompt you on what to say or the points to remember. + +Although it’s not recommended to read from notes, if you need to that’s ok. It’s better to read your entire presentation from notes than to forget everything you were going to say and be lost for words. If you can, use a bunch of dot points on your notes rather than full sentences. That’ll keep your speech more natural rather than reciting, and remember to look up at the audience every once in a while. + +Make sure that you’re practicing the entire session as a whole as well as individual sections. It helps you to work out how your timing is looking as well as helps you work out your transitions between sections, anywhere you might get stuck or anything that seems disjointed. + +Practice with people as well as alone, even if it’s just friends and family. Even if they don’t understand the content of the presentation, make sure you know what it’s like to talk in front of people. If you can, see if you can present at work or at a local company to get some feedback from an audience. Or if you know other local speakers at the same event or other events on at similar times, see if you can organise a group practice session together to all get feedback on your talks. + +## Live Demos + +If you’re doing a live demo, make sure you practice everything carefully. Spend time writing and re-writing the code to the point where it becomes second nature, or have code on another screen that you can copy and paste easily. Practice switching between the demo and code as well, see what could go wrong and what seems clunky so you have the chance to smooth things over before the big day. + +# On the Day + +The morning of the event, make sure you try and eat breakfast. Depending on how your nerves affect your stomach, it may be the only meal you have until after you’ve presented and having some food in your system will help. If you’re presenting later but your stomach still feels a little nervous, bring snacks with you, something simple and light that is easy to tolerate but helps give you a boost when you need it. + +## What to wear + +The most important thing to remember when deciding what to wear on the day, is that you’re comfortable. You’re likely going to be standing for a while so comfort is key, and if you feel good in what you’re wearing it’ll give you a huge confidence boost. If you’re standing to present, make sure your shoes are comfortable for long periods of time, especially if you’ve been spending the day on your feet already. If you’re on a panel or sitting on a chair, reconsider a skirt or dress unless it’s longer or you are certain that you won’t be sitting on a stool (and organisers, please stop putting panellists on stools). + +When working out what to wear, it also helps to know the kind of microphone you’re going to be presenting with. Typically you’ll be dealing with either a lapel mic, a headset mic or a handheld mic and each have their advantages and disadvantages. If you’re using a handheld mic, you’re restricting the use of one hand, so these aren’t great options if you’re planning on doing a live demo. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-4.png) + +If you’re using either a lapel or headset mic, it’ll have a battery pack that you need to clip somewhere. This can be clipped to the waistband of a skirt or pair of pants, or stored in or clipped on a pocket (eshakti are a great place to look if you don’t have any clothing with pockets). Alternatively you can clip it onto a belt and in a pinch on to the back of a bra strap (although a trusted friend is helpful for this option, and a chance to duck elsewhere to do it). +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-5.jpeg) + +Lapel mics are probably the most common option found at conferences, but as the name suggests you need some kind of lapel to clip the mic on to, so it doesn’t work as well with high necklines. Stay clear of anything busy around the neck as well, like ruffles, scarves or large necklaces as they can muffle or knock against the mic. + +It’s increasingly more common to see headset mics as well, and they have their own set of gotchas to deal with. Headset mics clip over the ears with a wire along the back of the head, and therefore can be an issue depending on how you’re wearing your hair or if you have a lot of hair. Similar to lapel mics, you want to avoid big earrings in case they knock against the mic, and these may not be a great option if you have a smaller head (mics are often made for men, with a certain size head, not much hair or lapels and belts to clip things to). + +Make sure you find out what kind of mic the conference is going to be using, and if there are multiple options available. Generally there’ll be an AV tech helping to put the mic on who can help you with some of the common issues, but work out what works best for you and how to easily put certain mics on to make things easier for the future. + +If the presentation is being recorded, or live streamed, try and avoid anything striped or with a lot of patterns as this can create banding on the recording. This also includes anything with a lot of red or fur which don’t play nice on camera. Make sure you also check your clothing under bright lights to ensure that nothing is see through and most importantly if you’re wearing green you run the risk of people trying to photoshop you afterwards. