Speaking at a Conference: A Practical Guide for First-Time Presenters
I’ve had the honour of speaking at a fair number of conferences and I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two in the process.
In this blog post, I’ll share a few things to keep in mind if you are going to speak at a conference in person.
If you are looking for public speaking tips, check out my blog post on 11 Public Speaking Tips You Might Not Know.
If you are looking to be accepted as a speaker at a conference, check out Rob Lambert’s guide.
1. Feel free to ask the organisers questions beforehand
The organisers want you to succeed as you giving a great talk helps make it a great conference.
If there is anything you want to know, shoot them a message.
If you’re lucky they will have sent you a bunch of information on what to expect, but you may still have some lingering questions.
Here are some examples of questions you could ask them:
- Is there a dedicated speakers room? (I’ve seen it at a few conferences, here you can focus on last minute prep or just use the space to get into the zone before your talk)
- Will a clicker be provided? (Often they will provide one, assuming you don’t have to use a podium microphone, it gives you freedom to move around the stage.)
- Can you see the room beforehand? (This gives you a chance to orient yourself.)
2. Microphone set-up
There are a few ways this can go. It can either be pinned to your outfit, a podium or a handheld microphone.
Ask the organisers before your talk what it will be, I’ll go into each of these in a bit of detail.
Pinned/clipped to your outfit
- Often it will be clipped to your waistline if you are wearing pants. But they can clip it to the back of your dress at your neckline if you happen to be wearing a dress.
- This allows you to walk around the stage.
Podium
- Microphone is fixed to the podium.
- You won’t be able to walk around the stage.
- Presumably presenter notes will be visible on a screen in front of you (but more on presenter notes later).
Handheld microphone
- Allows you to walk around the stage
- But assuming you have a handheld clicker, it means you don’t have a hand free for gestures etc.
3. Presenter notes
I’ve often relied on presenter notes to help me out in certain parts of my talk.
All, but one of the conferences I have spoken at, had presenter notes available.
It helps to double check with organisers that you’ll have a way to view your presenter notes.
Either they’ll be at a podium (or a high table), or they’ll be on a screen in the ground in front of you (visible to you but not the audience).
4. Lighting
If you are on a stage, depending on the lighting you may not be able to see the audience and may only see a bright spotlight.
This can be difficult as you won’t be able to see audience’s reactions during your talk.
I haven’t been at a lot of setups like this, but I have found them a bit disorienting because it meant I didn’t know if what I said “landed” or not.
5. Questions and Answers section
- It helps to budget some time for Q&A, especially as it means you won’t go over your timeslot.
- Repeat back the question before answering it.
- In my experience, the first question can be a bit slow to come, but often, after that, more questions should come faster.
6. After your talk
- Plan to hang around for a bit after your talk. Some people may be too shy to ask their questions in front of people or you run out of time to answer all of the questions people had.
- Pat yourself on the back. You did it! Go you!
Edit: Adding a few more things.
7. More Useful Things to Keep In Mind
- Check the connector that they’ll have with the screen/overhead projector. In my experience, it’s mainly been HDMI. Since my laptop doesn’t have a HDMI port, I tend to bring my own . But generally venues should provide this.
Speaking At A Conference FAQ
What should I wear when I speak at a conference?
I suggest you wear something comfortable and go for semi-formal or dressy-casual.
If you are a woman, I would probably steer clear of wearing a dress as it’s easier to clip a part of your audio setup to the waistline of your pants or skirt.
Do not wear anything that causes you to adjust your clothes, pulls slightly or anything like that - you do not want to be thinking of what you are wearing when you are on stage.
How long should I prepare for a conference talk?
I recommend you start at least 2 months in advance so you have plenty of time to refine your talk and rehearse it.
If you are really pushed for time and/or a last minute opportunity has come up (for example a speaker has dropped out) you can prepare for a conference within 1-2 weeks but you need to know how to prepare for talks. (Writing conferences talks and preparing for them within a short period of time is a real skill.)
How do I handle technical difficulties?
Sometimes there can be technical difficulties when you are speaking at a conference. Here are a few you may come across and how to prepare for this in advance:
- Microphone does not work You should have an AV person who can find a replacement microphone for you. If the room is small enough and/or the AV person cannot find a microphone you may be asked to project your voice so everyone in the room can hear you.
- No clicker is provided/conference-provided clicker doesn’t work Bring your own clicker. I have a Logitec Wireless Presenter and am happy with it.
- Your speaker notes are not visible to you On the rare occasion, my speaker notes do not display to me as a speaker and I can only see the slide itself when I present. Therefore I tend to print out my speaker notes and then bring them with me as a backup.
- Connectors don’t go with my laptop I suggest you bring an adapter that goes with your laptop. (I have a few but my main one is a Satechi Type-C Multi-Port Adapter 4K with Ethernet)
