6/8/15– Kelsey Breseman

It’s conference season, and there are a lot of open calls for speakers! Consider presenting in the hardware/IoT space with Tessel– audiences are curious about the new field, and we’re here to support you.

Why give a talk?

Being a speaker is the most effective (and I think most enjoyable) way to experience a conference. You stand on a stage and talk about something you find interesting for just a few minutes. Then, for the rest of the conference, you’ll be approached by people who want to talk to you about that same interesting thing.

As a speaker, you’re providing part of the conference’s value. Other speakers go to a conference to learn from each other, including you. You’ll likely get to know and talk to the people you went to the conference to see, because they came to see you as well.

Organizers, particularly in the JS community, recognize the value you’re adding to the conference and work to make it easier for you. Speakers generally get free entry to the conference, and often airfare/lodging covered as well. If you’re interested in the conference, it’s definitely worth considering becoming a speaker.

What can I talk about?

Present whatever you’re excited about sharing! Have you made a cool project? Do you have ideas about the connected world? What insights do you have into open source projects and communities? I’ve given Tessel-related talks on human-computer interaction, the Node community, projects, and technical details of the project. It all depends on the audience and what you have to share.

Or if you’re just excited about sharing the technology, many conferences offer workshop sessions and hackathons. This is my personal favorite “speaker” role– helping people build something in the physical world, often for the first time. If you’re interested in doing this, please reach out to me (kelsey at technical.io)! Since you likely don’t have 20 Tessels to run a workshop, we’re happy to lend you some.

Get inspired by previous talks!

First-time speakers: I’d like to offer you a note of particular encouragement. New faces, fresh perspectives, are particularly sought out by conference organizers. See the next section for Calls for Speakers.

How can we help?

We’re here to support you! Join us on Tessel’s community chat on Slack– we have an #events-speaking channel where you can come to ask questions or find someone to preview your talk. We also sometimes announce relevant conferences there, some of which are specifically asking for Tessel talks.

You can also find a great number of calls for papers/calls for speakers on Lanyrd, a directory of conferences.

When you’re building your slides, please feel free to borrow (with credit) from previous presentations! You can also find Tessel-related image assets on the press page. Videos of some past Tessel-related talks can be seen here.

Leading up to your talk, please reach out! We are always excited to help promote your Tessel talk on Twitter and the forums. We’ll retweet photos from your presentation, and would love to share your slides as well– submit pull requests on the presentations repo!

Get out there! And don’t hesitate to ask me for advice or talk suggestions– I’m @selkeymoonbeam on Twitter.

Best,
Kelsey