- You're always going to have butterflies, and that's a good thing
- Butterflies simply mean that you care about giving a good performance
- Learn breathing exercises: if nothing else, just take slow, deep breaths
- Nobody's perfect, and no venue is perfect: things happen, so learn to go with the flow
- Learn to improvise: use anecdotes, not jokes
- If you get in a jam, keep talking, even if it's injecting an anecdote or just meaningless patter; that's better than dead silence
- Relax: You're not in a comedy club (there's no hecklers here!)
- Help yourself to feel comfortable
- Dress comfortably: most IT events are not very formal, so wear shorts in the summer when it's 95 degrees outside, or bring a sweater if you get chilled easily
- Be mindful of caffeine: if it helps you feel better, that's great, but don't overdo it
- Mute your phone completely (put in airplane mode), so you won't be distracted while presenting; use it as a clock if the room doesn't have one you can see easily (disable auto-lock so that the screen doesn't go blank while you're presenting)
- Remember the Boy Scouts: Always be prepared
- If you're well prepared, you have less to worry about at the conference
- Make a checklist of items you need (cables, adapters, mouse, clicker, etc.)
- Check it before you leave home
- Check it the day of the presentation, before you leave your hotel room
- Be sure you have fresh and/or fully charged batteries
- Get comfortable with your notebook
- Know how mirroring works: is it a function key combo, or a control panel setting?
- Know how your presentation software works: how do you move forwards/backwards, jump around, etc?
- Are you using a clicker tool? Practice with it and get a good feel for how it works
- Don't trust the network!
- Have all presentation materials on your notebook: don't assume that you'll be able to access anything over the Internet while presenting
- Minimize live demos, since they're always problem prone
- If you must do a live demo, put a copy of the entire site on your notebook so you can run the demo from there
- Read all conference information and presenter instructions
- Instructions will tell you what you need to bring and what will be provided
- If you need accessibility assistance, ask for it!
- Arrive early (avoid having to rush at the last minute)
- Check out your presentation room as soon as possible
- You'll know where it's located
- You'll have a feel for it before presentation time (stand at podium and look around)
- You can check for issues and report then to the event staff (or look for your own solutions if applicable)
- Rehearse your presentation well, but don't drive yourself crazy
- You want to know it well, but you don't want to be sick of it by the time you go to present
- Don't just read it, speak it aloud as if you had a real audience: you'll catch things that way that you'd never notice otherwise
- If you're stumbling over a section, that may be a sign it needs to be rewritten or reorganized
- Consider memorizing your presentation
- Not a necessity, but knowing it by heart helps if anything goes wrong
- Think of questions people might ask and have the answers on hand
- You can't predict every question, but you can imagine the most common questions
- Rehearse for someone else in your profession and see what questions they ask
- Remember: no one has all the answers; it's okay if you don't know something - just be honest
- Good eye contact makes you look more professional, but can be unnerving
- Don't bury yourself in your notebook: you do need to look around now and then (someone with a question might have a hand raised)
- Find three reference points on the back wall and look at them regularly: this gives the illusion that you're looking at everyone without looking at anyone in particular
- Don't be intimidated by microphones, but don't ignore them either: if one is provided use it for the benefit of the audience
- Asking "Can everyone hear me?" without the mic is not that helpful: if they can't hear you, they're not going to respond!
- You don't sound as bad as you think you do on a microphone: it just seems that way to you; to everyone else, you'll sound perfectly normal
- Keep desktop mics a few inches from your mouth, not right up on it
- Headworn mics should be kept close to your cheek and in the mic's most natural position
- Make a habit from the start of muting when you're not actively presenting, to avoid embarrassing moments
- People are going to leave for all kinds of reasons: don't assume they don't like you or your presentation
- Examples: Going to the restroom, getting ready to do their own presentation, taking an important phone call, went to the wrong room
- People at IT conferences are often going to have their noses buried in their notebooks and/or smartphones
- Don't let it bug you: just assume they're taking notes, and be glad you have fewer eyes watching you as you present :-)