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-6.png) + +Finally when choosing what you’re wearing, keep in mind where you want the audience to look — at your hands and face — so simple clothing that contrasts your skin helps draw the attention to your hands and face when you talk. Avoid anything too busy, and any clothing with writing on it as the audience then focuses on trying to read that rather than listening to you. + +## Check your environment + +When you get on stage to present, that shouldn’t be the first time you walk into the room. Find a a chance to check the room out beforehand, either during a break or at the start of the day. Have a look at the room, see where the projector is, where the lectern is, how the chairs are arranged. If you get the chance to see a talk in the same room, it can help to see what the audience’s perspective is, where to stand that doesn’t block the screen or perhaps there’s something awkward about the stage or lectern that you can pick out beforehand and avoid. + +Make sure you have everything you need to get started, and check to see that there is water available for you. Most of the time there’ll be water available, but double check beforehand so you have a chance to grab some (or ask an organiser to) before you start, or bring your own just in case. + +Check that your slides display as intended on the projector, see if someone at the back of the room can read everything clearly and that the text is legible. If you need audio at some point, make sure that’s all working fine and if you’re doing any live coding double check the font size from the back of the room (bump it up if required). + +## Remove Distractions + +When you first get setup on stage, make sure you remove any distractions. Take anything out of your pockets so that you don’t fiddle and take off your speaker lanyard as this can interfere with your mic and removing it helps to set you apart from the rest of the audience. + +Make sure you set your phone to silent and put it away, **however** only do this if you don’t need it for multi-factor authentication and you’re doing a live demo. Even if you’ve already logged in to things, keep your phone on (still on silent) and put it to the side where it won’t distract you but you can access it easily if you need it. + +This also includes removing distractions on your computer, make sure you close anything that could send notifications, like Slack, Discord or Teams. Check out the options for do not disturb on your computer as well, to minimise the chances of things popping up or distracting you mid presentation. + +When you’re closing things down, make sure you also open up anything you’re going to need for your presentation; like your slides, any apps you’ll need and any browser tabs logged in and ready to go. Make sure your presentation is ready to go from the beginning and if you’re using a slide clicker that it’s connected and ready to go. + +## We’re on your side + +At the end of the day, you need to remember that everyone in the room is on your side (yes, that’s the audience). They’ve all chosen to come to your talk, they all want you to succeed and they’re cheering you on. + +So relax (or at least try to), and enjoy the experience. Mistakes happen so don’t feel like you have to continually apologise to the audience, move on and they probably won’t notice. The audience is more impressed by how you handle your mistakes than the lack of them. + +Even if you notice someone leave partway though your presentation, or they look distracted, that’s likely due to something completely unrelated to you and your presentation. I’ve had to leave a talk (from the front row) because I’d forgotten about a meeting, it happens. The same goes for if people in the audience is on their phone, maybe they’re frantically jotting down notes or tweeting about how amazing your talk is! + +## Have fun + +Public speaking can be an exciting, rewarding experience, so enjoy it. I first started presenting in 2017, and although I always hated presentations in school and at uni, I discovered I loved the feeling of getting on stage and sharing with an audience. + +Most tech conferences have very supportive audiences and organising committees. They’re there to help with whatever you need in your speaker journey. So talk to your speaker contacts and see if there’s anything they can do to help you, or ask your fellow speakers for help or advice, even if it’s just a supportive face in the front row of your talk. + +# Levelling Up + +## Speaker Pose Bingo + +We’ve talked about making sure our movements are intentional, but there’s bonus points if you can make any coveted speaker poses. These poses are often used and can be collected by attendees for speaker pose bingo. This is a very advanced step though so don’t feel like you have to nail this one your first go. + +## Presenting with an Interpreter + +Find out from the organisers if the event is going to be captioned, or if there is a sign interpreter on stage with you. If there’s a sign interpreter, they’ll typically ask for your presentation ahead of time so they can prepare for what you’re going to be saying and what is happening throughout your talk. + +This concept goes further to international conferences as well where someone may be translating a speaker who’s presenting in another language, as well as providing various languages of captioning for the audience. If you’re presenting at an event that has any form of translating or interpreting going on, it’s worth checking out this blog post on interpreting. + +## Live Captioning + +If the event isn’t live captioned, you can provide some form of captioning yourself to help anyone in the room who might benefit from it. PowerPoint allows you to enable live captioning in a presentation, you can edit **Subtitle Settings** and turn them on and off in presenter view. These kinds of automated captions will have a few quirks and depending on the technical jargon you’re using it might get a bit confused, but something is always better than nothing. