This post summarize few stats and lessons I learned after giving my Web Application Security presentation during TechEd Developers Barcelona this November 2007.

• 500 attendees. 221 responded to evaluation form.
• Overall quality of the session - 7.71 [out of 9]
• Speaker's knowledge of the subject - 8.29 [out of 9]
• Speaker's presentation skills - 7.41 [out of 9]

There were a lot of fantastic comments - more than 100, here are few examples:

"...excellent pace."

"perfect blend of presentation and demos."

"Very interesting. Thank you, learned quite a lot."

"nothing really new stuff"

"Excellent illustration of vulnerabilities and insight into hacker mindset"

"Alik's English was sometimes hard to follow. But very interesting demonstrations."

"Unfortunately for me there was very little new here... aside from the WCF stuff, which was excellent.. absolutely brilliant!!! Thanks!"

"...His presenting skills were also good with a healthy dose of humor."

"Language skills. Control of presentation equipment."

"...beginning was boring...."

"great session with enough fun in it and a serious message"

I really like when people give positive feedback [everybody likes I guess], but I also like less flattering comments - as long I can learn from it.

Lessons learned

• Carry out the message, do not just spit out technical material
• Pause - good for you [the presenter], good for audience
• Research the audience beforehand
• Set objectives, messages, asks, and expectations up front, or...
• ... define what you want the audience to know, feel, do [KFD] and...
• ... check out the first bullet in this list
• Create checklists when preparing
• Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more like crazy for:
  • Demos
  • Slides
  • Timing
  • Equipment
  • Jokes
  • Flow
  • Body language
  • Language.

My biggest lesson I learned is that my English is way far from being great and this is my next objective - sharpen my presentation skills in English.

More resources

• The best public speaking tip ever
• Nail Your Next Presentation with these Classic Principles of Public Speaking.

Worth reading.

Enjoy.