MAC to Linux
What's A Lightning Talk?

Note: This page was written primarily for Oakland Perl Mongers (aka Oakland.pm).

Briefly, what's a lightning talk?

A lightning talk is a short talk with a 5 minute time limit. After 5 minutes are up, the speaker is required to stop, even if not finished.

What subjects are appropriate?

At Oakland.pm, the talk, presumably, has something to do with Perl. Then, again, what doesn't? Well, it would be kool if the speaker had the connection to Perl in mind.

What about questions and answers?

At Oakland.pm, I've proposed that the lightning talker may specify Q&A or no Q&A. If there are Q&A, they must be completed in the 5 minutes.

Hey, one can bring up one's questions later. E.g. on the mailing list or by personal email. or (gasp!) in person.

Is heckling allowed?

The speaker gets to say that heckling is allowed or that it is not allowed.

Is there a generality here?

Ah, hah! I see your point. It looks like the lightning talker (OK, speaker) may specify the desired audience involvement: Q&A or not, heckling or not, and ... UYFI. I say UYFI because just now mine has given out. I'm confident that there are other things you might want to specify. Hey, why should I do all the work?

Why might I want to give a lightning talk?

How the @#$%^&*()@#$ should I know. Hm, maybe that's not quite the right tone.

There are many many reasons why you might want to give a lightning talk. A few of them are:

• You wish to claim to have given a lightning talk and prefer not to lie. Please do not now ask me why you prefer not to lie. I am not your shrink. Aaargh!
• You want to see how you'd like giving a talk on Perl without investing much time.
• You are giving a real talk later in the meeting and think (probably incorrectly) that you can prepare your audience in some small way. Now it's my turn to ask a question. Isn't lightning real?
• Somone asked you and you couldn't figure out how to say no.
• You want to test out the group's interest in a particular topic because you are considering giving a longer talk on it.
• The subject you have in mind merits less than 5 minutes.
• You are a minimalist.
• You are trying to break the world record for shortest talk.
• You'll do anything to get attention.
• You thought of a cute name for a type of lightning talk and want a chance to use it.
• You are big into JFK and it suddenly hit you that you should "Think not what your Perl Group can do for you, but what you can do for your Perl Group."
• You think you'll enjoy giving a lightning talk.
• You wish to inspire others to give lightning talks by your good example.
• You wish to inspire others to give lightning talks by your bad example.
• You crave the smiles, chuckles, cat calls or whatever, of the audience.
• You actually think that the audience will learn something from your talk.

For some reason, we want you to give a lightning talk. We don't much care why you do. Feel free to be motivated by any or all of the above and to UYFI, since clearly the above list has only scratched the surface.

Why the time limit? Are we dealing with a bunch of meeting facilitator Nazis or what?

Would you believe the time limit:

• encourages more people to talk,
• encourages conciseness,
• is a fun challenge, and
• limits the risk for both the speaker and the audience?

Well, I believe all four. You don't buy it. Well, perhaps, we are infested with facilitator Nazis. (Aaaak! That's as bad as being infested by the dread system administration Nazis.)

How short can a lightning talk be?

We have no lower limit. No talk is too short. How brief are you willing to be?

What are these short talks called?

These short talks may have cute names like:

• blurp
• one-liner
• rantlet
• lightning strike

What? You don't think these names are cute. Damn! What can I say? Only that, surely, cuteness is in the eye of the beholder. So put some cuteness in your eye and look again.

So, what's a blurp?

Ask Belden Lyman. The term came from him. Could you do it on the Oakland.pm mailing list? ;-)

And what's a one-liner? A perl one liner?

Well, it could be a perl one-liner or a talk about a perl one-liner anyway.

But it could be a UNIX command line, I suppose. Or a one line joke. Or a brilliant or amusing question. Hey, UYFI, i.e., use your imagination (more or less).

Could you give some examples of one liner talks?

Glad you asked. Check out Notes for George's One Liner Lightning Talks. OK, I admit it, those are notes for one liners I gave at Oakland.pm. But, hey, you wanted examples. If you have some other examples on the web, let me know, especially if they are by people involved with Oakland.pm.

Oh, and what's a rantlet?

My steel-trap mind tells me there is an insidious pattern to these questions. Anyway, the meaning of rantlet should be self-evident, you dunderhead.

Bad on George. Let me try again: Good question. A rantlet is a short rant. Monologuelets are often rantlets. Here's a very short rantlet: "Microsoft sucks. Thank you. Any questions?"

And lastly, what's a lightning strike?

You got me. But you'll know (if you survive).