 All right, so I am going to talk today about how to get over your imposter syndrome and become a conference speaker. I will start by telling you just a little bit about me. I've been in the technology industry for over 20 years, working mostly on open source projects from within companies like Puppet, Intel, and now at VMware, I'm responsible for our open source community strategy within the open source program office. I'm also on the steering committee for the Linux foundations to do group where companies collaborate on ways to run successful open source program offices. I'm also on the board of open UK, which is focused on developing and sustaining leadership in open technology within the UK where I live. I'm a governing board member and maintainer for the Linux foundations chaos project, which is focused on using metrics and evaluating the health of open source projects. And I have a PhD from the University of Greenwich and I studied the Linux kernel. Now, when I started being publicly visible by giving talks at conferences, is when my career actually really started taking off. Public speaking is not something that came naturally to me. Early in my career, I was absolutely terrified of speaking up in front of other people, even just like little internal company meetings. But I knew that it would be hard to be successful if I didn't get over these fears. So I just started accepting every internal opportunity to speak or give presentations that I could find at the companies where I worked. And I also took advantage of quite a few corporate training classes on giving presentations. Now, as I said, my career really started taking off. It was in 2006, 2007, when I started blogging and speaking at events. I was lucky to have people like Denise Cooper, for example, in my corner. Because she recruited me onto several of my very first panels and lightning talks at conferences like Oskon. And Alyssa Camahort Page, so she was early blog her fame. She liked my blog, I didn't know her. But she invited me onto a panel about open source at South by Southwest. Sounds like my first really big conference. And these little things gave me the confidence to start doing my own talks at conferences. And I've done over 100 talks at a wide variety of different conferences over the years. But around the same time, I also started organizing conferences and being on program committees. Which gave me a whole new perspective on the whole talk selection process, why certain talks get accepted, other talks get declined. And I'll talk more about that during the session. There are a lot of benefits of speaking at conferences that I think people underestimate. First, most conferences allow speakers to attend for free. So it is way easier to convince your boss to send you to a conference if you don't have to pay a really big conference fee. And second, speakers usually get access, special access to other speakers. And maybe VIPs as well. You get to use the speaker lounge, maybe even attend some VIP events for speakers, which gives you opportunities to network with other experts in your field. And third, speaking at events will help you become more well known as an expert in your field. Which can help you gain credibility at your current job and make it easier to advance your career. By speaking at conferences, I have been able to travel the world and meet all kinds of interesting people. And now, when we're allowed to travel places, I can meet up with friends that I've met at conferences. And conference speaking has been amazing for my career, but it's also been a really positive personal experience for me. Okay, now we've talked about the benefits and why we're here. I have several topics to cover. It all starts with selecting a topic and a conference. So we'll talk about how to do that. I'll talk about writing titles, abstracts, bios, and other supporting information to increase your chances of actually getting that talk accepted. I'll give you some insights into the talk selection process, along with a few tips for writing and preparing your talk. First, let's talk about selecting a topic and the right conference for that topic. The first step in writing a proposal is usually to come up with a topic. And this is the first place where imposter syndrome can really get in the way of your success. Coming up with a topic is hard for a lot of people. Because they feel like they need to be the expert in the technology or know everything about a topic before submitting a talk. But this really just isn't the case. You only need to know enough to provide useful content for people who aren't as experienced as you are. At any technology conference, the audience probably has more people who are just getting started and are eager to learn. In particular, attendance at sessions tends to be skewed towards new people, because they're the people that came to the conference to learn something. And personally, I love to see talks from people who are relatively new to a technology and can talk about the mistakes that they made, how they fixed their issues, and what they did to get everything working. This type of talk is incredibly useful for conference attendees who are new to a technology. Because they can relate to that subject, right? These troubleshooting talks help people see that everyone hits rough patches when working with new technologies and helps them feel like they're not alone. Another good way to find a topic is to think about why people come to you and ask you for help. Or think of the technologies you love to work with and talk about those. Technology conferences are also filled with talks about processes, culture, community, management, and loads of other topics that almost anyone can give