FlutterNinjas 2024: Speaking Report and Lessons Learned

Recently, from June 12 to 14, 2024, an event called FlutterNinjas was held, and I participated as a speaker.

https://flutterninjas.dev/

FlutterNinjas was the first Flutter event from Japan targeting an overseas audience, organized by members led by kboy from Flutter University. A huge thank you to all the organizing members!

My goal for this year was to "increase my output for an overseas audience and work on international projects," so this was a perfect opportunity. I submitted a proposal about Flutter's internal implementation, as usual (since it's my only area of expertise), and it was accepted.

Remi joined as a guest, several GDEs (Google Developer Experts) attended, and organizers of Flutter events from Germany's Fluttercon, South Korea, and Taiwan were also present. It was a three-day event that clearly showed global attention. Amidst intense nerves (and some schedule changes due to technical issues), I gave the final presentation of the event and also participated in the subsequent panel discussion.

I'm glad I got some great photos during the panel discussion that I can brag about. I did my best.

Thank you to uetomo for taking the photos.

Points for Improvement for the Presentation

Now, while I received generally positive feedback on my talk, at the after-party, John, an American colleague of itome, spoke passionately about several points for improvement that are "common in Japanese presentations." I’d like to share those here. ^[1]

Self-introductions are too long

First of all, he mentioned that self-introductions are too long. It's true that attendees come to hear the content, and his reasoning that "if the content is good, it doesn't matter who is speaking" makes total sense.

Looking at videos of other conferences, I get the impression that many speakers don't even create a dedicated "About Me" page; instead, they briefly put their name and X (Twitter) link on the title page and combine it with their opening hook. I can probably keep mine more compact by following that style.

No need for an agenda

"Why are you giving away what you're going to talk about beforehand?!" he said.

Since participants have dedicated their time to be there (especially at major conferences like FlutterNinjas, which can cost tens of thousands of yen), it's highly unlikely they aren't paying attention. Therefore, I suspect it's more enjoyable to maintain a sense of excitement, like "I wonder how the story will unfold next?" rather than explaining the structure in advance.

Reading exactly what is written is a waste

He said that "reading out the sentences written on the slides" is a complete waste of time.

I totally agree with this sentiment. His point was that "since people can understand the content of the slides just by reading them, if it's written down, you don't need to say it; and if you're going to speak, you should just list keywords."

From the listener's perspective, they certainly have the capacity to look at the slides and listen to the talk simultaneously. Hearing the exact same thing twice feels redundant and time-wasting. It also makes the presentation feel like it's just being read, losing the sense of presence. This reduces the value of it being a live presentation, so it seems better to be more intentional about the roles of the slides and the talk.

Personally, I tended to read the text because "I would consider those points in a Japanese presentation, but for an English one, I need the sentences to remember what to say." His advice was, "In that case, just write them in the speaker notes." He's absolutely right. I hadn't used speaker notes before (out of fear that I'd end up just reading them), but I feel like I've discovered a good way to use them.

Demos are important

"Demos are why Apple and Google presentations are so exciting, right?" he mentioned. That's certainly true. In work and elsewhere, having something interactive and functional makes a significant difference in both enjoyment and clarity.

It's okay to be as bold as a king!

Since the speaker has full control during the presentation, he mentioned that you should feel free to do whatever you want and say whatever you want to convey.

If you have ideas to make the presentation more interesting, just include them; if you don't know something, say so; if there's a point of confusion, just address it in the Q&A; and if any trouble arises, the audience will surely help you. At the very least, there is absolutely no need to feel "humbled."

It seems about right to have enough confidence to think, "You're all going to listen to the presentation I've spent so much time preparing for this moment, right? (almost intimidatingly)"^[2]. In fact, everyone listened very seriously and asked many questions about things they were curious about after the session.

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That was the general vibe.

In summary, I think it’s about maximizing the fact that it is a live presentation, rather than an article or a recording. Within a limited time, when everyone in the room is focused on your talk, what kind of creative efforts can make it enjoyable? Conversely, what would make people feel like, "I should have just read the article later"? Keeping these perspectives in mind for review will likely help me polish my next presentation.

Just to clarify, this isn't about saying "Japanese presentations are bad for those reasons," but rather an opinion that "It's a shame that such wonderful content can come across as stiff, like a student presentation, because of these points!" By incorporating these suggestions, we can better showcase that "Japanese presentations are interesting."

By the way, the topic of language proficiency never even came up. From my own experience as a listener, if you're focused on the content, you barely notice language quirks. So, it would be a shame to hesitate to submit a proposal just because "speaking English seems difficult."

With the second FlutterNinjas scheduled for next year (thank you!), and organizers mentioning plans for more international events centered around Asia in Korea and Taiwan, the number of opportunities to "present in English to an international audience" is expected to increase significantly.

Japan has a characteristic where communities and work can be completed within the country, for better or worse, so the need to share information abroad often feels low. However, I hope this article is helpful for those who want to start producing output for an overseas audience from now on.

脚注

1. Please note that this is just the perspective of John and the people we were talking with, and it's not meant to be a sweeping generalization like "everyone in the world except Japanese people thinks this way." Also, of course, it doesn't apply to all Japanese people. It's simply that there is such a tendency (and I happened to fit all of them).

2. This is strictly about the mental attitude.