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-08-12-speaker-skills-part-2-7.png) + +## Voice + +Your voice is one of the import important tools you have to engage your audience (although I have seen a speaker present with no voice). If you sound bored, why should the audience listen to you? Whereas if you sound excited, that excitement is infectious and it makes the audience feels like they should listen to you and be excited as well. + +Try recording when you practice or ask for feedback when you practice with people, and see if you sound monotone, then try adjusting your pitch and tone. Some of the best advice I’ve received is to try reading children’s books (either to kids or a pretend audience). Children’s books are well paced and allow you to use a range of tones and voices, eg. _Where did brown cow go? Where oh where is brown cow now?_ + +Remember that your stance can also change your tone of voice. If you’re slouching your voice won’t carry as much, but if your chest is open your lungs and diaphragm can fully expand and your voice will carry further. Standing up is an easy way to make sure your chest is open, and if you’re sitting make sure that you sit up and keep your shoulders back. + +Working on your voice also means working on your pace. This isn’t a competition of most words per minute, people need a chance to process the information you’re giving them. So stop, take a breath and slow down so you’re not talking too fast. If you find yourself having to talk fast to fit everything in, you’re trying to cram too much information into the wrong talk length, go back to your talk outline and start cutting out content that you don’t need. + +## Build a Speaker Pack + +When you start getting into presenting at more events, it’s worth putting together a speaker pack. This pack will consist of different things depending on you and your requirements, but a good place to start is: + +- A presentation clicker: a simple one from Officeworks is fine, but you can get fancier ones if you like +- A HDMI adaptor: if your laptop doesn’t have a HDMI port, make sure you have an adaptor for it. This isn’t somewhere you want to cheap out on either, make sure it’s a good quality one and if possible have a spare + +As you present more and more, you can build out your speaker pack and include extra items like a portable second monitor, a fancier presentation clicker or different adaptors. + +# Resources + +- Present with real-time, automatic captions or subtitles in PowerPoint +- Interpreting for web geeks +- Interpretation +- Technically Speaking: How to be inclusive +- Presentation Tips for Technical Talks +- Multiple desktops in Windows +- Work in multiple spaces on Mac +- Screen mirroring and projecting to your PC +- How to manage notifications +- Speaker Skills Part 1 — Planning, Format, Structure, and Slides +- Visual Studio Code CodeTour Extension diff --git a/blog/posts/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022.md b/blog/posts/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a78252f --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +title: Speaker Pose Bingo @ DDD Perth 2022 +date: '2022-09-09' +authors: + - Allen Azemia +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg +ogImage: /blog-images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true +--- + +Did anyone say bingo? This year DDD Perth will be introducing a new game on the day. That is the speaker pose bingo. + +If you haven’t played bingo before, bingo is a game where the players mark numbers on a card as they are called out randomly by the caller. The winner is the first person to mark a full row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-1.jpg) + +**What is #SpeakerPoseBingo?** + +Speaker pose bingo is similar to bingo. Rather than using numbers, the cards contain several various speaker poses. You will need to identify and mark the poses that the speakers have used. + +When presenting, speakers use various poses, postures, and gestures to express themselves. Using their body language is their superpower to get you (the audience) engaged and bring you along on their journey. If you did not know this, as an attendee, you feel the vibe that a speaker is exuding through their body language. Sometimes you may not even be aware of the many poses used to draw you in and get you excited about their topic. This is where the speaker poses bingo comes in. It will help you become more aware of the various poses. + +Can you identify the poses the speaker uses in the talks you attend? That is your challenge. It is all about you and how attentive you are throughout during the speaker’s sessions. If you’ve ever played bingo, this is the format the game will be played. + +**How to play the game?