When you speak at a conference or meetup, you have a chance to explain your ideas and meet fellow specialists who share your passions. A tech talk opens surprising opportunities: it can lead to more speaking, or writing for prominent publishers, or collaborating with leaders in your field. Your talk doesn’t have to be a tour de force, you don’t have to be a leading expert, and you don’t have to talk about something you built—conference organizers love a good explanation of basic principles.

Do you want to start your conference speaking career in 2018? I’m teaching a one-hour free online workshop on February 3, in partnership with PyLadies Remote and Global Diversity CFP Day.

This workshop distills what I learned over the last few years as I advanced from a nervous newbie to an experienced speaker (who still gets nervous). I’m now a PloneConf keynote speaker, a PyGotham organizer, and I spoke at PyCon each year since 2014. I’ll present a complete guide to beginning a conference speaking career: where to find speaking opportunities, how to write a winning proposal, techniques for writing, rehearsing, and refining your presentation, and how to maximize the value of your conference talk. Anyone should come who wants to begin or to advance their speaking career.

My heartfelt thanks to Anna Ossowski for inviting me to give this workshop, and to Lacey Williams Henschel for creating the original workshop last year.

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