First talk at useR! Oslo
Last Monday, I gave my first ever talk at userR! Oslo and I really enjoyed it. Was quite nervous all weekend because I felt I was presenting to a lot of people who knew a lot more about this than I did.
I volunteered to do this for three reasons.
- I wanted to stretch myself and improve my presentation skills
- I wanted to explore
tidymodels - And finally, I wanted to actually finish one of my football analyses.
Some things I learnt through this whole process
- Don’t overcomplicate things! It’s very difficult to convey really technical details so simple examples are key
- Bring the data to life - it was a last minute decision to put some video of footbal events to help describe the data and I had underestimated how much that helped the audience understand what I was saying
- Slow down! This is big for me, I read recently that even though a 5 second pause feels like eternity to you while up there it is great for the audience to digest
- Get there early so you can meet others who are early and develop a rapport. This way, they won’t seem so daunting! Also gives you a chance to test out your equipment and make sure everyone can see your slides from the back of the room
- Make it personal. I had gifs and memes in there which did two things. One, made the audience laugh and two gave me some natural breaks.
- Time time time. This I completely failed on, I thought I wouldn’t have enough to say but I actually went over my time so it’s important to time your talk while you practise.
- If you can, invite some friends/colleagues. I invited someone and it was great to have a friendly face in the audience
All in all, I recommend it. And if you’re in Oslo, they are looking for more speakers from all walks of life and all levels.
So here are the slides