For three days last week, the US State Department hosted the USRio+2.0 Conference, an infusion of entrepreneurial spirit into a conversation that could use it: the Rio+20 discussion on sustainable development ideas and solutions. The event was all about highlighting innovative ideas and technologies through some nontraditional conference events including, among other things, speedgeeking. 

Speedgeeking, modelled off speed dating, is a quick-hit way to introduce and demonstrate technology projects. Although it’s been used in tech circles for a few years now, my guess is that it was new for the State Department in this kind of context. They even referred to it as “demo alley”, with the “speedgeeking” language relegated to the parenthetical.  They set it up like experienced pros, though, with good-sized groups, well-spaced tables, and a religious adherence to the 5-minute time limit.
 
From what I heard, the speedgeek session came off pretty well -- but my perspective here was that of  a presenter, co-speedgeeking alongside  TechSoup Global founder and co-CEO Daniel Ben-Horin.

Speedgeeking N00b

 
I’ve been on the listening side of the geek table plenty of times before, but never have I been on the talking side. The closest I’ve come to presenting this way comes from scientific poster sessions -- similar to speedgeeking, but many years older and not nearly as sexy.

So going in, I tried to take into account both advice -- of Daniel and another TSG CEO in attendance, Marnie Webb -- as well as my own experience on the other side of the table. Here’s what I tried to keep in mind:

• Get to the point. Lead with the highlight and then fill in the details. If you save the punchline till the end, no one will be listening any more.
• Be specific. You might be doing many amazing things, but you’ll never cover them all in five minutes, so don’t even try. Pick one story to tell that demonstrates a single, compelling piece of your work or mission.
• Leave time for questions. You’ll get a one-minute warning, but it’s even better if you ask for questions before then. If no one has questions, then you can talk some more, but give them the chance to ask.
• Act like the first time. It might be your 7th time giving the same speech, but it’s your audience’s first time hearing it, so bear that in mind and try to keep it fresh.

Taking the Advice

I tried to balance all these pieces of advice while also being mindful of my speaking style. I’m already prone to talking too fast (sometimes referred to as “speaking in binary”, as if a stream of 0s and 1s bursts from my head into the ether, leaving the listener to decipher them), and I’m also a bit excitable when sharing what I’m working on. Knowing a 5-minute clock is ticking away makes both those problems worse. But in the end we told the story we wanted to tell, and -- in the only quantifiable way to measure success at conferences -- I ran out of business cards.

Daniel and I swapped primary/secondary speaking roles each of the 10 rotations. We both changed our pitch just a bit in each session to help keep it fresh; I don’t think any two groups got exactly the same speech. You can check out a Daniel session in the video below.

Have you ever speedgeeked before? What advice would you give a newbie?