On Tuesday night, I presented my first ever lightning talk. It was at the London Content Strategy Meetup.
A lightning talk is a presentation format in which 20 slides are shown for 15 seconds each (giving each presenter five minutes in total). The format is used to keep presentations concise and fast-paced, and to allow the time for lots of speakers to participate in the event.
It’s very similar to “Pecha Kucha nights”, however those give speakers the luxury of an extra five seconds per slide.
So what’s it like to present a lightning talk?
As a presenter, you’re faced with a number of challenges you many not have faced before. In addition to the 20 slide/5 minute limitations, the slides change automatically – you are not in control of them.
At the London Content Strategy Meetup, it led to the presentations being structured in a variety of ways.
Most presenters decided to tell a story, and they used the slides to display an image or a sentence that emphasised part of the story. This worked particularly well with case studies.
Some presenters guided the audience through a list – for example, showing their favourite content strategy diagrams.
I chose a format that broke the presentation into sections. This works well in longer presentations, and I wanted to see if it would work in a lightning talk as well. Essentially, you introduce a section and then tell the audience about it. It meant I had five introductory (or “marker”) slides, and, as a result even fewer slides available for the actual content.
On the night, it worked. I had written these section introductions as questions, and a few minutes before I took the stage, I decided I’d ask the audience to shout out these questions whenever they saw them on the screen. The audience willingly joined in, and we ended up with “caller-response” participation, such as you’d see at a pantomime or a storytelling performance.
I must say I enjoyed the event immensely. As an audience member, I saw a lot of high quality presentations in a short space of time. As a speaker, I was able to speak to a very receptive, energetic audience. The limitations of the format force you to really focus on what you want to say.
If you’re thinking about speaking at a lightning talk or a Pecha Kucha night, I’d recommend you do it. Your presentation doesn’t need to be perfect – the “rough edges” are part of the fun!
Ellis, I’m glad and not at all surprised that your first lightning talk was a success. I like how you engaged the audience: the lightning-talk crowd is usually amped up anyway, so why not tap into that energy?
I was surprised that my first lightning talk required almost as much preparation as a regular 45-minute presentation. As you noted, I had to focus on exactly what I wanted to say. I had to organize my material carefully. And because I knew I couldn’t control the slides advancing I spent a lot of time getting the pacing right. All in all, like you, I enjoyed it immensely.
I agree with Larry. My first lightening talk required my to focus really hard on the key points I wanted to make. I used a picture or graphic on each slide to backup my words. The problem with this approach was that with 15 seconds per slide you really had to edit content to one (or possibly two) sentence per slide. It was really fun to do and a great exercise in editing.
Thanks Larry. Yes, it did take quite a while to prepare. You reminded me of something I’d forgotten – I used a free app called the Ignite & Pecha Kucha Timer to make sure I didn’t overrun each slide.
Great article Ellis. Lightning talks have been a huge hit at the STC Summit the past few years. I’m very thankful to Alan Houser who initially brought them to the Summit program. The fast-paced, engaging format also offers many funny moments. The audience is often cheering for the presenter as they briefly explore the topic being presented. I’ve enjoyed doing several lightning talks now, and I even enjoyed the terrifying 5 minutes of doing a Ninja Talk at the Summit last year (I presented the talk without ever seeing the slides, which were created by someone else). In the case of the Ninja Talk, I decided to demonstrate what happens when you don’t properly prepare for speaking…it was all great fun!
I wrote a lot of my thoughts about lightning talks in my blog post at http://www.mardahl.dk/2011/03/28/igniting-accessibility-for-ignite-denmark/
I, too, was amazed at how much work went into this. Practising the completed slides 15 times didn’t seem like enough practise!
I think it is an excellent exercise for all technical communicators. I love the twist you added, Ellis. Sounds like it was great fun.
I’ll add that Keynote on a Mac gives you good practise on your timing. I think the newer PowerPoint does, too.