How to give a Drupal Camp talk!

Thanks today we're gonna talk about

giving your first Drupal talk so just a

little bit about Who I am I've been a

software developer for you know I guess

we're going on 30 years now

professionally I've been doing Drupal

since 2013 I work for a great company

thank you well called breakthrough

technologies where will and I have

worked together what I did this is going

out on YouTube now - and I'm primarily a

back-end developer so a lot of my talks

even are about diving into taking things

apart and building things and doing you

know plugins and code and yamo and live

demoing on the screen today is very much

not like that

you know I'm an active contributor it's

it's the it's the community here that

really keeps me going I was in dotnet

for a very long time and the switch over

to a nice more inclusive more diverse

the community than that where I can

actually do some good and contribute has

really made a big big impact on how I

view my own career and of course the

best Muppet is Pepe current Carmen is an

okay answer but Pepe is just way better

so what we're going over today is doing

your first talk really it's about not

being afraid and just doing it every

camp I go to I hear someone get excited

about something and then a bunch of us

say well you should do a talk about that

and there's a lot of hemming and hawing

and we're gonna try to stop that the

things that you have to contribute all

the ideas and things that you think are

exciting these are valuable things and

other people want to hear them so we're

gonna talk about how to share what you

know how to share this excitement how to

put your talk together you know

practicing and building the talk and

then actually doing it and what to

expect on presentation day

so the first step really is just to be

excited you know we work with some

really cool stuff and we solve some

really cool problems and we're mostly

nerds here so we've nerd out hearing

about the cool stuff that he that we all

do you know one of my favorite things

about this job is getting to be Sherlock

Holmes everyday and you get to think

well if this is doing this and this is

doing this clearly it has to be such and

such and a lot of times that is what it

is not always so we solve cool problems

all the time and that these are such

prevalent issues especially with you

know an open-source kind of a kind of a

platform that someone else is facing

this same problem we've all solved these

problems so many different ways we've

done you know on our contribution

guidelines we we even have rules around

if you are developing a module and you

want to contribute it and there's

another module that does something like

what you want talk about teaming up it's

because we're all solving the same

problems and those solutions can help

other people so share them don't be

afraid is a big a big part of this

sometimes you got to just swallow it

down and do it one of my favorite my

favorite quotes about public speaking is

from Jerry Seinfeld and he's saying

according to most studies I don't know

if I can do it the Seinfeld impression

right now people's number one fear is

public speaking number two is death

death is number two does that sound

right this means to the average person

if you go to the funeral you're better

off in the casket than doing the eulogy

so yes public speaking is a real fear

but here I mean like look at this room

we have seven people in this room it's

fine

right but you know like you know we've

bunch of us we've given rooms and there

are toxin in huge rooms and there's 50

people and they're like at the key no

they were you know over a hundred people

in there just pick a place to look at

and talk people are there because they

want to hear not because they want to

make you feel better

usually you don't have to know you don't

have to be a complete subject matter

expert on whatever you're talking about

just have something that you're excited

about and talk about it and then you

know we have a bunch of different ways

to try out whether an idea is really

talk worthy something we do at camp so

we have these five minute lightning

talks that's a good way to you know to

give something a quick little test run

or you know like at my company we have

you know like a monthly lunch kind of a

thing where someone can put a talk

together or even if you don't have a

standardized thing like that just bring

up to your manager hey can I come do a

little presentation for our group I just

want to you know I did something cool I

want to try it out most of the time

they're gonna say yes so now you have an

idea and there was a we had a discussion

last night there's there's two ways to

come up with this idea one of them is I

just did something really cool and I

just have to tell people about it the

other way is there's something I really

kind of want to learn about so I'm gonna

do a talk about it so that I have to

figure out how this works both of those

totally legit so you put your talk

together figure out what you like in a

presentation like what were some of the

presentations that you really loved what

were your favorite ones and what did you

like about them like you know for me I

love live walkthroughs I love code

of seeing people work in stuff you know

and any anything that shows me how

people do stuff that that's what I like

so you know watching the the initial

demos on spinning up Andrew Bobby site

was really fun and you know this one was

from what a mine about building my great

process plugins I love that stuff

now when you're putting your talk

together a lot of people here like

there's big jokes about Drupal talks and

cat pictures or whatever I tell you this

is the very first non-technical picture

I've ever put in a slide so I picked

Captain Picard

but everybody loves cat pictures and

make sure your views are cached people

so most of my presentations are real

techy they're real heavy you know like I

said a lot of code walkthroughs and and

live demo live coding this is this is

the least technical talk that I've

probably done in 10 years so now you've

got to talk together you have some funny

funny cat pictures you want to put in

there and now we're gonna start

preparing our talk so some of the things

to do is make sure you practice it over

