FEMTC Lightning Talks

On day 3 of FEMTC 2020 there will be a Lightning Talks session to give people a chance to talk about something they want to share to all attendees.

A lightning talk is a very short presentation, up to 5 minutes, where you share an idea, concept, or a bit of information you find interesting. Lightning talks allow people to discuss topics that were not covered fully or partially at the conference. You can submit using the form at the bottom of this page.

Planning: What goes into a lightning talk?

A lightning talk should be about five minutes long, just long enough to give an overview and make people curious about your topic.

You can talk about anything that’s related to FEMTC's general theme.

To spark some ideas, think about:

• A concept, process, or tool that you learned recently or are still learning.
• An idea for a product that would solve a problem you have.
• A retrospective, or what went right/wrong during a project you did or are doing.
• Anything relevant that the audience might be interested in knowing more about.

Think about the audience, and the goal of your talk. Choose points to make that will be understandable by the audience and achieve your presentation goal.

Remember how quickly five minutes goes by when choosing what to include!

Preparation: Slides are optional

You absolutely don’t need slides.

However, if you’d like to make slides, use anything that you are comfortable with. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look polished, lightning talks don’t need to be! You might use Microsoft Word, Keynote, a PDF, or a website.

Live Demos: Proceed at your own risk

You may have the urge to do a live demonstration of the thing you’re talking about.

It seems like an easy way to help the audience see your vision, and it is… if it works! Following Murphy’s Law, however, we can deduce that your live demo will go horribly wrong. A failed demo can derail all but the most skilled presenters, but if you choose to do a demo and it goes wrong don’t worry! Have a backup story to tell that explains what the demo would have shown and revert to it if necessary.

Presenting: Your own five Minutes on stage!

Take a deep breath and go for it.

You are among friends, and nobody will mind if you make mistakes. Throw caution to the wind and embrace your five minutes! :)

Finishing up

Curious people may follow up with you if they’d like to collaborate or have feedback about your presentation.

We have planned the Networking Session immediately after the Lightning Talks, so please stay to the end of the session and then follow up. This will make sure that you don't miss another great talk that you will want to follow up on too.

Submit your talk idea.

There is a Google Form created for you to submit your Lightning Talk idea.

We are open to submissions until Sept. 10th, 13:30 UTC, which is the end of the Networking Session in the schedule before the Lightning Talks.