a talk about. So think of something that you've done, loved doing, or know a lot about, and then talk about that. Now before we talk about picking a conference for your topic, let's talk briefly about CFPs. The most common way to get your talk into a conference is by submitting a proposal into the CFP for that event. Now, here's the catch. Most CFPs are only open for a short period of time, maybe a couple of months at the most. And the CFP closes months before the conference actually happens. So this requires careful planning in advance if you want to speak at a particular event. Now around this time every year, and I actually just did this a week or so ago, I put together a document listing the conferences that I want to attend next year. And once a month, I look to see which ones have announced their CFP deadlines. And the ones with open CFPs go into my to-do list. So I don't miss the deadline to submit something. And this is really, really important because if you miss the deadline, you just don't get to speak at those conferences. It's also important to remember that every CFP is a little bit different. They may require different information, they'll have different word limits. So you should very carefully read the instructions for proposing a talk for that particular conference. So that you make sure you follow the requested process and that you have all of your information ready before the deadline arrives. Now once you have a topic, you do need to find the right conference for that topic. So spend some time researching conferences and looking at open calls for proposals. And you'll want to make sure that you submit a talk that's relevant and more likely to get accepted at this particular conference. So please, please don't just blast your talk out to any conference with an open call for proposals. Because it really is kind of setting you up for a lot of disappointment. Find a couple of conferences that have had similar talks in the past. And have the audience that you think would be interested in your topic. And tailor your submission to that event. And for each conference, review the titles, abstracts and bios for talks that they've accepted for previous versions of that conference. And use these previous talks to get a feel for the types of talks that they accept. The length, the amount of detail that's included in the abstracts. And the type of speakers they've had in the past. And keep this in mind when writing your proposal and tailor your title, abstract, and speaker bio to that specific conference. You can also do this the other way around, frankly, which is what I do. I find a conference that I want to attend and then I pick a topic. So I look at CFP for past events to get a feel for what topic might be a good fit for a conference that I really want to go to. Now if you're new to conference speaking, local meetups are almost always trying to find talks for upcoming events. And they can be a nice, friendly place to do your first talk. There are also loads of really friendly regional events like Segal here in the Pacific Northwest, Texas Linux Fest, Ohio Linux Fest, Scale in Southern California. And having a presentation in front of a smaller audience, especially a local one where you can get some friends or colleagues to attend can help take the pressure off while you also get some practice speaking. And these local events are also a great place to try out new material before you take it to a bigger event, whether you're a new speaker or an experienced one. Writing the title and the abstract is probably the most important part of preparing your submission. And this is another area where I see imposter syndrome really rearing its ugly head. This is not a place to down-pillay your topic or be mysterious. You'll want your topic to shine, and you'll need to be clear about why it's an important topic for this particular event. Your abstract should be clear, descriptive, detailed. It should give the organizers enough detail to understand what you plan to cover. And since it often becomes part of the conference guide, it should also provide a clear description for potential attendees for your talk. So the abstract should be long enough to describe your talk, but also not so long that the organizers feel like it's a burden to read it. So keep it as concise as you possibly can. The scope also needs to be realistic. Find out how long the conference session is likely to be, and make sure that you think about how much you can reasonably cover in that amount of time. Use the abstract to list or describe the key points you want to make during your talk, while also being clear about why the talk is important and what people will learn if they attend your talk. And keep in mind that you actually don't need to write the presentation until your proposal is accepted. And I would actually discourage you from writing the presentation before it's accepted, because you run the risk of spending a lot of time on a topic that for whatever reason just isn't interesting to conference organizers. But also, and I've done this as an organizer, sometimes we'll respond with special requests to make maybe slight changes to your topic to reduce overlap with another talk. So you want to have flexibility to incorporate that type of feedback as well. Now, I actually have a bit of a formula that I use when writing my abstracts. The level of detail varies by topic and conference, but if you look at my talks at past conferences, most of my abstracts look almost exactly like this one. I start with a paragraph that tries to draw in the audience and generate some interest by focusing on why the topic is important and relevant to the audience. The goal with this first paragraph is to