16 From blog post to conference talk

This chapter covers

  • The value of converting your post to a conference talk
  • How to identify and compare conference opportunities
  • Tips for the end-to-end process—preparing a proposal, creating your deck, and following up after the conference ends

As much value as reading (and writing) blog posts offers, it doesn’t corner the market on learning. There’s nothing like a conference—people gathering to share, learn, connect, refresh their t-shirt supply, and commiserate over unidentifiable buffet food. Options range from KubeCon to FOSDEM, PyCon to QCon, and Monktoberfest to Wasm I/O, which makes it hard to claim that there’s not a good fit for your focus and preferences. Moreover, virtual conferences provide global access to similar experiences without travel (or the associated approvals and hassles).

As we teased in the previous chapter, a successful blog post provides a great glide path into conference speaking. It helps the conference organizers assess whether you’re a good fit and gives you a distinct edge against other candidates who are simply sharing a short abstract full of fuzziness. Plus, you have a head start on thinking about the topic, creating the storyline, and even responding to common questions that could arise.

16.1 The path to speaking

16.1.1 Piotr’s path

16.1.2 Why speak at conferences?

16.1.3 Why not?

16.2 Identifying and evaluating opportunities

16.2.1 Fit

16.2.2 Reach and promotion

16.2.3 Logistics

16.3 Submitting your proposal

16.3.1 Reusing/rethinking your blog post

16.3.2 Submission tips

16.4 Converting your blog post to a talk

16.4.1 Start with the most important takeaway

16.4.2 Map out the slide flow

16.4.3 Develop individual slides

16.4.4 Prepare speaker notes

16.5 Promoting the talk

16.6 Rehearsing

16.7 Delivering