This page collects suggestions for speakers and presenters at PyCon. Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to submit a paper. We really appreciate your efforts.
The final version of your submission
PyCon no longer has a published volume of proceedings; talks are now only available on-line. Therefore, write the final version for online viewing. While PDF is permitted, submission in HTML is better. Keep graphics reasonably sized for web access.
Finish preparing the online version of the paper before PyCon. This gives the audience more information in choosing which talks to attend, and people can refer to the paper during your talk for more details.
A Presentation is not a Paper (Slide Sample)
- The slides are primarily to support your talk
- Your written paper is for standalone reading
- Slides should not be too "busy"
- Keep slides short, as "reminders what to say"
- Each bullet point not more than fifteen words
- Group related points
- Only hit the most important points on the slides
- Expand as you speak if there's audience interest
Presentation advice
- Rehearse your talk before giving it. Practice it several times - using a camera can be helpful.
- Introduce yourself to your session chairperson no later than the break before your talk. Once the presentations start the chair will be focused on managing the session.
- If in doubt, err on the side of not talking long enough. It's better to have the audience thinking "That talk left me wanting more. I need to go talk to the presenter/download the package/go to the BoF," than "That talk stretched 15 minutes of material into an hour. What a waste of time."
- Don't waste time on introductory material, e.g. explaining Python's syntax, explaining XML for fifteen slides.
Speaking Techniques
- If you are nervous, there's nothing wrong with admitting that
- The information you present is your talk's primary value
PyCon audiences are very forgiving
- Take time to yourself before you speak
- Deep breathing is always good preparation
- Your nervousness will be less apparent than you suppose
- Be in the room a few minutes early if you can, and chat to people already in the room as you prepare
- DON'T just read the slides
- People came to hear what you have to say
- Check that the audience is hearing you ("Can you hear me at the back?") and understanding you ("Does that make sense to everyone?"; "Are there any questions about that?")
During the Q&A portion of the talk, repeat any questions that were asked without a microphone - otherwise many people in the audience won't hear the question.
Other resources
[http://perl.plover.com/yak/presentation/ Conference Presentation Judo] -- aimed at people giving three-hour tutorials, but many suggestions apply to shorter talks like those given at PyCon.
[http://www.sage.org/presentation/ SAGE/LISA Conference Presentation advice]
[http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html#badtalk How to Give a Bad Talk]
[http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/ S5] -- if you want to write your presentation slides in HTML, S5 is a collection of CSS stylesheets and JavaScript code well-suited for standard-compliant HTML presentations.