This is the pro­ce­dure I use to pre­pare for speak­ing at con­fer­ences. It may work for oth­er­s, it may not. It may be good, it may be bad.

1. Be asked to speak

2. Be un­­sure about it for a few days

3. Be asked if you are go­ing to move your ass and do it al­ready

4. Think ti­­tle

5. Send pro­­pos­al at dead­­­line +/- 48 hours

6. Spend the next week or two think­ing of can­­celling

7. Fig­ure out what the ti­­tle means

8. Spend the next N-1 weeks un­til the con­fer­­ence with a con­s­tant di­a­log in your head about what you should talk about

9. Turn that con­s­tant un­or­­ga­nized di­a­log in­­­to a lit­­tle sto­ry

10. Write down the sto­ry head­­ings in slides

11. At­­tend the con­fer­­ence

12. Sit in the back while you pol­ish slides

13. Start talk­ing

14. Show slides

15. Stop talk­ing