and over and over again practice it I

remember when I did my first talk more

than once it was will here who told me

like we really say that you don't really

own your talk until you've done it three

or four times and that is totally true

so practice it do it by yourself the

first couple of times especially if

you're embarrassed

even for this one I sat at my desk sort

of sub vocalizing people with a timer

you know practice in front of real

people practice in front of as many

different people as you can and record

yourself this is this is important what

we'll get to this a little bit later one

of the things that that people do a lot

is they speak too fast or they do a lot

of Oz and pausing you just listen to

yourself talk get a good rhythm going

make sure that you're practiced and

confident in what you're trying to say

and then just talk when you have live

demos or you know any sort of demo just

practice those over and over at your

talk should never be the first time that

you're trying something we've seen this

and it doesn't go well and when you get

feedback improve your presentation

incrementally yeah just like software

development this is the little

incremental spiral if you get some

feedback and then you go and you change

everything let feedbacks not really

valid anymore because it's not the same

talk that was just critique so on the

don't list don't put off writing your

presentation until the day before again

this is something that a lot of us have

done I was thinking I love your story

and I tell it a lot we were at a Drupal

meetup group there was a talk about it

was putting together views fields

handlers and the the talker was saying

just ignore all the commits times on

these because they were all 30 seconds

before he got up so for your first talk

anyway don't put it in you know don't

put it off write it well ahead of time

write all of your code well ahead of

time get them up on github so that

people can download them get your slides

up do all of this well ahead of time the

end this should never be the first time

that your show

anything and again between between

presentations between iterations here

don't radically change them just small

steps of improvement so on practicing

it's really just doing it over and over

and over again which sounds tedious but

it's really fun it gets you really more

excited about it so you practice

practice some more you know test it out

in front of somebody and you know this

is a good point here by the time the

camp starts you're gonna be a little bit

sick of talking about what you're

talking about but super jazzed and

pumped and ready to go

but you'll be okay and you'll be ready

everything will be good now about

presenting remember to slow down you're

not giving the APR at the end of a bank

commercial you're just talking you're

trying to impart some information that

means people have to understand what it

what you're trying to say so you're

gonna be talking a lot faster than you

think you are just remember deliberately

slow down when you think you're talking

just a little bit too slow that's

probably just the right amount also

remember not to just pull it through yo

don't just rush through everything even

if you're speaking slowly don't just

rush through everything you have to

pause a little bit so that everyone can

really process what you're saying

also be a dynamic speaker you know vary

your tone

don't just drone on get a faster slowed

oh just drone on one of my great Star

Trek quote here so yeah I think my first

me me posts and I did to Captain

Picard's they just kept talk it one

incredibly unbroken sentence moving from

topic to topic so that no one had a

chance to interrupt it was really quite

hypnotic

don't do that you know be excited people

can tell when you're excited about stuff

so talk about it you know I don't want

to you know go all cliche like really

you know talk about it from your heart

but you're up here because you have

something you want to share yeah they

have to kind of just assume that people

want to hear it

so you know be excited about it don't

don't make it look like the back of a

Shania Twain record where every track

ends with an exclamation point

yeah there your toe Bheema don't be

monotonous make sure that you're not

talking too fast don't do that

just talk like a real person make sure

that your stuff is sized appropriately

like if you're showing code which again

I do a lot you got to make sure that

it's big enough for the for the entire

room to see this top the top example

here is it's just loading up phpstorm

and putting it on the projector this is

a small room but in big rooms that is

genuinely hard to see so you know zoom

it up at least 175 percent or I think

for this I bump it up to 32 point type

and that way everyone can see it when

you're doing code I use phpstorm is by

primarily by primary dev environment so

phpstorm has a nice presentation mode

and remember the keyboard shortcuts for

this because fumbling around with a

mouse you know that's a it's a pain

that's not fun for anyone to watch if it

doesn't have keyboard shortcuts make

them because everything is all

configurable the OBS code does this you

know phpstorm does it make sure you know

how

navigate through whatever it is that

you're that you're definitely have all

of your code and stuff open before you

start you know when you're when you're

trying to demo something and you're like

okay wait a minute

I need to go over here and find this

class oh no it's not that's not the

right one this is this one here it is

nobody wants to watch that have the

stuff open have all of your tabs open

you know have them organized in in a

reasonable pattern so that you know how

to quickly navigate from you know from

one sample to the next also make sure

that you are really describing and

narrating through navigating through

those samples you know it gets really

confusing when you just have a bunch of

code windows up or a bunch of terminal

windows up or browsers with different

websites in them and you're just

flipping around and scrolling and moving

from thing to thing make sure that

you're narrating through what it is that

you're doing so that all of your

audience can follow along now we say the

word practice a lot if you have live

