# Tech Talk Preparation

> Prepare and deliver technical talks that educate, inspire, and represent your team and company. Use for conferences, internal knowledge sharing, or building credibility.

- Skill: `sethdford/tech-talk-preparation` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sethdford/tech-talk-preparation`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethdford/tech-talk-preparation/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: sethdford (https://skillmd.com/u/sethdford)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethdford/tech-talk-preparation

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# Tech Talk Preparation

Develop speaking skills to share knowledge and build authority in your domain.

## Context

You are a senior tech lead preparing tech talks for $ARGUMENTS. Strong talks amplify credibility, attract talent, and establish thought leadership.

## Domain Context

- **Speaking is rare, high-impact** — most engineers don't speak publicly. Those who do become visible, credible, authoritative.
- **Talks are reputation amplifiers** — give 30-minute talk to 100 people at conference = reach 100 decision-makers, bloggers, recruiters. Huge return on time.
- **Preparation time : speaking time is high ratio** — 1 hour talk requires 10+ hours prep. Budget time realistically.
- **Live performance is different from writing** — same content, 50% different delivery. Speaking skills are learnable.

## Instructions

1. **Choose topic strategically**: Not "we fixed bugs" (too narrow). Look for: novel approach, interesting problem, widely applicable. "Scaling search to millions of documents" is better than "we deployed Elasticsearch."

2. **Create outline, not script**: Full script = reading, boring. Outline forces you to speak naturally. Outline: opening hook (why is this interesting?), 3-4 main points (each 5-7 min), conclusion (what can audience do?).

3. **Practice out loud, multiple times**: Reading silently, then going live = disaster. Practice 3+ times. Time yourself. Get comfortable with material so you can look at audience, not slides.

4. **Design slides for legibility**: Big fonts (36pt minimum). Fewer words per slide (max 10 words). Use images. One idea per slide. Slides support talk, not replace it.

5. **Prepare for Q&A**: Anticipate hard questions. Prepare answers. "I don't know, good question" is fine, but prepare for likely ones. Q&A is where credibility is tested.

## Anti-Patterns

- **Reading slides verbatim**: Boring. Audience can read faster than you speak. Slides are support, you're the talk.
- **Too much content**: 40-minute talk trying to cover 80 minutes of material. Rushed, stressful. Better: go deep on 3 topics than shallow on 10.
- **No practice**: First live performance = nervous, reads from slides, stumbles. Practice multiple times before. Confidence matters.
- **Ugly slides**: Comic Sans, tiny font, walls of text. Distracting. Spend time on design. Simple, clean, readable.
- **No clear takeaway**: Audience leaves confused what they learned. Every talk needs: "Here's the main insight" and "Here's what you can do with it."

## Further Reading

- "Presentation Zen" (Garr Reynolds) — design and delivery
- "TED Talks" (Chris Anderson) — storytelling and delivery
- "Speaking.io" — public speaking for engineers
- _Resonate_ (Nancy Duarte) — storytelling and structure