Skip to content
Handbook

Lightning Talks

A lightning talk is a very short talk. At conferences they're usually capped at five minutes; at our meetups we're more relaxed and welcome anything from 5 to 15 minutes. It's the friendliest way to get on stage: low stakes, low prep, and a great first talk. Here's what they are, how to prepare one, examples to watch, and plenty of ideas to get you started.

What is a lightning talk

A lightning talk is a short, timed talk. At most conferences it’s strictly five minutes, often with a countdown or auto-advancing slides, and the host will cut you off the moment time runs out. Because we’re less formal than a conference, we’ll consider talks anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, so you have a little more room to breathe.

Either way, the spirit is the same: cover one idea, not everything you know about a topic. That constraint is a feature. It’s long enough to teach one useful thing and short enough that it’s never a big commitment, for you or the audience.

How long is a lightning talk?

At a conference: usually 5 minutes, hard stop. At our meetups: 5 to 15 minutes, your choice. Aim for one clear idea and practise your timing either way.

Why give one

  • It’s a great first talk. No experience needed. If you’ve never spoken before, this is the place to start.
  • It’s low pressure. Five minutes, one idea, a handful of slides (or none at all).
  • It’s good practice before a conference. Trying out a talk here is a low-stakes way to rehearse, get feedback, and build confidence before a bigger stage. If you’re aiming for a conference lightning talk, our slightly longer slot is a gentle place to shape the idea before you tighten it to a strict five minutes.

You do not need to be an expert, have an original topic, or hold a particular job title. If you learned something and can walk others through it, that’s a talk.

What you can talk about

We lean toward technology topics, and Python-adjacent counts: R, data, the web, tooling, open source, and the wider ecosystem are all fair game.

When we polled attendees at our last meetup, these are the topics our community said they want to hear more of:

  • AI/ML and LLMs
  • Web development
  • Data science
  • Python internals / CPython
  • Testing and tooling
  • Live coding and workshops

That’s a steer, not a rulebook: a clear talk on any technology topic is welcome. Beyond the subject, a few shapes that work well in a short talk:

  • A tool or package you love: one thing it does, one quick demo.
  • A tiny project or side project: what you built and one thing you learned making it.
  • A “today I learned”: one trick, shortcut, or concept that clicked for you recently.
  • A bug that taught you something: what broke, and what you know now.
  • A small automation: a script or workflow that saves you time.
  • A visualization or dataset: something you made or explored, and what surprised you.
  • Explain one concept simply: list comprehensions, tidy data, vectorization, an API, a git command, whatever you can make click for someone new.
  • A comparison: how you’d do the same task in Python and in R.
  • A career or learning story: a pivot, a first open-source contribution, how you got started.
  • A first: your first pull request, first dashboard, first model, first talk.

Stuck? Pick the last thing you figured out and show someone how. That’s usually a talk.

How to prepare

  • Pick one idea. Five minutes fits one point well and two points badly. Cut ruthlessly.
  • Sketch three beats: what it is, why it matters, and one concrete example or demo.
  • Write a script. Writing out what you’ll say, close to word for word, is the surest way to keep to time instead of going on and on. You don’t have to read it on the night, but drafting it keeps you tight and calms the nerves.
  • Keep slides light. A handful of slides, big text, few words. Slides are optional; a short live demo or even just talking works too.
  • Practise out loud and time yourself. Whatever your slot, it’s shorter than it sounds. Running through it once or twice against a timer is usually enough to feel ready.
  • Have a backup for demos. A screenshot or a recorded clip saves you if the wifi or the live code doesn’t cooperate.
  • End with one takeaway. Leave the room with the single thing you want them to remember.

Don’t over-prepare. The charm of a lightning talk is that it’s small.

Watch some examples

The best way to get a feel for the format is to watch a few. These are full lightning talk sessions, so you’ll see a dozen different styles back to back:

Watch for how the strongest ones make a single point and get off the stage.

Resources for preparing

How to sign up

We collect talks through Sessionize. Sign up to give a lightning talk here:

Sign up to give a lightning talk

You don’t need a polished abstract to start: a title and a sentence or two is plenty. You can update your title, bio, and details in Sessionize any time, so there’s no need to get it perfect right away, and we’ll reach out if we have any questions. If you’d rather talk it through first, reach out in the #city-vancouver channel on the PyLadies Slack or email vancouver at pyladies dot com.

Know someone who would be a great fit? Point them to this page, or introduce us by emailing vancouver at pyladies dot com.

Common questions

I’ve never done public speaking before. Then we’d love to debut you. A lightning talk is a gentle first stage, and we’ll help you prepare and launch your public speaking journey.

I don’t know if my topic is interesting enough. Let us be the judge. Sign up with your idea: if you found it useful, chances are someone else will too.

Someone already gave a talk on this topic. Should I still do mine? It doesn’t matter to us that a topic has come up before. We want to hear from you, so make your own version of it: your words, your angle, your experience.

Can I give a talk I’ve already presented somewhere else? Yes, you can. We always have new members who may not have heard it before, so a talk from another meetup, conference, class, or work is very welcome here. It does not need to be brand new.

My talk was rejected at another conference or meetup. Then bring it here and you’ll still get your audience. A rejection usually says more about a packed schedule than about your idea, and we’d like to hear it.

Will there be Q&A after my talk? Most lightning talks at conferences skip questions, but we leave it up to you. If you’re happy to take questions, we’ll set aside time for them; if not, we’ll skip it. You’ll let us know which you prefer when you sign up in Sessionize.

More ways to participate

Lightning talks aren’t the only format we welcome. If you’d like more time, we also host longer talks and hands-on workshops: see Speak at our meetup. You can also host a venue, donate or sponsor, or help organize.