My 2025 Conference Talks: What I Learned From 16 Sessions Across 4 Continents
Two hours before my Sydney talk in March, I was walking around the harbor - practicing my entire presentation out loud, without looking at slides. That’s how I prepare. No desk. No last-minute slide reviews. Just a walk.
2025 has been my most active year as a technical speaker in my 20-year IBM career. I traveled to seven cities across four continents, delivered 16 conference sessions totaling 25.5 hours, and reached over 1,000 in-person attendees - plus many more through webinars and internal sessions.
By the Numbers
6 conferences | 7 cities | 4 continents | 25.5 hours | 1,000+ in-person attendees
My Framework for Preparing Technical Talks
Here’s the structure I use:
One Thread, One Theme. Every slide supports a single theme. No distractions.
Own Your Content. I create all my slides from scratch. No borrowed decks. This means I know exactly what each slide says and can talk about it naturally.
Revise Until It’s Clean. For each slide, I ask: What is the key message here? I keep editing until every extra word and image is gone.
AI as My Design Partner. Last few years and much part of this year, I used ChatGPT for brainstorming and designing slide visuals. Now, my favorite tool for planning conference slides is Claude. For image editing, I use Canva.
Start with the Title. I open every talk by explaining each word in the title and telling the audience what they will learn. This sets clear expectations from the start.
Live Demos Only. No pre-recorded demos. I build and run demos myself, live on stage. This engages the audience. Also, when I built a demo, I did’t need to memorize - I just explained what I built.
Keep the Audience Engaged. I ask questions, add light humor, and repeat key points throughout the talk.
What Changed
At the start of this year, conference talks felt uncomfortable. With each session, it got easier. Now I look forward to larger audiences - the bigger, the better. I enjoy making eye contact, reading the room, answering questions mid-talk. The best moment is when I explain something complex and see it click. That’s the joy.