** + +It is as simple as 1,2,3. At DDD Perth, you’ll need to do the following: + +- We have a bingo card (see below), save the image on your phone, we’re all digital bingo! +- As you attend the talks, snap a photo, tweet it out with #DDDPerth and #SpeakerPoseBingo and mark off the square on your bingo card (you can add stickers to your card on Twitter) + ![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-2.png) +- When you have a full line completed, take it to the helpdesk and validate it to enter the draw (you can enter multiple times for multiple wins!) + ![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2022-09-09-speaker-pose-bingo-ddd-perth-2022-3.jpeg) + +Speaker poses bingo is an exciting new addition to this year’s DDD Perth. It aims to make it more exciting when attending the various sessions. How attentive are you? Think about it, as you listen to a presentation you’ll be more aware of what the speaker is doing. Not only will you be learning about the topic, but you’ll also be improving your own presentation style. Come and play speaker pose bingo @ DDD Perth 2022. diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-01-10-announcement-ddd-perth-2023-agm.md b/blog/posts/2023-01-10-announcement-ddd-perth-2023-agm.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3907434 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2023-01-10-announcement-ddd-perth-2023-agm.md @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +title: 'Announcement: DDD Perth 2023 AGM' +date: '2023-01-10' +authors: + - Aidan Morgan +summary: '' +--- + +After a successful 2022 conference and a much needed break, it’s time to start getting the process moving on organising the 2023 conference. Organising a conference the size of DDD Perth takes a large number of people to volunteer, and the first step in putting together another awesome conference is to form the committee that will steer us through everything 2023 has to offer. + +The AGM will be held on the**21st of February** at **17:30** , if you are interested in coming along then please reach out to us via e-mail at _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ + +# **Office Bearers** + +We are seeking nominations for the following roles as part of the AGM. Please submit your name to the _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ email address up by **23:59 on the 25th of January 2023** . + +The office bearer roles we are looking to fill are: + +- Chairperson +- Deputy Chairperson +- Treasurer +- Secretary + +# Directors + +We will also be seeking nominations for directors roles prior to the AGM, the Director roles we are looking to fill for the 2023 committee are: + +- Logistics +- Conference Content +- AV Solutions +- Social Media and Communications +- Media and Branding +- Sponsorship +- Technology +- People + +If you would like some more details on what each role involves, our current Chairperson Rebecca Waters has a blog post published here. + +If any of the above are of interest to you, send your details to _info_ at _dddperth.com_ by **23:59 on the 25th of January 2023** . + +# Members + +Members are a critical part of the conference organising team, working with directors to deliver a specific aspect of the conference. Whilst you won’t have to attend regular committee meetings, you still have a vote at important meetings like our AGM each year. + +If you’re interested in being part of the DDD organisation, but don’t want to be an Office Bearer or Director, then send your details to _info_ at _dddperth.com_ by **23:59 on the 25th of January 2023** . + +# AGM Agenda + +1. Review and confirmation of 2022 AGM minutes + +2. Chairpersons Report for the last year + +3. Presentation of financial position for the last year + +4. Voting on committee structure for 2023 + +5. Election of office bearers + +6. Election of committee members (directors) + +7. AOB + +Thanks, and we look forward to putting on an amazing 2023 conference! diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth.md b/blog/posts/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3723b82 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth.md @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +--- +title: The Directors behind DDD Perth +date: '2023-01-17' +authors: + - Rebecca Waters +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg +ogImage: /blog-images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true +--- + +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2023-01-17-the-directors-behind-ddd-perth-1.jpeg) + +_Boring organisational post in 3….2…_ + +Every year at DDD Perth, the committee has a look in the mirror and puts forth recommendations on the committee structure for the following year. As with any team, we recognise that the structure is best designed by the people who are doing it, and modified to fit our unique way of working. We put forward the recommendation at AGM to improve on our ways of working. + +Our recommended committee size in 2023 is 12, and is made up of the following roles. + +# Chair + +The Chair of DDD Perth will lead the team towards a successful 2023 conference. This role is busy, but official duties are limited to convening and chairing our committee meetings once a month (increasing to once a week by conference time) and handling the majority of correspondence after