# The Conference Speaker Investment

DevFeed: [The Conference Speaker Investment](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-conference-speaker-investment-20976.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://jakewharton.com/the-conference-speaker-investment/>)

Published: 2014-11-20T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Jake Wharton](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jake-wharton.md>)

Topics: [Publishing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/publishing.md>), [Dagger](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/dagger.md>)

Tags: [conference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/conference.md>), [conferences](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/conferences.md>), [presentation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/presentation.md>), [speakers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/speakers.md>), [speaking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/speaking.md>), [talk](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/talk.md>), [talks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/talks.md>), [tech](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tech.md>), [video](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/video.md>)

## AI overview

The article offers advice for conference speakers, emphasizing that speaking requires investments of time, energy, and knowledge. It discusses choosing a conference based on its theme, audience, size, and setting; tailoring the presentation to the audience; recording talks to expand their reach; and publishing recordings with synchronized slides. It also highlights the importance of suitable venues and technical facilities.

## Source excerpt

Speaking at conferences is an investment of speakers in time, energy, and knowledge. The quality of a presentation and of the conference itself can be measured in the amount of investment made. Here are my tips for future conference speakers. Choosing A Conference At which conference you choose to speak is arguably as important as the topic selection and the amount of work put into the presentation. There are very obvious factors that everyone should consider such as the overall theme, audience that will be attending, and overall conference size. A conference of 200 people on a specific topic in a remote region deserves a very different preparation than one of 2000 people on a general topic in a large tech hub. The smaller of these two would require something very detailed on which you consider yourself an expert because the people in attendance will expect it. At the larger one you can still give the same detailed talk, but you also have the option of being more broad, appealing more to introductory learners, and not having to be an absolute authority on the subject. Beyond those, there are other very important factors that I consider essential criteria when selecting where to speak. Recording Unless you are going to give the same presentation over and over again (and some do this, refining it over time), having your talk recorded means you instantly increase the size of your potential audience by 1000x. Not only does this force you to know what you are talking about and make pretty slides, but it helps justify the amount of work required to prepare. Rather than having only static images to refer to or your sweet (cough) prezi, those wishing to review your presentation can do so directly from you in addition to the static version (see 'Publishing' below). Some conferences will really go above and beyond in recording. Devoxx not only uses professional recording equipment with manned cameras, but they also publish their talks on parleys.com which features slides that