help attendees understand why they should attend my talk, and make sure that the program selection committee knows why my talk is important and relevant for their conference. And then the next section usually includes maybe three to five bullet points with details about exactly what I plan to include in my talk. And this helps attendees and the selection committee understand exactly what I plan to talk about. I also try to end my abstracts with a summary of what the audience can expect to learn. Now, this is definitely not the only way to write an abstract, right? But it's worked really well for me in the past. So I thought it might help people who are looking for a way to get started on their first abstract. Titles for talks can be tricky. You want a title that sounds interesting enough to stand out, but also it has to accurately describe your topic. And it should do that in only three to seven words. Now, I am way guilty of writing talk titles that are way too long. Like the title for this talk, for example. And what it does, it just makes it really hard for me to talk about my talk. Because, well, what are you talking about? And then I've got like 16 words that's the title of my talk. And it just becomes too much of a mouthful and it's from a practical perspective. It's hard to get them to fit on conference programs too. So don't do what I do, make them shorter. Also, try to avoid buzzwords in your talk titles. So those of us who regularly select talks for conferences, we get a bit jaded and tired of the same buzzwords that make every title and every talk sound exactly the same. So keep in mind also that many people will decide to come to your talk based mostly on your title. Because that's what shows up first in the conference program. And you don't want people to be disappointed if the actual talk doesn't match the content of the, sorry, if the title doesn't match the content of the presentation. A lot of people don't understand how critical it is that you have a well written bio to go along with your talk proposal. And this is another area where imposter syndrome can get in the way. You should use your bio as a place to brag about yourself, which is hard. But this helps the organizers and the attendees see that you have the expertise to give this talk. And this is not a place to be modest or downplay your experience. Your speaker bio is a critical part of the acceptance process. So I can't emphasize that enough, and you should customize it for different types of talks or conferences. To emphasize your experience in a particular topic or a particular technology. Conference organizers want to know that you have expertise that's relevant to your topic. And your bio is probably the only opportunity to demonstrate why they should select you to speak about a topic. You might want to cut some less relevant information from your bio and gives you a little more room for specific expertise that is related to the topic. But like with the abstract, your bio should be short and concise. It is not a dissertation. And also remember that this is not a time for modesty. You will need to brag about your accomplishments, even if that makes you feel uncomfortable. And make sure that your bio puts your expertise in the spotlight. And many CFPs ask for links to supporting materials, like presentations, blog posts, videos of previous talks. And again, this is not a place to be modest, but a place for you to show off and demonstrate your expertise. And if members of the selection committee haven't seen you talk before, this is what they'll use to learn more about whether you have the expertise and the presentation skills to give this talk. And if you don't have something ready to share if you're proposing your very first talk, you can always write a blog post on a related topic and contribute it to one of the many blogs who accept guest content, like opensource.com for example. And if you need a video, you can prepare a five minute presentation that you record and put on YouTube. And for supporting material, I do strongly recommend focusing on quality rather than quantity. So use your best examples rather than everything you've ever done. Now, we also have a hear be dragons section of the talk to provide a few warnings about what not to do based on my experience being on program selection committees. A lot of people don't want to give away the point of the talk in the abstract. Or maybe they want some mystery or big reveal or something. But in my experience, this really is a mistake. When I'm selecting talks, I need enough detail to know if it'll be a fit for my event. And I need to make sure it isn't going to be too similar to some of the other talks that I might accept. And the only way to make these decisions is by having a detailed abstract. And honestly, I have often rejected talks simply because the abstract was just too short or lacked enough details for me to make a decision about the talk. When I see poorly written abstracts or bios that look like maybe they were thrown together at the very last minute without any proofreading, I worry that the presentation will be of similar quality. If someone doesn't take the time to proofread their proposal, what will their presentation look like? As I've mentioned before, I've presented loads of conferences, but I still try to make sure that someone else reads my proposals before I submit them. And I've had great feedback and suggestions from friends and colleagues that have helped me make my submission stronger than they would have been if I'd gone it alone. It's important to remember that your talk is competing with a whole bunch of other talks. And maybe proposals are declined for many, many reasons. Yours may have been a great