conference, when everyone else goes on holiday. + +# Vice Chair + +Vice Chair fills in for Chair, or anyone else really. The only official duty is chairing in the absence of chair. + +# Secretary + +Our Secretary is the minute taker and company secretary, responsible for our submissions to Associations WA, our committee records, and our adherence to constitution. As is only fitting, official duties are laid out in the Association Model Rules that we follow. The secretary is also responsible for the organisational accounts and the like. + +# Treasurer + +Our Treasurer looks after the day-to-day money matters, and tracks our budget and spend. Official duties are in those Model Rules! + +The above office bearer roles make up the core of the organisation, and these people are elected into the role with the expectation that they can advise and lead the team towards the 2023 conference. + +The following Directorships are leaders of teams that design and execute the conference experience for attendees, speakers and sponsors. Official duties are attending and reporting on any issues at the committee meetings, and executing the area of responsibility with the help of their team. + +These roles are not independent, and the Directors and Office Bearers all work closely together to achieve our amazing conference. + +# Logistics + +Responsible for corralling our venue, catering, AV suppliers, and volunteers. The Director position is the team lead and involves being the main Point of Contact for the venue. You have influence over the experience of every conference attendee. Your team is responsible for our attendee experience — the conference layout from check-in to sponsors to room layouts, what food to provide and how best to do it, and how best to include any extra like childcare or quiet room. + +Don’t think you want to sit on the board of DDD Perth, but have ideas about what would make an awesome addition to the conference? **Then you want to be part of this team.** + +**_Role highlights:_** signing the venue contract and coordinating the whole day. +**_When is it busiest:_** the three months prior to conference and just after AGM. + +# Conference Content + +Our Director of Conference Content works to select keynotes, coordinate a successful Call for Papers (CFP) campaign, designs the agenda structure and uses our public vote to fill that structure with speakers. They are responsible for the speaker experience (who is backup, who is room coordinator, what gift speakers get, etc). + +**_Role highlights:_** Finding keynotes. +**_When is it busiest:_** The lead-up to CFP and 2 months prior to conference. + +# AV Solutions + +Our AV Solutions Director is responsible for coordinating with our venue to provide live streaming, ensuring our photos are available in a timely manner, utilising our existing video assets with the Branding team to create other ‘stuff’. (Can you tell this author is not qualified for this role?). + +**_Role highlights:_** Making fun stuff. +**_When is it busiest:_** Just before and just after conference. + +# Social Media & Communications + +Our Director of Comms is responsible for our various social media accounts, but also our newsletter, blog…the public-facing content creation. + +**_Role highlights:_** Witty one-liners. +**_When is it busiest:_** Just before any major event, like CFP, Agenda release, Ticket release, and conference. + +# Media & Branding + +Creating our great-looking graphics, designing a media wall and seeing your work everywhere are the visible parts of this role, but the behind-the-scenes parts of coordinating suppliers, getting everything printed on time, and farming out everyone’s last-minute requests — because you know they will come — is important work! + +**_Role highlights:_** seeing everything look _chef’s kiss_. +**_When is it busiest:_** From AGM until conference. + +# Sponsorship + +Showing our sponsors how much we appreciate them is an important job, as is convincing them to get on board in the first place. This Director position determines what we get to do each year, but also, there’s a big piece of ensuring our sponsors are able to get what they need. From brainstorming exhibits to coordinating logo collection, this team is bu-sy. + +**_Role highlights:_** Seeing amazing sponsors having a ball. +**_When is it busiest:_** Just after AGM and the 3 months prior to conference. + +# Technology + +Our Director of Technology looks after the website including voting. There are also a fair few other services we use, that are usually managed by the team that uses them. This role is primarily about our public-facing technology. + +**_Role highlights:_** When it just works. +**_When is it busiest:_** Just before any major event like CFP, ticket release, conference. + +# People + +This conference takes a village to organise, and this role looks after the volunteer experience. From recruiting through to training, this role helps all other Directors find enough team members to get it done. + +**_Role highlights:_** When the conference is alive and volunteers are smiling. +**_When is it busiest:_** 2 months prior to conference. + +So, why is this maybe of interest? + +At our annual general meeting, we will be putting forward a motion for the recommended committee size, and if it passes, electing members into the above positions. (if it doesn’t pass our size stays at 