Lightning Talks

At the end of a course project, is generally a good idea to have students present their outcomes. It makes participants rethink their own knowledge and helps to spread it laterally through the group. Presentations can be one of the best parts of the course, but it is also risky. To prevent bad presentations to take up a lot of room, establish the Lightning Talk format seen on many conferences. It requires a few ground rules:

Time limit

Use a strict limit of 5 minutes. Make clear what the time limit is. The “Lightning Talk” format seen on many conferences uses a strict limit of 5 minutes. If possible, use a timer that the speaker sees all the time. To enforce time, put 1-2 participants in charge of timekeeping and have them wave a flag or start clapping.

Announce the talks early

Let your participants know early that they will be presenting and how. Also announce what you expect from presenters. Communicate the rules clearly, especially those on timing.

Speaker sign-up

Put up a flipchart or board with the speaking slots, so that participants can sign up with their names/talk titles. An online channel works as well. If presenting is mandatory, you could use a random number generator to determine the speaking order.

Any topic is fine

Encourage people to show code, live demos, notebooks, websites, diagrams or bugs. Whatever interesting things they found on the way is worth sharing.

Skip material

Good presentations are spoken freely. Encourage people to show code, notebooks or websites instead of spending a lot of time preparing slides or even handouts.