The Holy Grail of Conference Talks: Live Coding

If you’re the nervous type, this may not be a good choice.

Certainly, when preparing a new talk, the most important question to ask yourself is if there’s any value in doing a live-coding presentation. For example, if you’re merely providing a variety of examples, do you truly need to code those in real-time? Would a well-presented slide not work just as well, while relieving you of some stress, and the potential for breakage?

You might consider taking the live-coding route in the following instances:

• Your code samples require context to be as effective as possible.
• You’re hoping to present your topic in a workshop style.
• Your talk focuses on workflow, in which case a slide-based layout isn’t optimal.
• You enjoy living on the edge.

Personally, I’d urge you to reach for the slides, unless you can provide a good enough argument as to why they won’t be as effective. Live-coding requires a significant amount of preparation, as well as backup plans, to counter any potential roadblocks that may arise as you code. Keep that in mind. If you’re the nervous type, this may not be a good choice.

Tip 2 - Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice. Practice. And, when you’re done, practice some more.

Clearly, every talk should be rehearsed at least once or twice before being given in front of a live audience. However, if you intend to code in real-time, as a basic rule of thumb, triple the number of rehearsals. Code your way through the talk once, and then repeat the process; the more repetitions, the better!

When speaking on stage, you should fully expect to blank at least a few times.

• What was I supposed to say next?
• Is it time to switch slides yet?
• I have no idea what I’m doing up here!

These insecurities exist in all speakers. The easiest way to prevent as many errors as possible is to know the subject matter (and how you will present it) as well as humanly possible. Practice. Practice. And, when you’re done, practice some more.

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Tip 3 – Create a Backup Plan

Your first step should be to expect the worst.

So you’ve decided to push forward with a live workshop-style presentation. Good for you! Your first step should be to expect the worst. Ask yourself, “What happens if I completely crash and burn? What if my mind blanks?”

I always save a copy of the finished project ahead of my talk. That way, should the stage drop out from under me, so to speak, I can always make a casual, self-deprecating joke, noting how I’m clearly not talented enough to execute this style of talk. Then, I can quickly switch over to the finished code, and do my best to continue on from there.

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Tip 4 – Snippets Are Your Friend

I religiously use a Mac app, called Dash.

Additionally, consider creating a variety of smaller snippets, which can represent everything from a single function, to a bit of HTML, to a CSS ruleset. Doing so can serve a few different purposes:

• Don’t make the audience watch you type a particularly intricate piece of code.
• If you’re moving along in your talk quite nicely, but happen to forget a line or two, it only takes a second to replace the last two lines you wrote with the finished snippet. This way, you can prevent a potentially embarrassing moment on stage, without the audience realizing.
• The simple fact that you have a variety of backup snippets for your code can help provide a great deal of confidence.

I religiously use a Mac app, called Dash, however any text expander (or even your code editor’s snippet creation functionality) will do the trick nicely.