So you have hit submit on the talk proposal and you have received an e-mail that your talk has been accepted 🎉💌!
Congratulations! Yay! Now here are some tips on preparing for your very first conference talk. I’ll be sharing some of my personal experiences, which I hope is helpful.
😮 Disclaimer: My experience was with an AWS Community Days event, so every conference may run a little differently. But I hope these tips will still help you feel more confident and ready! 😊
🗓️ Step 1: Start preparing early
The moment you receive your acceptance email, start preparing straight away. Getting your slides and outline ready early means you will avoid stress later on. Many conferences give you a slide template for consistency as well as a QR code to add to the end of the slides to gather feedback on the day. The collected feedback was sent to me few days after the event which was very helpful.
✨ Tips:
- Seek feedback early: colleagues, friends, or mentors can spot things you might miss
- Iterate as you go: the more you rehearse, the more comfortable you will feel.
Everyone’s preparation style is different, but for most first-time speakers, more practice can give you more confidence.
🎯 Speaker Training (Highly Recommended! ⭐️)
If you are a first-time speaker, check whether the conference offers speaker training. I had a 30 minute session where my slides were reviewed and I got really helpful advice, including:
💡 Tips I learned:
- Grab the audience’s attention within the first five minutes
- Clearly state the problem statement first, then walk through solutions
- Highlight the value of the solution and explain why it matters
- Use smooth transitions to keep the flow and not surprise the audience with a big block of text
Speaker training session is also a great time to ask questions!
- What microphones are available? 🎤
- What does the presentation room look like? 🏢
- How will the day run? ⏳
- Any other tips for me? 😊
🔔 Stay connected
Something I didn’t expect was that organisers may contact you not only via e-mail but also via LinkedIn! Check LinkedIn regularly to avoid missing important updates.
📸 Photo tip: Make sure your profile picture is high resolution. My low resolution photo could have caused a bit of confusion when a different image had to be used on the event day when viewing the order of sessions.
😬 On the day
Most conferences will have a speaker room where you can:
- Test audio and video equipment 🎧🎙️
- Decide which microphone you prefer
- Check how your slides look on the big screen (I had a filter on my laptop which I disabled on the day)
I chose a hand held microphone 🎤 after testing, as the built in desk microphone couldn’t pickup my voice 🥺.
Height could matter 😅
I didn’t realise my height would be an issue until my laptop blocked me behind the podium! 😹 After doing a trial run, the solution was to stand to the side as much as possible. This was also why I stuck with the hand held microphone, but I ran out of time to set up the remote clicker, which meant walking back to the laptop to advance slides (one of my small regrets).
🌟 The stage experience
Once you are on stage, all the lights will be focused on you 💡 At first, I could see faces in the crowd and see reactions 👀, but soon the bright lights turned everything into blackness (or that strange optometrist “back of your eyes” effect 🥲). It can be disorienting, but take a breath and focus on your talk. You will be okay!
💌 After the Session
After your talk, stay around to chat with attendees and gather feedback.
💡 Bonus Tip: Also attend meetups!
During the event, I learned that local meetups are perfect for practising public speaking. Shorter talks in a more casual setting can give you extra confidence for your next big stage.
🌈 Final Thoughts
I hope sharing my experience has helped you preparing for your first talk! 😊🌼