CFP Accepted!

It was May 2nd that I found out that my conference talk proposal was accepted! I remember submitting my proposal of Design Systems: Bridging the Gap Between Developers and Designers on February 19th unsure if my talk would be picked. Part of me, at the time, wondered if I was even qualified to speak on the topic of Design Systems. It's been around a year since we started the creation of our Design System at the University of Cincinnati Foundation. Through multiple meetings with the designers, we discussed, debated and tested our ideas of how we wanted the design system to turn out. Each of us set our ego aside to work toward a common goal. Uniform styles across the website.

Since finding out I was going to speak at the Digital Collegium conference, at the end of September, I've reached out to speakers whom I've met at the various Smashing Conferences I've attend for tips and advice. The following are some of the responses I've received.

"One tip I often share is to think of your talk as a gift to your audience—not a performance, but a connection." - Yiying Lu

"Best thing I say is to be yourself and know (really know!) that what you'll talk about will be helpful to people." - Brad Frost

"I tend to start talks as an outline, then I write my entire transcript from there, typically before starting on slides. I end up spending about as much time editing that transcript as I do the slides themselves, and I continue to edit it in the speaker notes of a slide deck as I iterate and practice the presentation. I suppose I’ve also made more of an effort recently to try and develop humorous narratives where I can, to mixed results of course." - Scott Jehl

"When you're up there, remember that the audience is on your team, they want to hear what you have to say. They'll stay with you if you need to catch your breath (remember to breath!), or correct yourself, or take a drink (you're allowed!), or go back a couple slides to say something you missed, etc. I don't recommend using any sort of word for word script, because it's hard to read and speak naturally, and it's easy to get lost in the text. Instead I spend my prep time working on how I want to explain an idea, and I make slides that take me through the steps of that explanation. Sometimes there's a series or transition that I'll run enough to get pretty consistent wording in my head, but mostly: trust yourself to know the material, and know how to explain it. Spend time making sure you understand it, and can explain it well. No matter what else happens, you will always have that knowledge to keep you going." - Miriam Suzanne

"I personally just practice a lot, I make the talk and then the month before, I run through it almost daily just to get a flow and not need speaker notes." - Christine Vallaure

"I like to story board on note cards before getting into the slides. Allows you to quickly iterate move things around and think of visuals you might want to lead with. Then you can start to massage the messaging like the hook and closer once you feel like the story is fleshed out." - Harrison Wheeler

"I advise that you lean into the why of your talk (why is what you are saying important for folks to hear) and think about the 3 critical content pieces: what do you want them to know, what do you want them to feel, and what do you want them to do? Everything you say should be in support of those elements. People are coming to hear you speak because they are genuinely interested in your topic. They want you to succeed!" - Kristina Podnar

Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry for tips and advice! Hopefully these tips could help someone else reading these. I look forward to posting more as I prepare for this exciting challenge!

https://events.digicol.org/digicol25/session/3090277/design-systems-bridging-the-gap-between-designers-and-developers