How to pitch your talk

How to pitch Jonathon Colman Senior Design Manager, HubSpot your talk

How to pitch @jcolman your talk

How to pitch go.inter.com/pitch your talk

pitch

First, let’s set some expectations…

Anyone can be a great speaker.

Anyone can be a great speaker. This means you!

That’s because speaking is an acquired skill.

You can learn it with practice.

Today we’ll practice how to write a strong pitch.

Before you Begin

1 Give yourself permission to feel afraid

😬

2 Start collecting your ideas somewhere

3 Read proposals other people have written

👇 This isn’t just the talk’s description. It’s probably also the proposal!

4 Review the directions

5 Don’t write your pitch in the form at the very last minute

5 Not that you would ever even think of doing that! But seriously, the pitch form is the worst place to write.

Please, please, please be kind to yourself and don’t write your conference proposal here in the submission form. It adds to the stress and pressure you’re feeling because it’s highly constrained and unnatural. It’s also easy to lose anything you write if the submission fails or if you don’t get sent a copy.

Please, please, please be kind to yourself and don’t write your conference proposal here in the submission form. It adds to the stress and pressure you’re feeling because it’s highly constrained and unnatural. It’s also easy to lose anything you write if the submission fails or if you don’t get sent a copy. I mean it. This really is the worst place to write.

How to write your T i t le

10 questions to help you write better headlines by Matt Thompson poynter.org/reporting-editing/2011/10questions-to-help-you-write-better-headlines/

10 questions to help you write better headlines by Matt Thompson poynter.org/reporting-editing/2011/10questions-to-help-you-write-better-headlines/ Note: This article is about writing headlines for news stories. I’ll show you just the 5 questions that will be most helpful to you for writing a title for your conference talk.

1 Is it accurate?

You should be clear before being clever

2 Does it work out of context?

Be aware of how your title appears beyond the conference program

3 How compelling of a promise does it make?

fi fi Make a relevant, speci c promise that you ful ll

4 How easy is it to parse?

Make it easy to read, say out loud, and share

5 Are all the words necessary?

Keep it as short and simple as you can

How to write your Proposal

Conference Proposals that Don’t Suck by Russ Unger alistapart.com/article/conference-proposalsthat-dont-suck/

1 Show a clear pain point

☝ Pain point

☝ Pain point #1

☝ Pain point #2

2 Then show a solution

👇 Solutions

👇 Solution

3 Give a few proof points or supporting statements

☝ Proof point

👇 Proof point

4 Use (just a little) humor and personality

☝ Humor and personality

👇 Humor and personality

☝ Humor and personality

How to write your Bio

How To Write A Good Bio by Scott Berkun scottberkun.com/2013/how-to-write-a-good-bio/

1 Keep it short

fi Pat has done so many amazing things that they can’t tell you about all of them, but they’re gonna give it the good ol’ college try. Their rst job was selling newspapers in a donut shop, but they ended up liking donuts more than news, so they became a baker, which is when they learned the proper spelling of “donut” is actually “doughnut” but they still spell it “donut” to this very day. Next, Pat invented quantum…

fi Pat has done so many amazing things that they can’t tell you about all of them, but they’re gonna give it the good ol’ college try. Their rst job was selling newspapers in a donut shop, but they ended up liking donuts more than news, so they became a baker, which is when they learned the proper spelling of “donut” is actually “doughnut” but they still spell it “donut” to this very day. Next, Pat invented quantum… 👈 Too long

fi Pat has done so many amazing things that they can’t tell you about all of them, but they’re gonna give it the good ol’ college try. Their rst job was selling newspapers in a donut shop, but they ended up liking donuts more than news, so they became a baker, which is when they learned the proper spelling of “donut” is actually “doughnut” but they still spell it “donut” to this very day. Next, Pat invented quantum… Pat designs products that help businesses grow better.

2 Make it relevant

fi Chris is a product designer who has a very long history of solving hard problems, all which they’ll walk you through right now. The rst problem they solved was how to tie their shoes. The second was how to walk and chew gum at the same time…

fi Chris is a product designer who has a very long history of solving hard problems, all which they’ll walk you through right now. The rst problem they solved was how to tie their shoes. The second was how to walk and chew gum at the same time… 👈 Irrelevant

fi Chris is a product designer who has a very long history of solving hard problems, all which they’ll walk you through right now. The rst problem they solved was how to tie their shoes. The second was how to walk and chew gum at the same time… Chris designs products that you use every day, including the one in your pocket right now.

fi 3 Put the most important stuff rst

Jude grew up in a small town in southeastern Michigan. It wasn’t Romulus, MI but they always thought Romulus was a cool name for a town because it sounds like it’s from Star Trek even though it’s really from Roman mythology. Jude’s best known as a product designer at HubSpot, where they mentor new designers.

Jude grew up in a small town in southeastern Michigan. It wasn’t Romulus, MI but they always thought Romulus was a cool name for a town because it sounds like it’s from Star Trek even though it’s really from Roman mythology. Jude’s best known as a product designer at HubSpot, where they mentor new designers. 👈 The important stuff is last

Jude grew up in a small town in southeastern Michigan. It wasn’t Romulus, MI but they always thought Romulus was a cool name for a town because it sounds like it’s from Star Trek even though it’s really from Roman mythology. Jude’s best known as a product designer at HubSpot, where they mentor new designers. Jude’s a product designer who helps new designers start their careers.

4 Avoid being (too) clever

Jonathon’s old enough to be your parents’ younger friend.

Jonathon’s old enough to be your parents’ younger friend. 👈 Not funny (and sorta confusing?)

Jonathon’s old enough to be your parents’ younger friend. Jonathon’s worked on the web since 1994 and is grumpy it’s not done yet.

5 Create a few versions

Write tweetable, short, and longer versions of your bio

Get even more ideas

Getting started in public speaking: Global Diversity CFP Day by Rachel Andrew How to write a successful conference proposal By Karolina Szcur Is your conference proposal good enough? By Raquel Vélez How to write a killer conference abstract By Helen Kara A process for writing an abstract By Cate Huston Lots of helpful resources from Women Talk Design

Thank you