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Jeannie Nguyen
Jeannie Nguyen

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Tips for Your First Tech Talk

I just gave my first tech talk--and it went better than expected.

Since it was an internal tech talk, I can't share it here, but I spoke on and demoed how you can create a Twitter bot with Python and AWS Lambda to automate tweets in intervals for free. You can read more about it here. For those who are interested in building their own, I have included a template on my GitHub.

Here's what I learned from my first online tech talk:


Have a summary/breakdown available

I didn't have slides for my talk. If you don't have slides, make sure you have a summary of all your talking points handy. This will help you stay within time, while making sure you don't miss any important talking points.

Include code

Have your code ready! Go over your code and make sure you know what each line is doing. Make sure you don't have unnecessary code. Feel free to leave comments to break up sections you're going to talk about.

Show your completed work (if possible)

Showing the end product of the code you're speaking about is a nice way to start or end your talk. If you have it, show it!

Share your ideas

Tech talks aren't only about facts. Don't hesitate to share your ideas and lessons you've learned.


Public speaking isn't for everyone. For those who want to step out of their comfort zone and give a talk, I hope that these tips can help you reduce some stress and ensure you're ready for your talk.

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