10). + +It’s worth noting that we don’t have general committee members, only directors. So, if you are on the committee you are responsible for an area of the conference. However, if you are not on the committee, you can still be a member of DDD WA (that’s the official name of the association that organises DDD Perth), and still implement your cool ideas for that area! You can also be in multiple teams, if you have lots of ideas. Be aware of your own time though, because organising a conference doesn’t start in August — it starts now. diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022.md b/blog/posts/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022.md index 03e8753..76944e5 100644 --- a/blog/posts/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022.md +++ b/blog/posts/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022.md @@ -1,8 +1,13 @@ --- title: Chairperson Report for 2022 -date: 2023-02-14 +date: '2023-02-14' authors: - Rebecca Waters +summary: '' +image: /blog-images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg +ogImage: /blog-images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg +imageAlt: Medium-Image +imageDisableOverlay: true --- Hello! I’m Rebecca Waters, the chairperson of DDD Perth in 2022. As part of our annual general meeting, I’m required to give a Chairperson Report. Traditionally I present this for the first time at the AGM, but there are no rules against making it a blog post, and it’s an excellent reflection on the year that was. @@ -11,7 +16,7 @@ Oh, and for extra points, I ended up putting the key information into ChatGPT an Enjoy! -![Raise your hand if you snagged a ticket to DDD Perth 2022.](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*4Y3bsYcU5V4RG18JlHYLlQ.jpeg)_Raise your hand if you snagged a ticket to DDD Perth 2022._ +![Medium-Image](/blog-images/2023-02-14-chairperson-report-for-2022-1.jpeg) ## DDD WA Inc. Annual Report @@ -31,15 +36,15 @@ In addition to the conference, we also organised and facilitated three Call for **CFP Workshops:** Our three CFP workshops helped to encourage and support more individuals to become speakers and contribute to the conference. The workshops provided practical tips and advice on writing and submitting proposals. -**Speaker Mentoring Courses: **Our two speaker mentoring courses provided additional support and guidance for the speakers. The courses covered topics such as preparing and delivering presentations, as well as how to handle Q&A sessions. +**Speaker Mentoring Courses:** Our two speaker mentoring courses provided additional support and guidance for the speakers. The courses covered topics such as preparing and delivering presentations, as well as how to handle Q&A sessions. -**Low-Cost Conference: **The conference was made accessible to as many people as possible, by keeping the cost as low as possible. This reflects our commitment to affordability and accessibility, which are core values of our organisation. +**Low-Cost Conference:** The conference was made accessible to as many people as possible, by keeping the cost as low as possible. This reflects our commitment to affordability and accessibility, which are core values of our organisation. -**Streamed Content: **The entire conference was streamed live to Youtube for attendees that couldn’t make it to the venue on the day. The recordings were available the following day, allowing people to review the sessions immediately following the conference. +**Streamed Content:** The entire conference was streamed live to Youtube for attendees that couldn’t make it to the venue on the day. The recordings were available the following day, allowing people to review the sessions immediately following the conference. ### Challenges and Opportunities: -**Waitlisted Participants: **While we were pleased with the high level of interest in the conference, we were unable to accommodate all the attendees due to space constraints. This highlights the need for us to explore alternative venues or expand the conference in other ways, including our online offering. +**Waitlisted Participants:** While we were pleased with the high level of interest in the conference, we were unable to accommodate all the attendees due to space constraints. This highlights the need for us to explore alternative venues or expand the conference in other ways, including our online offering. **Online Speakers Mentoring Course:** Despite the success of our in-person speaker mentoring course in the past, we received feedback that not everyone was able to attend in person, and just as 2020 has seen the rise of more flexible working, this was a trend we saw continuing. As such, we plan to continue offering an online speaker mentoring course in the future to make the support and guidance more accessible. diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-06-18-cfp-is-open-for-ddd-perth-2023.md b/blog/posts/2023-06-18-cfp-is-open-for-ddd-perth-2023.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..647556f --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2023-06-18-cfp-is-open-for-ddd-perth-2023.