proposal, but maybe they had another very similar proposal that was accepted instead. Or maybe your talk wouldn't have been a good fit for this conference, but would be great for another one. And I know it's easy to get discouraged when your talks are declined. But even very popular speakers do not get all of their talks accepted at every event. Now, after you get your talk accepted, you need to get your ducks in a row and prepare an awesome talk. I know some people like to write their talks on the plane on the way to the conference. I am not one of those people. And it's not something I'd recommend, especially for new speakers. If I'm preparing a brand new talk that I've not given before, I'll usually start working on it a month in advance, at least. And this gives you plenty of time to think about what you want to say. And if you run into some writer's block, you just put it aside for a few days, come back to it later. And you have plenty of time to do that. And I also find that when I'm working on other things, I'll get ideas for what I've forgotten to add to the talk. So starting early gives you plenty of time to think about additional material or improvements. By starting early, you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to say and organize your talk. If you used something like my abstract formula, those key bullet points are likely to be the main sections of your talk. And in general, I think most people would recommend organizing your talk before starting to create your slides, using an outline of some sort. I have to admit, I do organize my slides using my presentation software. But I don't start by creating the detailed slides. I create slides with just titles and maybe a couple of notes. And then I move them around, I make sure they're in logical groupings and that the flow looks good before I actually write the content on the slides. I also recommend having plenty of speaker notes. Especially when you're taking your time and preparing early. It's easy to forget the key points that you wanted to make on your slide, especially when a whole bunch of people are standing there watching you. You don't want to get nervous and forget what you wanted to say. And having speaker notes makes me a lot less nervous because I know they're there and I can use them. Don't worry about over-rehearsing. I see way more people come into talks who are under-prepared rather than over-prepared. I practice my talks out loud, just like I plan to give the talk. And I use these as dry runs for the actual presentation. This helps cut down on the nerves because you know what you're gonna say and how long it will take to say it. And this is why it's really, really important to practice by actually speaking out loud. If you just think the words in your head rather than saying them out loud, that will be faster because we think faster than we speak. And if you base your timing on this, you will run out of time when you go to do the real thing. Can also help to do a practice run with your teammates, get some feedback. That's a good way to get some feedback and make it better. Now I talked about imposter syndrome in a few places during this talk. It is really easy to default to doubting your abilities and feeling like you don't know enough to give a talk at a conference. But it's just not true. We all have expertise and knowledge that we can share with people who are just getting started. You do not need to be the world's leading expert on a topic to give a presentation. You just need to know a few things that can help other people learn something. And by bringing your authentic voice and unique perspective to the topic, people will walk away from your talk with new insights that they wouldn't have gotten from another speaker. I also wanted to mention that the VMware blog, which is linked on the slide, I've written a two part blog post series on this topic. So if you'd like to learn more, and with that I will say thank you for coming to my talk and open it up for questions. How many minutes do I have for questions? One minute for questions. Okay, one quick question. Go. Yeah, so the question is, I'm a first time speaker here at this conference. And I want to better understand how to get on conference organizing and get on to program committees. So there are a couple of ways to do that. The way I actually started was I started organizing my own conferences. So I used to organize Ignite Portland, I organized Barkant Portland. Not just me, obviously, like a team. There was a total team of us that did it. And so when you're organizing the conference, you can put yourself on the selection committee. So that's really easy. But the other thing you can do is volunteer for selection committees. So for this conference, you saw the selection committees like scrolling on the keynotes. It takes a lot of people to review all of the talks that get submitted. And so it's something that conference organizers are always looking for people to do. So I would reach out to a conference that you're interested in helping and say, hey, I've got this expertise. This is what I do. I would love some time to be on the selection committee and help with reviewing proposals. And you can also start small. We're organizing something called ChaosCon tomorrow, which is about project health. And that's a really small conference. It's gonna be like 50 of us. And so it's really easy to get on program committees for something like that if you want a good start. So you can start with a smaller conference and volunteer there, because they're probably really looking for help. But you can also volunteer to be on just about any selection committee. Yeah, okay, about time. Thank you so much for coming to my talk.