conference 
Thanks to a writing workshop from Write/Speak/Code 2019, I submitted a CFP (Call for Proposal) and was accepted to give a talk on Git at Tech Intersections 2020!
Having heard about Tech Intersections during Write/Speak/Code, I felt empowered to submit a CFP. One technology that I’m highly comfortable in and often called to help with is Git. I have had so many horror stories with Git that I felt it was something I could speak about. I originally submitted the proposal for 30 minutes. However, the organizers offered me an hour given the enormity of Git. I’m glad I accepted an hour as my talk clocked in at 45 minutes.
I won’t discuss the process of writing a CFP as conferences differ on expectations and the amount of detail. Instead I’ll focus on the actual presentation and learnings.
Preparing The Presentation:
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I spent about two days with < 1 hour chunks to produce and rewrite an outline. I ended up listing Git commands that I knew well but then found myself organizing them in a way that was more coherent. Further backtracking, Git concepts and the setup were hammered out. The outline wasn’t super detailed and provided more of a timetable of what concepts/commands I wanted to go through. Highly recommend this as…
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Rewriting and revising Google slides is a thing. There are a lot of resources that have likely touched upon your talk. Use them — with credits, of course! I did a combination of creating screenshots from my terminal and utilizing existing images. I would have spread out and transitioned some screenshots better as some were small and not easily readable from afar. However, for the most part I tried to have one big centered image per slide. Less is more on slides!
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Think about how you want to setup your talk. This took the most revision (and I still think it can be improved). I ultimately decided on explaining my experience with Git from a solo developer during bootcamp to working professionally in a team. It went from individual -> parallel collaboration -> pull requests. Then I dived into Git branching and repositories, followed by specific Git commands and concepts.
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One last thing, I would wait until the CFP is accepted before creating a talk/presentation. A good chunk of work and time is involved and before investing so much, I would want an acceptance. However, if you feel very strongly about it, then go for it.
What I Would Have Done Differently:
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Dimming the lights in the room would have allowed the audience to have seen the slides better. So better #a11y!
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I would gave emphasized Git done through GUIs. A lot of my current colleagues utilize Git this way and it works! Although I like writing the commands out, GUIs have helped me out this year (e.g.
git mv [oldFileName] [newFileName]but with a click). -
More time and explanation should have been given to repositories and staging as the talk built on that.
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More practice giving my talk! 🗣️
Links:
- From Zero to (Git) Hero! slides
- https://techintersections.org/