demos practice them do them practice

them train yourself on them and time

them you know there's stuff that is that

is really just very slow to run here

like and I saw a presentation where

somebody was talking about you know cool

custom wrap parameters and and you know

different integration services and

custom access checkers but between every

change that you make you have to clear

the cache in order for the RAF's to

rebuild so in every change we're waiting

for like three minutes every time you

know know know what you're you know what

you're doing know what you're gonna make

people watch and if something breaks

know how to get around it because

chances are something is gonna break you

could have done it a thousand times you

know just before you're about to present

you might forget something like clearing

out the data that you're importing to

demo you know things happen make sure

you know how to recover

and if something is taking too long like

those you know like the cash clears and

whatever think about recording what it

is that you're trying to demo and play

it back at an increased speed that it

takes the liveness out of it it also

means that nothing will break in front

of people but mostly it's just so that

you know no one's sitting there checking

their watch like the I want to just

watch it blinking cursor so again you

can do this don't don't give yourself

excuses don't tell yourself that you

can't you can do it the reason that I'm

even doing this is because literally

every camp that I know to someone is

really excited they're like I just I did

something really cool and let me just

show you and and it is cool sometimes

it's not whatever but it's cool to them

like we should do a talk on that well I

mean I'm not an expert on it it doesn't

matter you have done something well I

mean it but everyone else up there like

you guys are all so knowledgeable like

yes but so are you like you have done

something you can do it and then you

know what if what if people don't like

my solution well if you're lucky they

will say something nicely and then by

the time your talk is over you will have

learned an even better way to do it so

don't be afraid of that either you know

I'm not a Mac laws and I'm not a Jeff

Gillingham it doesn't yeah that doesn't

matter

just talk because you know I've talked

it what 12 camps and you know whatever I

there was a time I hadn't either

just get up in front of people and start

talking but the thing to remember is

that you're excited about doing

something or solving something and

whatever you did has potential to help

somebody else

so mostly it's just doing it and I'm not

gonna put a Nike swoosh or anything up

in there it's really it's really just

doing it

now for the actual process you've

decided on the talk you've talked

yourself up into doing it you're really

gonna do it so now we have to submit it

so number one check the submission dates

for whatever it is that you are

submitting to like for DrupalCon this

year I actually missed those dates

because I just I thought there I put it

in my calendar wrong I thought it was

something else and I missed it so check

the dates make sure you set up a

reminder and submit it on time also make

absolutely sure that you follow the

rules behind your submission if they're

asking you for you know a link to a blog

post about what you're talking about

make sure you put it in if it's got to

have you know slides beforehand do it

the the easiest way to get your your

submission disqualified is not it was by

not giving the the organizers what it is

that they want don't be afraid to submit

multiple topics you know I submitted

even for mid camp three or four five

different things and two of them got

picked and then like it's okay if your

talk doesn't get picked there's there's

all kinds of reasons why that could be

you know I mean it could be something as

simple as we you know the past several

camps have all had a talk on the subject

that you're doing or you know maybe it

is that like some rock star speaker is

also presenting also submitted something

on that topic and that's the one they

decided to pick it's okay don't worry

about it

you know if most of the time you won't

get any feedback as to why they didn't

pick you're in your talk so try a

different camp try the camp again next

year you know try a different topic it's

fine this is a very welcoming group we

like new stalkers we like new speakers

so if your talk don't get picked don't

give up

so let's talk about what happens the day

of so before you start your talk

remember that you know there is a vet

staff and they're here to help they'll

help you get your computer plugged in

and you know in through the recording

you know making sure that you're on time

and you know that your time is being

monitored and you know that you have

water all this kind of stuff like I just

got a flag that I have 10 minutes left

so the staff is here to help let them

like you know and I've seen people get

up on the podium and they plug in their

laptop and the you know an event staff

volunteer comes over to explain some

recording thing and they're like yeah I

know

don't do that because maybe maybe

there's been a change this year like

I've seen someone do that brush them on

the side yeah I know what I'm talking

about

and then it comes time for their their

talk and the recorder doesn't work all

you had to do was listen to your helper

so get to your room before the talk

before you was over this lets you kind

of scope it out make sure that you're

all ready and then when they're done

connect so again plug in connect to the

recording device know how to work it

again someone will explain this to you

and then to get your own self ready make

sure you go to the bathroom before you

start you don't want to be you know all

distracted like you know just make sure

you have water handy become be in a

state where you're not where you're not

putting yourself in a don't again don't

self-sabotage so drink water before your

talk don't do soda because you don't

want to be one of those people that it

was just I could through a burp or

something like that you know just keep

don't do anything that's going to

sabotage your voice that's what people

are gonna listen to the same thing with

you know something real dairy and creamy

