Speaker headshots and bios are used to promote the speaking engagement.

Bio Specs

Speaker biographies should be a brief summary of experience relevant to the speaking topic.

• No more than 75-100 words
• Include your current position and a brief mention of work history & experience
• Include academic qualification, awards, and a reference to published work
  
  *If you need some help figuring out where to start, check out this reference article from Scott Berkun

Headshot Specs

• Minimum of 500x500 pixels at 300dpi (png/jpg only)
• Full-size and original photo file, not pulled from Slack or LinkedIn
• Solid color background, facing the camera, include full head and shoulders in frame
• Color photo, not black & white
• No filters or effects

Social media is one of the best ways to spread awareness to your professional network, friends, and fans. Get the conversation started early and connect with fellow industry leaders and future attendees.

Keep these following tips in mind:

Titles and abstracts are a way for attendees to get a sneak peak of a speaker's session. Titles should be short and concise, providing a descriptive summary of the talk. Abstracts help attendees understand what topics are being covered in more detail, and what they can expect to take away from attending a talk. Think of an abstract as a pitch.

There’s only a limited space to create an engaging, eye-catching title and description, so every word counts!

The next step after creating your title and abstract is to create a presentation outline. These guidelines will serve as a method to develop your talking points in a consistent manner, ensuring you’re well prepared and that your message resonates with the audience.

• Identify your objective - Think about what you want the audience to leave your session knowing, thinking, and doing (key takeaways.)
• Research your audience - What is important to them?
• Know your time constraints - Plan accordingly for how much time you’re given, inclusive of Q&A (if permitted.)
• Sketch it out, slide by slide…
  • Example of format
    Slide #: state summary of the slide
    - Supporting point
    - Supporting point
    - Supporting point
• Introduction - Capture the attention of the audience. Set the stage by previewing your main topics. Considering starting with a quote, statistics, personal story, or tasteful joke.
• Body - Be clear, concise, and provide enough detail to comprehensively convey your story without your key takeaways getting lost in the details. When speaking about a personal story or use cases, be sure to consider how it relates to the audience and how you can connect this to their own work (or life).
• Conclusion - To wrap up your presentation, think of a way you can help people remember what you’ve just presented. And don’t forget to include your call to action – what do you want people to do after watching your presentation?

*If you need some help figuring out where to start, check out our outline template (.pdf, .doc)

HELPFUL RESOURCES:
- The Exhaustive Guide to Preparing Conference Presentations
- 11 Tips for presenting at a conference
- Your conference presentation checklist
- 11 Ingredients every great presentation needs

Atlassian is an open company that values an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can be their full selves without being subject to unacceptable behavior - including demeaning, harassing, abusive, violent, discriminatory, derogatory, or demeaning conduct. Please keep in mind that you're representing Atlassian, our culture, and our beliefs on stage.

Want to talk about an event or frame Atlassian and/or our products through an Open lens? Review these guidelines to help craft your talking points and general language.

The following guidelines will help align your content with Atlassian’s core values:

For Digital Events

• Include interactive elements like polling, live Q&A, fun activities, and breaks to stand up and stretch.
• Interjecting videos, or other relevant media, will help keep attendees engaged and help them re-focus.
• If you are running a workshop or want to create small group working sessions, then use things like Zoom breakout rooms or digital white boarding tools like Miro or Mural.
• By taking the time to plan your digital content thoroughly, you can ensure that the quality of your content is just as good as your video quality.

  • Start by defining its purpose. Ask yourself what you want to achieve or communicate by making this digital content. In addition, remember your target audience. How will you make your content speak to these viewers in particular?

  • Once you’ve defined your goals, review your speaker notes/script and your slides. Don’t be afraid to rearrange, rewrite, and delete sections that don’t work when you read them aloud. Keep your digital content as brief and as tight as possible.

  • If you are including a live Q&A element, prepare 4-5 “seeded questions” that expand on or clarify a key point from your presentation, or that commonly come up when discussing your topic with others. You can use these to start the Q&A if attendees are slow to ask questions.

