Reblog

How to find ideas for a talk

Here is a quick list of actions to consider the next time you run out of ideas while thinking at the next conference to speak at. I consistently run through the list and usually come out with a fair list of topics. Next step is of course to select the best ones and create the abstract. Each bullet in the list can take a little while to execute properly. Half a day is necessary if you didn’t use the list for a while, but following times should be much faster:

• What you did during the past year? What did you learn that is worth mentioning in a talk?
• If you keep a daily log (I do) look at notes about problems you fixed or things you’ve learned. Anything interesting in there?
• Have a look at other “trendy” conferences in the close future and see what the buzz is all about. Have you worked with the same technology/process stack? Do you think you know enough about it to present yourself?
• Have a look at the past conferences you attended to see if there are topics worth presenting somewhere else and spreading the word
• Have a look at the last past talks you gave (if any) to see if some of them are improvable and still actual
• Have a look at the last article/podcasts/books you bookmarked to see if those topics are worth speaking about
• Have a look at past talks held at the same conference (the one you’d like to submit to) to understand their preferences and skim the topic list

Hope this helps