4️⃣Speaking at conferences

👋 Introduction

We encourage team members to present at conferences regularly. For Obvious, it becomes a great way to broadcast the work we do to the wider world. For the team member, it’s an excellent way of deepening their own understanding of a topic, becoming a better orator or jumping into a new area of expertise.

1️⃣ How to select a conference

A good event or conference usually has the following features:

  1. Relevant to Obvious’ work and your work

  2. Has featured speakers you’ve personally admired, talks that have changed the way you work

  3. Deeply cares about and works on diversity in its speaker lineup and attendees

  4. Is accessible and inclusive

  5. Has got a Code of Conduct and is prepared to enforce it (here's a good example)

2️⃣ What Obvious provides

If you are a speaker at a conference, Obvious covers related expenses.

  1. We cover up to $100/day for your expenses during the conference. If it's a one-day event, we'll cover $100, two days, $200 and so forth. This will be capped at $500.

    1. See how to file a reimbursement [page link]

  2. We believe that conferences should pay for the basics (travel/accommodation/conference tickets), but in the unlikely event that the conference organisers do not cover your these expenses and your manager determine that this is a worthwhile/high-impact conference to attend, Obvious will try to cover a part of those expenses.

  3. If a conference gives out a speaker honorarium (usually $150-$500), that's yours to keep!

3️⃣ Prepare for the conference

  1. Ask the Communications team and the Design team to help you create the presentation.

  2. Present the talk that you are going to give to the Obvious team before you leave and refine it based on feedback that you will get.

Useful links:

How to choose a talk topic How to submit and speak at a conference How to prepare and write a tech conference talk How to prepare a talk

4️⃣ Attending the conference

  1. Follow Obvious’ Code of Conduct at the conference. You are representing the organisation and it’s important that you carry yourself well.

  2. Unless it falls foul of conference guidelines, make sure you take some Obvious swag to give out — use it to make some new friends!

5️⃣ After the conference

  1. Publish a high-quality post on the subject of your presentation/talk on our blog within two weeks of returning to work.

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