learn-co-students/flatiron-students-present-dc-web-051319

Flatiron Students Present

Overview

Starting in module three students will participate in Flatiron Students Present (FSP). Each student will be paired with a partner or group of three and together they will prepare one 7-10 minute technical talk to present at FSP.

Subjects

These talks should be about programming or programming-related topics. Be very conscious of the scope of your talk because it is common to pick too large a topic. As you are preparing your talk, you should practice delivering it and time yourself.

To give you an idea of appropriate topics, below is a list of FSP topics students have presented before:

• Test-Driven Development
• Amazon Web Services
• Arduino/Raspberry Pi
• OAuth
• Web Assembly
• Parallax
• GraphQL
• 3JS
• Creating a Ruby Gem

Slides

You should have a Powerpoint/Google Slides to accompany your talk. Don't fill your slides with text, only highlight the most important points on your slides. Feel free to use fun photos or gifs. If you include code on your slides, you should have under 10 lines per slide. Make it an easy read! Check out these examples from previous FSPs:

Internet of Things & Particle.

PlayCanvas: A Javascript Game Engine.

Code

Absolutely NO LIVE CODING. You can have code snippets in your presentation or take a gif of your code running and use that. If you use code snippets, make sure the code on the screen is under 10 lines. Any more than that is too much for the audience to process at once.

Groups

You'll be preparing and presenting with a group of two or three. Make sure to split the workload and the presenting evenly.

Practice and Prep

You'll be preparing for your presentation outside of classtime. Plan time to get together outside of school hours. On the day before FSP, you'll run through your presentation with a junior instructor and the other students presenting that day. Before FSP run throughs you'll...

1. Have chosen and thoroughly researched your topic
2. Have created well-organized and visually-appealing slides
3. Practiced your presentation together and made sure you're within the time limit.

Introducing Yourself

At the beginning of your presentation you'll want to introduce yourself to the audience. Aim for a short, 30-second summary of your career progression, leading up to Flatiron School, with an emphasis on your professional skills and goals. Think of it as a condensed narration of your story; where you started, what inspired you to get into coding (did you have a pivotal "aha!" moment?), what you're passionate about, and what you're looking forward to going forward (job and/or career wise).

Here are two examples as inspiration:

• Hi, my name is Pam and building and creating things have always been in my blood. It started when I used to make model airplanes in the 5th grade, and continued through college, during which I took a few computer science classes. After graduating with a environmental sustainability degree I worked at hazardous waste and solar energy companies. It wasn't long before I realized that my creative spirit had been stifled and was aching to escape...and that coding was what truly made me come alive! I'm now thrilled to be here at Flatiron and soon launching my new career in software engineering!

• Hi, my name is Tony and I'm a former educator with a Bachelor and Masters in English and Professional Studies from Stony Brook. I've held roles as a teacher, academic policy programmer, and dean of students at two NYC public high schools. I've always loved puzzles and solving problems, and I see coding as an extension of this. I'm excited to merge my previous background in education with my new found programming skills to launch a new career as a developer in the ed tech space.

There's no right or wrong way to introduce yourself. It's your story, so make it your own. :)

Scheduling Issues

If you have prior commitments on the day you are assigned to present, find another group in your class willing to switch presentation days, and then let an instructor know about your switch.

Questions?

Ask an instructor if you have any questions. Check in with your partner as soon as possible to confirm your presentation date and start thinking about a topic, so you'll have plenty of time to get questions answered.

Get Excited!

Flatiron Presents is a great opportunity to get practice speaking about a technical topic and to dive into a subject that interests you. Plus, you'll be teaching your classmates (and any members of the public who attend the meetup) something new!

Also, Flatiron Presents is open to the public, as well as students from every class. Support your fellow classmates and attend multiple FSPs!