like that's gonna thicken up your voice

alcohol people will think alright I'll

just have a drink that'll move over

I'll be able to give my talk I won't be

nervous just don't don't do that make

sure to you know lube up your lips

before you start keep an eye on your

time make sure to put your computer into

do not disturb mode I don't know how

many times we've you know been watching

a talker on the YouTube channel after

the camp is over and you see somebody's

email notification pop up okay well you

know now I know what they're what

they're up to

just you know you don't want any slack

messages coming up no emails messages

anything just you know shut everything

down and going to do that disturb mode

close every app and browser tab that

aren't related to what it is that you're

actually talking about again we've we've

all seen talks where someone's showing

something like you know here's how to

set up spin up a new mommy site and then

here's what you can do with it and

they've got a gmail tab over there I

mean let's just focus on what we're

doing make sure that your your computer

battery is charged or plug in I'd

suggest plugging in and then make sure

that you are concentrating on what

you're talking about speak clearly

enunciate make sure everyone can

understand you and again slow down don't

rush through it even after you get the

the ten minutes left side you're

thinking okay oh boy I still got nine

slides to go through I better speed up

slow down just calm down so

then once you've given your presentation

usually you'll have a time for Q&A

the first thing always make sure that

you repeat the questions so that the

recorder can pick them up because even

in a room this size of someone in the

back of the room asks a question that

microphones not going to get them so

make sure you repeat the question answer

the questions to the best of your

ability and if you can't that's okay

say you don't know say you'll check you

know if you have if you have your slides

up or a link to get up with your code or

whatever it is

feel free to update them afterwards and

you know keep in touch with people for

answers like that and and then again

sometimes you'll get the you know what

if my solution is not the best way

that's okay somebody suggest something

for you listen this could improve your

your work it could improve your next

talk

and and again most of the time most of

the time people are not just trying to

fault find their they're trying to help

and that's about it

so any any questions or anything from

you guys we got usually my talks are

fairly technical so I always think a few

minutes at the end for for questions but

this one is more or less into planetory

yep

what made you first start speaking at

MIT campus about what does he do like

how did you go from walking have

something to talk about to being that

guy

so what was it that inspired me to start

talking at Kemps I am a testing

test-driven development and behavioral

test evangelist my covenant any of my

companies and you know going back five

six years there-there was B hat support

for a Drupal but not a lot of people who

are using it it was still kind of

underground and you know the Drupal 6

and 7 they were they were difficult to

unit test especially in a way that I was

used to coming from such a you know

regimented net multi tier sort of

application structure where you know I

will write an end unit test for this and

then I'll write out the code that does

it and then before I deploy I run my

whole suite and whatever for Drupal

seven anyway like that's a it's a major

pain so here's the hack and it's this

cool thing where you can have almost

natural language you know the steps for

how to do that testing and I I heard

about this I started plugging this stuff

in and getting all my stuff tested and

yeah and like this this is I think this

is amazing I have to share this with

everybody everybody should be testing

because it makes all of our jobs easier

it's something that I was extremely

passionate about very into and and the

something that I have championed on

every team that I've ever belonged to so

it was a natural fit like there's just

that no one is talking about this and we

should be

sure yeah I think one of the points that

I always find a struggle with this part

of this like the mind reading of the

audience if you will what they're

thinking with you know whenever you

present like is this like a good

presentation what have you I think the

points 80% I think are really helpful to

try to you know not get into that kind

of thinking a little bit but did I

forget those can be seen exactly but I

was just curious a little bit about I

don't know if you had experiences with

just you know the drupal kind of Q&A

periods it's just like I always had no

wonder just like what the feeling or the

mood is like what you finally present

like I was your support the middle bit

earlier academia is like really intense

with the Q&A period moment what is your

experience so what the QA is like after

during your presentation for the most

part it's curiosity it's it's friendly

it's you know I've been thinking about

doing something like this but my case is

a little bit different how would I do

this for what I need to do and you know

then maybe it's not that different maybe

it'll still work I don't know let's go

look after the talk

it is not academia it's not that hard

and heavy like all of us work where this

is a voluntary thing we're here because

we want to be for the most part the

talks we pick these are the ones that we

want to see you know we're not we're not

going to heckle we're not going on some

sort of you know on a dissertation

review board because we have to be there

it's not bad

you know you're not being your talks not

being judged like you're not losing

points for you know I mean don't have

typos on your slides but yeah but most

of the time it's it's friendly I haven't

had I don't think in all this time I've

had a question ask her who was really

deliberately hostile it's people want to

know more about it or you know there's a

tough there's a some slide some idea

that I a little bit glossed over because

I don't think it's important but that is

exactly what you came here to see you

know someone's gonna ask about that all

right

[Applause]