Once all of the content is ironed out, it’s time for design! Use the guidelines below to help format your presentation:

• Use one slide for each idea or point – Use your slides as visual aids while keeping your visuals clean and simple. Avoid complex imagery that forces the audience to try and figure out how the image and the speaker’s point are related.
• Make your slides easy to read – Use readable fonts in appropriate colors. Make sure people will be able to easily read the information you are presenting.
• Be mindful of too much text on slides – A lot of text on slides typically becomes distracting to the audience and may not be legible to digital viewers on mobile devices. Behaviorally, attendees tend to read the slide, instead of listening to what the speaker is saying.
• Use simple transitions – Try to avoid using complex slide animations or too many transitions that divert the audience’s attention or cause a lag for digital attendees.
• Use high-quality images and graphics – Make sure these are relevant to the topic at hand, and that they add to the message, not take away from it.
• Trademarks – Have you properly sourced trademarks and copyrighted content? Pulling images from Internet may not be OK. If you don’t own the image, you must cite wherever it came from using the specific URL, location, or owner by:

  • Including the URL in tiny text on the bottom of the slide

  • Have one slide at the back of the deck with all citations

  • If concerned, please pick another image

Atlassian Design Resources

Find the latest Atlassian brand guidelines and design resources for non-event specific presentations here and on-demand training videos here. 

A critical part of making Atlassian events inclusive where all of our attendees feel they belong is ensuring that the content of talks builds balance and avoids exclusion.

Legal guidelines pertain to Atlassian Employee speakers only. If you are an external speaker, ensure you’ve checked numbers and any other sensitive information with your internal teams.

Legal Review

Linked are some guidelines for you to take into account before submitting your presentation for (everyone's favorite thing!) legal review in order to protect Atlassian, get faster responses to your review requests, avoid having to retool your slides, and shorten the queue for all presenters.

Revenue Accounting

If you discuss any future functionality please make sure you don't discuss or commit to specific release dates (e.g.,  We're expecting to release this in FY'20 rather than we will release this in February of 2020). If we're charging for new product offerings, then there are no restrictions from revenue (e.g., Cloud Premium).

• Learn more here: [Accounting Policy] Sales and Marketing communications around future functionality
   

Investor Relations

For any company or product stats/metrics that are being included in presentations, please be sure to have those put through the usual review process so that Legal/IR can review and approve them. If in doubt on whether something needs to be reviewed, just submit it. Also, the sooner you can submit the better; if something is denied, it gives you time to find alternative data to use.

Submitting a Self-Service Ticket

Once you’ve reviewed your presentation for legal compliance, submit a self-service ticket at go/contentreview and answer the following 6 questions (yes/no):

1. Will your presentation include financial numbers?

2. Will your presentation include (a) any data belonging to a customer, (b) any customer, user, or employee numbers that are not mentioned on the go/facts page, or (c) any other facts or claims that are not already reported or on go/facts?

3. Will you share any technology that we're planning to file as a patent or is currently filed as a patent?

4. Will your presentation include any "red light" issues from the guidelines, such as MAU, bookings, revenue, forecasts/forward-looking statements, product-level operational metrics, customers on the private list, or other Atlassian confidential information?

5. Will your presentation include announcements of future products, features, or parts of our roadmap?

6. If you answered yes to the product announcement question, has this announcement been approved by the communications team and by management for the product team?

If you answered “no” to the first 5 questions - no further action is required after submitting the ticket.

If you answered “yes” to one of the first 5 questions - submit relevant slides with back up in the same ticket - you can submit an iCloud link or PDF with speaker notes.

Preparing for a digital event? Below are some best practices to get ready for any digital event. At a high level, the most important takeaways to remember are:

• Zoom fatigue is real and the attendee experience is more important than ever before. Make sure to bring variety to your digital content by mixing up the types of sessions you offer.

• Be sure to do a test recording in advance.

• Work on your camera presence, and practice! With digital content, the way you carry yourself on camera has an enormous impact on how your content is perceived. Appearing nervous, fidgety, or uncomfortable on camera will distract viewers from your message. Preparing will help you look and feel comfortable and confident.
   

Software and Equipment for Digital Events

• Pre-recording software

  • If you are pre-recording slides and audio-only (without the speaker appearing), you can use Keynote or PowerPoint to record directly.

  • If you are pre-recording your presentation and showing both the speaker(s) and presentation, you can use software such as Zoom or Loom to record. Be mindful that Zoom requires a strong internet connection to produce a high-quality video file.

  • Check out our Keynote, PowerPoint, and Zoom recording tips here.

• Video (webcam) and camera positioning

  • If you happen to own a high-quality external webcam, use it for your live session or recording. If not, this is a link for a high-quality webcam we recommend from Amazon, available for purchase as of July 2022 (~$148-$199 USD).