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: CFP is open for DDD Perth 2023 +date: '2023-06-18' +authors: + - David Meacock +description: 'If you haven’t been able to get to one of our CFP Workshops, we’re here to give you some tips on how to put your best foot forward this conference season, even if you’ve never tried this before…' +--- + +## DDD Perth + +# CFP is open for DDD Perth 2023 + +It’s that time of year again — the Call For Proposals for DDD Perth 2023 is on! + +If you haven’t been able to get to one of our CFP Workshops, we’re here to give you some tips on how to put your best foot forward this conference season, even if you’ve never tried this before. + +**What Will I Talk About?** + +Sometimes we hear that people would love to give a talk, but “just don’t have anything worth talking about”. We’re here to bust that myth. _Everyone_ has something they can share if they’d like — because even if a particular topic is well-known, _your experience_ with it is brand new! + +If you’re sitting there with pen or keyboard in hand, here’s some questions to get the cogs turning: + +- What’s a problem that you’ve had to solve in the last 12 months? What did you need to do to solve it, and what lessons have you taken away from this? +- What’s a process or piece of tech that you want to learn more about? (Not only does your journey of discovery make a good talk, but you now have the motivation to learn something in more depth!) +- Think back to the last new framework, process, or practice that you used at work — what went well? What didn’t go so well? +- What is something that has made a big difference in your career, that you don’t think gets enough airtime in conferences or media? +- Think about both the best and worst experiences or projects you’ve had in the past year. What were the contributing factors to both, and why do you think this was? + +Sit down and take 20 to brainstorm using the list above. You’ll be surprised at just how many ideas you actually have! + +**Writing Your Proposal** + +So you’ve got your ideas — fantastic! Now you need to put a proposal together that convinces people that your talk is one they need to hear. There are three key parts to a good proposal: + +- **The Context:** Talk about the audience that you’re aiming to reach — explain how you and they have a connection, and how they’re going to be able to relate to you. +- **The Problem:** Your problem needs to be something that your audience will be able to recognise, and be drawn to hearing your thoughts on. +- **The Promise:** Outline how you’ll be solving their problem, or contributing some novel thought towards one. + +Now when putting this together, don’t expect to get it right straight away. You might start with something that reads a little mechanical, and that’s okay — once you have the kernel of your idea laid, switch to trying to persuade people why they should be coming along to hear about it. You also need to be considerate of your audience — if you’re going to go deep on C# performance analysis, this is probably not something to try and sell to a general audience. Likewise, you probably shouldn’t worry about trying to convince veteran UX designers to come to your “Design 101 for developers”. + +Above all, just _be yourself_ . If you’ve got passion and excitement for a topic, let that come through. A massive part of any conference talk is not the topic itself, but the person talking to it — their experiences, energy, and excitement for the subject. + +**Where To Next?** + +Once you’ve put a proposal forward for DDD, your journey doesn’t end there. Our team is on hand to provide feedback to you to help tweak things, or even supply someone to mentor or guide you through the CFP and speaking process, should you make it onto the final agenda. + +Even if your talk doesn’t make the conference lineup, you’ve taken an important first step — and there are _plenty_ of other avenues that you can explore to have your voice heard. The team behind DDD has a great knowledge of other conferences, meetups, and speaking events that might be right up your alley, and we’re more than happy to help you out with putting your name forward. + +Every year the team receives a wide range of amazing submissions, and we love the amount of new voices we hear from with every new conference. We’d love to see your name on the list in 2023! diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-2023-agm.md b/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-2023-agm.md deleted file mode 100644 index b26bfa0..0000000 --- a/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-2023-agm.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,28 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: DDDWA AGM Announcement -date: 2023-12-18 -authors: - - Aidan Morgan ---- - -After a successful 2023 conference and a much needed break, it’s time to start getting the process moving on organising the 2024 conference. - -Organising a conference the size of DDD Perth takes a large number of people to volunteer, and the first step in putting together another awesome conference is to form the committee that will steer us through everything 2024 has to offer. - -The AGM will be held on the** 30th January 2024 **at **17:30**, if you are interested in attending then please reach out to us via e-mail at _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ - -## Office Bearers - -In accordance with the *Associations Incorporation Act 201*5, nominations for Office Bearer roles for the 2024 committee can be sent to _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ email address by **23:59 on the 2nd of January 2023**. - -```typescript -interface OfficeBearer { - role: string - description: string - responsibilities: string[] -} - -function nominateForRole(role: OfficeBearer) { - // Send an email to -} -``` diff --git a/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-agm-announcement.md b/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-agm-announcement.