Ask HN: What do you like to see in tech talks? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you like to see in tech talks?

15 pointslovasoa15 comments

Hey HN community!

I'll be making my first ever presentation at a large tech conference at pgconf.eu this December, where I'll be presenting the SQLPage webapp micro-framework ( https://sql.ophir.dev/ ). I'm eager to make a lasting impression and deliver a presentation that truly resonates with the audience at the conference, who probably knows more about postgres than I do.

That's where I could use your insights. What makes a good tech talk in your eyes? Do you like seeing mind-blowing demos, deep dives into code, compelling storytelling, or something else entirely ?

If you have any specific advice, tips, or ideas for structuring a tech conference presentation, I'm all ears. I want to ensure that my presentation is not just informative but also an experience to remember.

Thank you in advance for your guidance and suggestion !

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* One thing I don't want to see is a long introduction. Start out by discussing the problem your technology solves and what an audience member will gain from your talk. I don't like having to sit through 5-10 minutes of "This is me and this is what my company does." before I even know if I'm super interested to sit through the thing. A bit of self-promotion that's relevant to your talk is great, but save it for a bit after the introduction of the talk once you've got the audience hooked.

* I would suggest to watch a few of Fireship's ____ in 100 second videos, where some funny nerd covers the basics of different technology topics in 100 seconds . It's a good mix of overview, tiny code snippets, diagrams, explanations, and humor. The pace is faster than a talk needs to be due to the very short time limit, but that might be the right kind of vibe to try and nail.

* I don't think you necessarily need to include long code snippets, but short code snippets to illustrate points are great. Also, please include some short links to code repos with your longer examples in your slides. I like to look at videos to learn some technology or technique, but it's tough to absorb with the long code examples in video format spread throughout multiple files. Provide a link to a repo for your talk in the slides.

Don't put up multiple slides with long lines of code. A few slides with a few lines of code where everything is very clear is fine. Some people just have every slide be many lines of small code. In terms of slide text, less is more.

#1 best thing in a talk is a real-life story. Especially a weird bug or something. Tell us what happened, but don't drag it out too long.

Not too much code. Don't show boilerplate, just show any clever or interesting bits. Show us how the magic happens. Draw boxes around implementation details, because we don't care.

Don't waste too much time. If your talk starts out like an internet recipe with a story about your granny, I'm not watching.

(I'm a no-frills, utilitarian kind of person)

There is a new and shiny bias on conference talks. People talk about cutting edge / newest stuff, and don't talk about seemingly "boring" topics. Yet I find the concrete, actual, nuts and bolts, not cutting edge and practical stories of "boring" implementations very interesting. I think other people do too, because they identify with them more.

The talk where we did X thing with Generative AI, with no problems, is the antithesis of this and almost comes across as a sales pitch for how awesome the team / product is we're building. Nobody learns anything if you don't present your actual failures.

It's way more interesting to hear honest, actual, nuts and bolts engineering stories of real implementations IMO.

Congratulations on your upcoming presentation at pgconf.eu! It's always refreshing to see new faces sharing their passion in the tech world. Speaking from personal experience, my first conference talk was a rollercoaster of emotions - from nervousness to exhilaration. One key lesson I learned was the importance of weaving real-world examples into the technical details. Audiences tend to connect more when they see how your work translates into practical solutions. So, in your "SQL micro-framework" presentation, consider sharing a memorable real-life scenario where it made a significant impact. It's an effective way to engage your audience and make your talk more relatable. Best of luck with your presentation – you've got this!

To make a tech talk memorable, a combination of elements often works best. Mind-blowing demos can capture attention, but they should be followed by in-depth explanations of the underlying code.

A compelling storytelling that weaves your content into real-world scenarios can engage the audience. Additionally, interactive elements or hands-on exercises, if applicable, can enhance the learning experience. And always encourage questions and discussions to make it more participatory.

Wishing you the best of luck at pgconf.eu, and I'm sure your dedication to delivering an unforgettable presentation will shine through!

Great question. From a consumer only perspective:

I always like where there is an easy method to review the presentation again. Like a link to a video of it. Also a link to read more detail. Hate when text is presented to fast. Hate when talker is too fast. This is a common problem with not experienced. Typically showing me code is a waste as I cannot mentally process that level of information and still hear you. I find it very useful, and this should be obvious, when the talk matches the visual. I like to use one to complement the other, not provide an overload of information.

Thanks for the advice ! I'll try speak slowly, and not to overload the presentation.

I was thinking that maybe, instead of the support being slides, it could be a website written in SQLPage itself... Or do you think it's too much ?

I want to see in the first 5 minutes: 1) a simple explanation of what it is - don't assume I know anything about the problem 2) why this solution is better than the others/what unique problem it is solving 3) a quick demo. As an engineer then I want to see the architecture from a high level and how to most easily implement into my shop. Save the code deep dives for last unless there's some really unique and interesting things going on under the hood. Underpromise and overdeliver.

Interesting. Since the tool I'm presenting is something that lets you write websites in SQL, "code deep dives" referred more to code that you can write as a user of the tool than things going on "under the hood". I wanted to show small SQL queries and the web pages they generate. Do you think it's something I should keep for the end / skip ?

Maybe our definitions of "deep dives" is different. To demonstrate how the product works, using code, I would be all for especially since this is a developer-centric tool. I take deep dives to mean how the product is built.

What I don’t like to see: slides where >50% are memes.

So... what is the optimal percentage of memes ?

2-7%, better focus on quality memes than quantity

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