Supporting new speakers and great talks

published at 09.06.2022 16:14 by Jens Weller
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Two weeks ago Meeting C++ organized an event centered on sharing information on how to prepare and give talks. With the goal being to level the playing field for everyone but also make it easier to start speaking. You can watch the lightning talks and the panel online.

This event supports the ongoing call for talks of Meeting C++ and other conferences. So for Meeting C++ 2022, submit your talk until Sunday, June 12th! As conferences and life has changed over the last 2 years, Meeting C++ wants to give everyone interested in speaking a hand on how to get started and motivated. Scott Meyers did once share in the second part of his Meeting C++ keynote in 2014 some of his thoughts on "preparing materials for the modern age" and a few years later CppCon has hosted some classes for speakers to improve their talks. But not much has come available for the general public as information on how to create and give technical talks. With this event I aimed at producing a first set of tips and topics for interested speakers to view for inspiration.

The 9 lightning talks covered various topics on preparing and giving presentations:

After the event I realized, that the one thing we did not cover, was the actual talk submission. So I made a video that goes in depth and covers the process of submitting a talk for Meeting C++. It also gives you tips on your talks title, description and outline.

And I do believe that this years hybrid conferences like Meeting C++ 2022 are a great chance to give talks online. Meeting C++ has even an option to signal that you will speak online, with this your talk has an edge for the selection of the online track. While the other talks compete for a spot in either online or onsite tracks. For new speakers that can be the better strategy. It includes also all the folks that are for various reasons not able to visit the onsite conference. This ranges from folks opting to not attend in person due to the pandemic to folks not willing to travel that far.

As I pointed out in the last blog post, I think that we're heading into a new C++ cycle. The world has changed due to the pandemic, and many of the new things are here to stay. We are finally able to host conferences that give the chance to reach also many folks more then the onsite capacity. This new world of online events will also need its set of speakers, just as the speakers of the last decade are used to speaking onsite, I think that similarly for some folks speaking online or even prerecording their talks is the better deal.

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