Speaker Resources
Session Materials
The Microsoft Word and PowerPoint templates are available for
download. Here are some instructions:
- Check out the sample white paper (SampleWhitePaperForGeekGatherings2020.docx), as it has important information
on the use of styles and describes several macros designed to speed up writing.
- To use the templates, put them in the Templates folder. (Word can tell you where that is. Find File Locations in
Word's Options dialog; the path you're looking for is the one for User templates. The specifics vary by Word version;
if you can't find it, tell us what version you're using and we'll give you a hand.) Once you put the templates there,
you can use them with File | New.
- In addition to being an excellent video discussing best practices for doing a presentation,
Cathy Pountney's The Art of Giving a Presentation
shows many great tips about PowerPoint, including some specific for our PowerPoint templates (which she created).
- Please submit white papers as PDFs rather than Word documents.
See the sample white paper (SampleWhitePaperForGeekGatherings2020.docx) for a tip about PDFs.
- When you submit your materials, please name the files as follows.
The stem for each filename should be your last name, followed by an underscore,
followed by a word or two that describes the session. For example, if Tamar
did a session on baseball, she'd use Granor_Baseball. Use the standard extensions.
Please zip any examples and add "_Examples" to the file stem. So for Tamar's baseball
session, the filename would be Granor_Baseball_Examples.ZIP.
Remember, all materials are due by Tuesday, September 29.
Email to speakers@geekgatherings.com.
Presenter's Guide
The Presenter’s Guide can help you get ready to present with HopIn. We strongly recommend reading the whole document at least once.
Practice
Practice makes perfect. We've learned (and we're pretty sure you have) that
giving your sessions before the conference results in better sessions. Here are some tips:
- Now is the time to talk to user groups and get on their schedule for the summer or early fall. If you're not
near any user groups, check whether you can present remotely. Please
let us know by email so we can post the
user group name, date, and topic on the Practices page.
- If you can't set up any previews at user groups, please make sure you give yourself time
to practice in front of your co-workers, or your dog or cat, or just alone in your office.
- Test your connection with the technology used by the conference to make sure your computer is prepared
for the sessions.
- Make sure to test the volume and clarity of your microphone. You may have better results with a headset
than your computer's built-in microphone.
- A webcam is not required, but if you want people to see you during the presentation, make sure it is connected,
that you frame your webcam view, and that your area is organized and clear of sensitive information and only
shows work-appropriate material.
"How to Speak Good"
- Cathy Pountney's The Art of Giving a Presentation is an excellent video discussing best practices for both doing a presentation and using PowerPoint.
- Andy Kramek and Marcia Akins created an excellent
video and accompanying
document showing speaker
tips and tricks.
- Troy Hunt has an excellent blog post, "Speaker Style Bingo: 10 Presentation Anti-Patterns", that discusses some bad habits related
to speaking and how to eliminate them.
- Channel 9 has a video on public speaking for developers.
- Rob Conery and Scott Hanselman have a web site on presentation tips and speaking hacks at "SpeakingHacks.com.
Presentation Tips
- Create a Windows user account you'll use just for presentations. That allows you to have a clean desktop,
larger fonts selected for dialogs, etc.
- Turn on Windows Presentation Settings: when presentation settings are turned on, your laptop stays awake and
system notifications are turned off. In Windows 10, right-click the Windows button in the Taskbar, choose
Windows Mobility Center, and in the Presentation Settings tile, click the Turn On button.
(Note: this is only available in Windows Pro, not Windows Home.)
- You can also just turn off notifications during presentations. In Windows 10, right-click the Windows button
in the Taskbar, choose Settings, select System, then Notifications & Actions. Turn on Hide notifications
when I'm duplicating my screen.