  • Have your camera slightly above eye level for the most flattering angle.

  • When presenting, look into your camera. It serves as the “eyes” of your audience— you want to make sure you maintain that connection.

  • Focus on being centered and with less open space above your head. When most people sit down in front of a webcam, they position themselves so their head is in the middle of the screen, which creates too much empty space. In industry speak, there’s too much head room. This will make you look small and less authoritative.

  • Use too little headroom, and it will look like your head is stuck to the top of the screen. The solution? Raise your laptop or tablet so that your eyes can peer directly into the webcam. In other words, your device should be at a height that places your webcam is directly in your line of sight.

  • If you plan to use notes via a notes app/notebook, place it right below webcam so your eyes do not stray far from the camera.

  • Once you’ve got your camera set up, try not to move it unless you have to. If you have to change perspectives for your recording, rather than moving the camera, it’s better to cut from one shot to another and weave them together during the editing phase.

  • Wipe your camera lens with a clean microfiber cloth to ensure a clear video recording.

  • Issues with your computer camera? You can use your phone to capture professional video footage. But there are a few things in mind if you’re going to use your phone for your digital content:

    • Use the camera on the back of your phone. The front camera’s quality is not as good on most phones.

    • Utilize landscape mode (that is, horizontally instead of vertically). This will give you footage that looks good on larger devices, not just phone screens.

    • If your phone has a feature that allows you to overlay a grid on your screen, use it. This will help you keep your phone level and avoid tilted footage.

• Audio (microphone)

  • Prioritize crisp, clear audio - your audio quality is actually more important than your video quality for digital presentation. Most people are willing to watch a video that’s a little grainy; but fuzzy, indistinct audio is enough to make anybody hit the “back” button within a few seconds of starting to play a video.

  • Because audio matters so much, a good microphone is the first piece of equipment you should invest in.

    • A headset is preferred (USB, WIFI or BlueTooth)

    • Built-in computer microphones are NOT recommended as you will naturally lean in and out, causing sound quality and volume to vary.

    • Here is a microphone we recommend (~$130 USD), available for purchase from Best Buy as of July 2022.

  • Capture clear audio by putting your microphone as close to the subject/yourself as possible. You might want to use a pop filter to eliminate blips and crackles on the finished recording.

  • Be aware of any background noise that your microphone might be picking up, too, including external noise sources like traffic, birds, air conditioner, people talking in another room, etc. Even if they don’t seem loud to you, they may be very obvious to your audience.

  • Put your computer in Do Not Disturb mode to reduce application notifications and close all other applications. Put your phone on silent, and disable vibrate mode.

  • Create a test recording before your presentation. When listening to the audio test, note and correct for the following: excess echo, muffled voice, static, background noise.

  • Check out this video from our creative team for tips on how to optimize your audio.
     

• Lighting

  • A ‘ring light’ with stand is ideal. It will help prevent shadows, and casts a flattering light.

    • Any brand should be fine as long as it’s ~10 inch and it’s the correct height for your space (~$30-40 USD). Here is one we recommend from Amazon, available for purchase as of July 2022.

  • Lighting makes a huge difference in video quality, so make it one of your top priorities. If you don’t use enough properly-placed light, your video quality may look amateurish, even if it’s great in every other way.

  • Natural light is most flattering. To get the best light, turn towards a window and place your camera in front of you. Don’t choose a location where windows will be behind you.

  • You can use two lamps on either side of your computer at eye level to avoid severe shadows. You can place them either behind the camera or just in front of it.

  • Diffuse windows/lamps so light is not too harsh and washes you out.

• Background
  • Be aware of what’s behind you. Avoid clutter or anything too personal or branded.

  • Create a background that is clean (no dishes, clothes, etc.), but not too sparse (an empty white wall).

  • A bookcase, lightly decorated shelves, piece of art or houseplant all work well to create a “set background”.

  • Avoid virtual backgrounds, as they can be distracting.

  • As noted above, be careful not to film with a window or another reflective surface in the background of your shot. Having a light source like a window behind you can make the subject look dark and shadowy. You could also inadvertently catch the camera and other items in the room in the reflection.
     

• Additional Equipment

  • Make sure you have at least 3 USB ports so that you can plug in your webcam, mic, and ring light all at once. If your computer only has USB-C ports, you’ll need a USB to USB-C adapter. Linked is an adapter we recommend (~$50 USD), available via Amazon as of July 2022.

