Special Notes for Presenters

Would you like to present at a ChicagoRuby meeting? We welcome you! Of course, we have guidelines that we ask all of our presenters to follow. The guidelines ensure that:

Our goal is to achieve win/win for all parties.

Presentation Guidelines

  1. You and your product must LOVE Ruby as much as we do. This is the perfect opportunity to preach to the choir. You might be presenting some new-fangled Javascript library, or some advancements in other languages like Erlang or Clojure, but bear in mind that you’re presenting to a fanatical Ruby audience. If there’s a way to present your topic in terms of how it relates to Ruby, or why we as Ruby developers would really appreciate your product, that should be your “angle”.
  2. No hard sell. ChicagoRuby is an informal group of Ruby professionals who get together every month because we want to, not as part of our jobs or career development. The meeting is definitely not meant as a means to be sold new products. So leave the sell sheets and the brochures at the office. Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Focus on making a good impression on a human level, rather than on a product level. Chances are, if we like you as a person, we’ll be more inclined to check out your product.
  3. Attend some of our meetings prior to presenting. This is arguably the best way to get a sense for the community you’ll be addressing. If you can’t make it to a meeting, take a look at the videos from our past meetings and/or WindyCityRails. You’ll see some presentations we’ve had in the past, and really enjoyed.
  4. Your product should work on a Mac or Linux. It can work on Windows, too, but bear in mind that the overwhelming majority of our community is Mac-based, and enjoys being so. If your product is primarily Windows-based, chances are your product isn’t a good fit for a ChicagoRuby meeting.
  5. Use high-contrast presentation slides. If you use Keynote/PowerPoint slides in your presentation, make them high-contrast. Our presentation room is brightly lit and we have no control over the lighting. Dark characters on a black background will render your presentation invisible to the audience. Black letters on a white background will give you great visibility. You can experiment with other colors if you like, but the end result must be high-contrast.

Questions? Drop us a line through our Contact form. We look forward to hearing your presentation!