How do I choose a presentation topic?

August 9, 2016

During my career, I’ve discussed presenting at conferences with several of my colleagues. During these conversations, I am often asked, “How do I choose an interesting topic?”.

I can certainly understand this question because speakers want to present something interesting to their audiences. So, how do you choose? I think the primary criteria for choosing a topic should be this. What topic are you passionate about? It can be something you already know, it can be something you are working on at your job or at a client or it can be something you are really interested in learning more about. If you are passionate about your topic, your passion will come through when you develop your presentation and more importantly, it will come through when you present your topic to an audience. Your audience not only needs to feel that you are knowledgeable about the topic you are presenting but also needs to feel that you truly believe in the topic you are presenting. And both of these goals are easily achieved when you are passionate about the topic you are presenting.

Some of you may follow up with this question, “Well, I am passionate about this but I’m not sure others are”. Remember this. In software development, we are talented individuals who work with a very wide range of awesome technology. If you are passionate about a particular topic, chances are very good that others are as well. Be confident in this. I have presented at several conferences I really enjoy doing it.

If you ever need help/advise/encouragement/etc, please feel free to contact me using my About page (link is above).