  • An external monitor or tablet is helpful if you need to view your script/speaker notes during the presentation.

  • If your equipment requires adapters, connection to power, or more ports than your computer provides, be sure to have these items on hand, and test them to make sure they all work as expected, well before you record or go live.
     

Day-of Recording or Live Event Tips and Tricks

• Posture and body language

  • Make eye contact when speaking — look at your webcam instead of your screen.

  • Use calm, open body language. Stand up straight, keep your shoulders back and your muscles relaxed. Take deep breaths.

  • Don’t cross your arms, as this makes you look closed-off.

  • Refrain from moving around too much — the effect is disconcerting on video, and the resulting vibrations may be picked up by the microphone.

  • If you feel jittery, try using props to keep your hands occupied, such as holding a pen or a stress ball.

  • Slow down slightly when you talk and make an effort to enunciate clearly. Speak from your diaphragm rather than your throat.

    • Don’t be afraid to use voice inflection and change in tone to keep you connected to your audience.

    • After sharing a key idea, take a quick pause to allow the idea to fully resonate with the audience.

  • Don’t script. Be conversational, tell stories, use metaphors - try not to sound like a robot.

  • Let your passion and enthusiasm come through, don’t forget to smile and have fun!
     

• Attire - what not to wear

  • Avoid wearing the following types of items that could be distracting or interfere with the audio or video quality:

    • Small patterns - patterns (e.g., pin-stripe, checker, herringbone, dots, etc.) can create interference with the camera, known as a Moire effect that creates ripples on the screen.

    • Busy, colored patterns - large patterns with lots of colors can be distracting for viewers and distract audience members from your presentation.

    • High contrast colors (white, black, mixed) - high contrast between colors can make it difficult for the webcam to get the right tone. Neutral solid colors and light pastels are optimal.

    • Glasses will reflect your computer screen, creating glare that will hide your eyes and distract attendees — opt for contacts if possible.

    • Scarves - scarves can cause interference with the microphone. If you need to wear one, be mindful of where the microphone is placed in relation to your scarf.

    • Dangling earrings and shiny jewelry - these accessories can reflect your room’s lighting to create a glare. The resulting glare will distract viewers and make it hard for them to see you clearly. The movement of jewelry may also add unwanted noise.
       

• Prep your computer and WiFi network

  • Make sure your computer is plugged into a power source.

  • Quit all of your other programs in advance before sharing your screen, especially programs that will send you notifications (e.g., Slack, calendar, email), and disconnect from your VPN. Make sure you are quitting the applications and not just closing the window.

  • Remove any files from your desktop that you don’t want attendees to see.

  • Make sure your presentation is open and clicked to the first slide so that when you press play, it will start on the correct slide. You don’t want to fumble around to look for your presentation when you are live.

  • We strongly suggest using a hardline internet cable, if possible.

  • Disconnect any other devices connected to the internet, and ask others in your space to avoid streaming movies or video conferencing so there are no bandwidth issues during your session.

    • Ideally, you will have a minimum of 20 Mbps download / 10 Mbps upload speed. You can run a free speed test by visiting http://www.speedtest.net.

  • Restart your computer prior to logging into your virtual platform.

  • Turn off non-essential software that might compete for internet and your attention while you are presenting.
     

• Presenting with multiple speakers

  • Rehearse with your co-speakers and understand what each other’s first and last slides are so that you know when it’s almost your turn to speak.

  • Be sure to pay full attention during your co-speaker’s section - attendees may still be able to see you, even when you aren’t speaking!

  • Mute yourself when you are not speaking - but remember to unmute yourself before speaking again.

  • If you are not recording together, please be sure to include appropriate transition phrasing at the start and end of their recorded sections (e.g.: “Thanks, Tom…” or “Now I’ll turn it over to Sue Smith to tell us about XYZ.”)

  • If possible, string all of the presentations into one deck and have one presenter click through the slides. Note this requires extra prep in advance:

    • The slide clicker needs to know in advance when to click each slide

    • No last-minute deck edits

  • If you are pre-recording:

    • with video editing access: you can record separately and edit the videos together

    • without video editing access: you will need to string all presentations into one deck for the best flow

  • If you are presenting live, make sure your computer screen is prepared with the presentation open and ready to go.
     

