/lightning_talks

A repository that contains the instructions and schedule of students' lightning talks.

Overview

Each six-week session, all students in modules 2, 3, and 4 will give one five-minute lightning talk to their peers. Lightning talk preparation should take approximately 3-6 hours.

Schedule

During intermission week, submit a pull request for that module's markdown file and add your topic. Topic choices will be first-come, first-served.

During the week of your lighting talk, the schedule will be as follows:

  • Monday: Submit your topic to the markdown file before 4pm.
  • Tuesday: Add your outline as a gist before 4pm. Please don't make us hunt you down!
  • Wednesday: Draft slides and/or content for presentation. You do not need to submit anything.
  • Thursday: Rehearsal in Classroom C after wrap up. Your slides and content should be prepared in advance as laptops will be closed during rehearsal. Attendance is mandatory.
  • Friday: Present your 5-minute talk for your Turing peers.

Topics & Themes

Module 2 students: Your topic can either be tech-related OR related to your background before coming to Turing.

Module 3 and 4 students: Your topic should fit into one of the themes below:

  • Computer Hardware
  • Computer Science
  • Design / User Experience
  • DevOps
  • Front End Development
  • General Software Methodologies / Techniques
  • Historical or Present-day People in Computer Science
  • JavaScript Architecture / Libraries
  • Programming & Science
  • Programming & the Arts
  • Programming Languages
  • Ruby Architecture / Libraries
  • Software Libraries
  • Software Testing
  • Technology & Law
  • Technology & Society
  • Technology & Ethics
  • Web Technologies

When considering the content of your presentation, take care to promote a welcoming environment for all students regardless of their age, gender, socio-economic background, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.

Picking a Topic

  • You don't need to be an expert on a topic. You can do the research and become expert enough to deliver a valuable talk.
  • A talk needs to teach something of value to the audience.
  • A talk needs to be at an appropriate level for the audience, not too basic and not too advanced.
  • A talk needs to have a message, not just a subject. "Introduction to RSpec" is boring, "Why You Should Use RSpec" has a message.

Examples of Previous Topics:

  • Using Computer Science to manipulate OKCupid
  • When Pairing Goes Wrong
  • How to Survive the Titanic with Machine Learning
  • The TDD Holy War
  • Is Elegant Ruby Fast?
  • Genetic Algorithms with Ruby Processing
  • Ancient Cryptography