Speaking at a conference

What's inside

1. Finish your slides a week before the talk

   Slides finished the night before show from the back row — a broken rhythm, typos, mismatches. Leave time to rehearse.

2. Rehearse out loud with a timer at least 3 times

   Rehearsing in your head doesn't count — out loud the text sounds different, and a timer shows the real length, which almost always runs longer than you think.

3. Confirm duration and screen format with organizers

   Ask whether your time includes Q&A, and the screen aspect ratio (usually 16:9) — both affect your slide layout and pacing.

4. Ask what connector the projector uses

   'We have everything' usually means 'maybe we'll find something.' Ask ahead and don't rely on someone else's adapter.

5. Bring your own HDMI/USB-C adapters

   Even if organizers promised an adapter, bring your own — the stage is the wrong place to discover it doesn't fit your laptop.

6. Bring a clicker and spare batteries

   A dead battery mid-talk means walking back to your laptop for every slide. A spare set fixes it in seconds.

7. Prepare answers to the obvious questions

   Think through answers to the 5 questions you're sure will come up — you won't be formulating them from scratch under the audience's gaze.

8. Prepare answers to the uncomfortable questions

   The 1–2 questions you're dreading are worth preparing too — visible flustering stands out more than the awkward question itself.

9. Memorize the first 2 minutes word for word

   After that your delivery finds its rhythm on its own, but a stumbling start sets a nervous tone for the whole talk.

10. Save the talk as a PDF on a flash drive

    A PDF opens without the fonts or animations that might not survive a transfer to the organizers' computer.

11. Back up the slides to the cloud and email

    An email to yourself with the deck attached opens from any device, even if the flash drive goes missing or the cloud is unreachable.

12. Record a video backup of any live demo

    Live demos break on stage, on principle. A pre-recorded video saves the talk with a 10-second switch.

13. Plan your outfit for the stage

    Solid colors, no fine checks or stripes — they shimmer on camera. Pick something you can stand and gesture in comfortably.

14. Plan where to clip a lavalier mic

    Collar, lapel, neckline — if your outfit has nowhere to clip a mic, you'll be solving that five minutes before you go on.

15. Bring still water

    Sparkling water on stage risks a burp into the mic at the worst possible moment.

16. Arrive early for your slot

    Not at the start of the conference, but with a buffer before YOUR slot — handoffs between speakers rarely run on schedule.

17. Do a tech check with your own laptop

    Test the picture, sound and slide advance on your own device — the organizers' laptop may render things differently.

18. Find out if a timer is visible on stage

    If no clock or timer will be visible, bring your own — so you don't miss the moment to start wrapping up.

19. Put your phone in airplane mode

    A call or notification blasting through the speakers during a screen-share demo is an easy embarrassment to avoid.

20. Hold the final contact slide longer

    Keep the slide with your email, socials or QR code on screen longer than the rest — while questions run and people snap photos.

21. Publish your slides at the promised link

    If you promised a link from the stage, publish the slides that same day, while the talk is still fresh in people's minds.

22. Reply to new contacts while they're still warm

    People who approached you or messaged after the talk forget the conversation within days. Follow up within 24 hours.

23. Ask for the recording and watch it

    Watching yourself is uncomfortable, but nothing improves your next talk faster.