I just got back from PyCon, and as with all conferences where the talks are delivered by engineers instead of professional speakers, we had a mixed bag. Some talks were great; others made me get my laptop out . The most important important axiom is: a talk is not just an essay without random access. It's a different medium. Respect its strengths instead of wishing it were something it's not. Here are some concrete principles that can help: Don't read your slides Advice often repeated, too-seldom followed. This is sometimes phrased as "make eye contact with your audience," but I've seen that second version interpreted to mean, "make eye contact while reading your slides, so your head pops up and down like a gopher poking out of its hole." So just don't read your slides, no matter what else you're doing. Some good presenters go to extremes with this, with just one or two words per slide. This is fine as a stylistic embellishment, b...