Tips for Speakers
Thinking about giving a talk? We'd love to have you. Our audience is a mix of students, hobbyists, and working engineers, so a talk that is clear to a newcomer and still interesting to an expert is the sweet spot.
PLEASE:* If your talk has been scheduled, we will advertise and promote it to the membership. While we understand that life may get in the way, you should know that your talk is the centerpiece of the meeting and the reason people are taking time out of their evening. We hope that you will do your utmost to avoid cancelling.*
Focus of talks
We like talks that skew technical: how a core technique really works (Kalman filters, kinematics, power), a research report from a lab, a robot doing real work in the field, or an open platform people can build themselves. If people leave knowing how to do something they didn't before, it's a good fit. We are less excited about talks about industry happenings and trends, specific company news or analysis.
Schedule
Our meetings are always on the second Thursday of the month, at 7:00pm at the Artisans Asylum in Brighton Mass, close to the Harvard Business School. Pito Salas will work with you to find a date that is convenient for your presentation.
Types of Talks
If you are a main speaker, plan on a talk of around 30-60 minutes and expect a highly receptive, interactive audience. Typically there will be slides, and we absolutely love and encourage demos, coding examples, hands-on toys.
We also have lightning talks, which we tend to schedule more at the last minute. They start a little earlier and last 5-10 minutes. Please limit yourself to one idea, one project, or one demo.
Slides
We hope you will have slides and we will coordinate with you about that. There is a big screen projector in the room. You can bring your own laptop or give Pito Salas your slides and he will take care of projection. Again, demos, hands-on and code are really encouraged.
Afterwards
Send us your slides as a PDF and we'll post them with the meeting report. Stick around. The best conversations happen after the formal meeting ends.
Interested in speaking? See Contact Us on the About page.