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bf4788 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2023-12-18-dddwa-agm-announcement.md @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +--- +title: DDDWA 2024 AGM Announcement +date: '2023-12-18' +authors: + - Aidan Morgan +summary: '' +--- + +After a successful 2023 conference and a much needed break, it’s time to start getting the process moving on organising the 2024 conference. + +Organising a conference the size of DDD Perth takes a large number of people to volunteer, and the first step in putting together another awesome conference is to form the committee that will steer us through everything 2024 has to offer. + +The AGM will be held on the**30th January 2024** at **17:30** , if you are interested in attending then please reach out to us via e-mail at _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ + +# Office Bearers + +In accordance with the _Associations Incorporation Act 201_ 5, nominations for Office Bearer roles for the 2024 committee can be sent to _info_ (at) _dddperth.com_ email address by **23:59 on the 2nd of January 2023** . diff --git a/blog/posts/2024-12-07-dddwa-agm-announcement.md b/blog/posts/2024-12-07-dddwa-agm-announcement.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4a8e7b --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/2024-12-07-dddwa-agm-announcement.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +--- +title: DDDWA 2025 AGM Announcement +date: '2024-12-07' +authors: + - Aidan Morgan +summary: '' +--- + +The DDDWA AGM will be held **Monday 20th January 2025 5:30pm** with a venue TBD in the Perth CBD (and virtual). If you are interested in attending then please email info (at) dddperth.com. + +# Office Bearers + +In accordance with the _Associations Incorporation Act 2015_ , nominations for Office Bearer roles (Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary) for the 2025 committee can be sent to info (at) dddperth.com email address by **23:59 on the 6th of January 2025** . + +We will also be seeking nominations for Directors roles. + +# Director Responsibilities + +Signing up as a Director is a significant responsibility and time commitment. With the conference having scaled to 1450 attendees and 40+ speakers there is a lot of behind the scenes work that makes the conference successful. Directors commit to attend monthly meeting for most of the year which scales to fortnightly then weekly meetings for the 2 months prior. Most Directors will need to manage a sub-committee (which is generally between 1–4 people) to help spread the workload. On average most Directors spend 2–3 hours per week, with this ramping to 4–6 for the 2 months prior depending on the role. + +The Director is responsible for creating a strategy, plan and budget for their area of remit (that supports the overall Committee strategy & plan) and then share that with the Committee for feedback and approval. Directors provide updates of their progress to plan at each Committee meeting and seek input, support or decisions needed. + +If you are interested in finding out more about the 2025 Director opportunities in the following areas please reach out for a deeper dive to our current Chairperson Donna Edwards (donnae@), Vice Chair Alex Colville (alexc@) or Treasurer Josh Sewell (treasurer@) for more information prior to nominating and we will give you as much support and guidance as possible so you can ensure this is for you! + +- Event Logistics +- Volunteer Management +- Conference Content +- AV & Photography +- Social Media and Communications +- Media and Design +- Sponsorship +- Technology + +If you would like some more details on what each area involves, our previous Chairperson Rebecca Waters has a blog post published here and while some of these have areas have slightly changed or expanded due to the scaling of DDD Perth it will give you a general idea of whether your skill set and passion area is a good fit. + +# Members + +Members are a critical part of the conference organising team, working with directors to deliver a specific aspect of the conference. Directors will lead Sub-committees to help them scale and while you won’t have to attend regular committee meetings, you may attend separate Sub-committee meetings and will take responsibility of smaller areas of the overall Directors remit. Members also still have a vote at important meetings like our AGM each year. + +If you’re interested in being part of the DDD organisation, but DON’T want to be an Office Bearer or Director, then send your details to _info_ at _dddperth.com_ by **23:59 on the 6th of January 2025** . + +# AGM Agenda + +1. Review and confirmation of 2023 AGM minutes + +2. Chairpersons Report for the last year (2024) + +3. Presentation of financial position for the last year (2024) + +4. Voting on committee structure for 2024 + +5. Election of office bearers + +6. Election of committee members (Directors) + +7. AOB + +Thanks, and we look forward to putting on an amazing 2025 conference!