• R&Rs for Production

  • 5 seconds - let the recording roll for at least 5 seconds before and after each sound bite. The 5 seconds before and after the talking points are necessary for editing purposes and effects, such as fades and dissolves.

  • Count down - sometimes it takes Zoom a few seconds to determine the “active speaker.” When you begin your recording, count out loud to 3 and then silently count 4 & 5 in your head (while smiling), then begin presenting.
     

• Practice, practice, practice!

  • Record a full rehearsal so you can go back and listen to your vocal levels, enunciation, tonality, eye level, etc. Then make a conscious effort to improve on any issues you see. If possible, share your test video with another person, and ask them to identify areas for improvement.

  • Rehearsals should be conducted in the same format you will deliver - your rehearsal audience should be listening in the same way your ”live” audience will.

  • Use a timer so you understand your timing.
     

Editing a Pre-Recorded Video

You should try to do your recording in one take if possible, but if you need to make edits, choosing a good video editing software can help you turn your raw footage into something great.

• There are some simpler tools like Wave.video, Camtasia, or iMovie.

• More professional options include Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier Pro, and Screenflow.

• If you have access to editor resources, be sure to instruct them in detail on where you would like edits to be implemented. Specify that you want slides inserted or deleted, the time marks where content should be added or deleted, etc.
   

Going “Live” Checklist

• Do you have a day-of plan?

• Are your screen sharing and technology settings set up properly and tested ahead of time?

• Do you need a moderator/facilitator for digital breakout rooms and workshops? Do they understand their role?

• Is your Q&A ready with seeded questions and have you tested the settings?

• Does your team have clear roles and responsibilities?

• Are your post-event communications set up? Is the process clear for how you will make the content accessible post-event?

Additional Resources

• Remote Work Week: Content Production Best Practices for Creating a Webinar and Pre-Recording Content - includes how to run Zoom webinars and roundtables, and running live Q&As. 
• Handmade Quince juice and 5 things I learnt from running a 3 day remote workshop.

Posture and body language

• Get in the zone – Don’t bury your face in your notes.

• Make eye contact – Use pauses and talk slower.

• Repeat and reiterate – Help ensure your audience walks away knowing what your key points and takeaways are by repeating them in your talk. If you use slides, you might also want to put them up there once or twice.

• Perfection isn’t expected – You don’t have to be perfect. No one in the audience knows that you skipped a few words, or forgot a portion of your session.

• They are rooting for you – The audience doesn’t want to see you mess up—they’re eager to hear what you have to say. They picked to attend YOUR session out of all the others because they are interested in the topic, your expertise, and your story.

• Give yourself grace – We are our own worst critics but it’s important to remember not to be so hard on yourself. Everyone (and I mean everyone) gets nervous or has stumbled through a session. Take a deep breath and do the best you can.

Attire

The biggest piece of advice is to keep it simple.

• Hair should be neat, and clean.
• Light, neutral makeup works best under enhanced lighting.
• Any jewelry should be kept simple. No dangles or other items that could make noise in the broadcast.
• Glasses can reflect a glare. Opt for contacts if possible.
• Wear pants (vs. skirt/dress) when on seated panels.
• Avoid wearing bodysuits. It makes it more difficult to run a mic. 

For Atlassian speakers, we always ask that you wear an Atlassian shirt (if you have one). If the speaker does not have a shirt or is a customer speaker, they should follow the following guidelines:

• Choose solid colors over multi-colored, bold prints or patterns.
• Rich jewel tones like sapphire blue, emerald green, ruby red, amethyst purple, turquoise, topaz, and yellow are camera-friendly.
• Avoid wearing all black or all white.
   

Onsite Deck Edits

Only changes to speaker notes will be permitted, unless it's a super important update. If you must make edits that are absolutely vital, come to the speaker ready room to make the changes.

Downstage Monitor (Confidence Monitor)

The amount of presenter notes that will display on the downstage monitor will depend on the font size that the speaker needs to read while on stage. Please see screenshots with different font sizes and the number of lines for text available notated.

• Recommended font size is 22 with 3-4 lines of notes

• If there’s a situation where a speaker has a lot of notes on one slide, we suggest duplicating the slide and splitting their notes between two, identical slides. This way, when the speaker is presenting, they can use the slide advancer to change their slide and read their next page of notes on the downstage monitor without changing what attendees see on screen.