Speaking - Coming Up With a Title

16 Jan 2019 by Keith Elder

There are two different options when it comes to your title. You can create the title first and write the talk to support it or you can wait to create the title after your outline and abstract are complete.

Creating the title first can help direct the focus of the talk. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. If you came up with the title, "The Top 10 Things Every Software Engineer Should Know Before Starting Their Career," it's pretty easy to see how the talk will develop from here. The idea and the title are essentially the same. Now you just need 10 talking points. Some experienced speakers will go this route, however, if you decide to take this path, you should know there are pitfalls that come with it. Even experienced speakers may come up with an exciting title and abstract, only to realize when they start working on the presentation that they bit off more than they can chew or that the talk is morphing into something totally different, making the title and abstract worthless. They also may find that while the idea sounded good on paper, once it's expanded into talking points it just doesn't work.

On the other hand, if you assign the title after your outline and abstract are complete, everything will be aligned. Of course, you may have some ideas of what your title might be early on. You can write those down and keep a list of potential titles as you work on the outline and the abstract. Since the presentation is in flux as you develop the outline and abstract, holding off on committing to a title allows you to be flexible and open your mind to all of the possibilities for your presentation.

Build Anticipation

Your title should create anticipation in the audience. A good title will excite the audience and create buzz. The two example titles below are for a 100-level session on learning the programming language C#. Which one would you go to?

Intro to Programming C#
Learn C# in Less Than an Hour from a Jedi Master

Clearly the second choice has more flair and creativity, and thus will probably create more anticipation.

Communicate Clearly

A good title will pave the way and set the tone for your talk. In many cases, it can be catchy and whimsical or a play on words. Just be careful to not lose clarity. A pet peeve of conference selection committees and attendees is titles that don't clearly communicate what their talks are about. Typically, this is the result of a speaker who tried to get too "punny" or took too much creative liberty, such as in the bad title examples below.

The Drudgery of Drudgery
Wishing I Hadn't Said Yes
Time Moves On

Obviously, no one has any idea what these are about. Now they're forced to read an abstract. But will they? Those titles surely don't build anticipation.

The examples below come from the book "Confessions of a Public Speaker" and might help you find inspiration for your own presentation title.

The top five problems you have with insert thing here and how to solve them
Why insert thing here sucks and what we can do about it
Mistakes I made in insert thing here and what I learned
The most frequently asked questions and brilliant answers about insert thing here
The truth about insert thing here and how it can help you
Smart shortcuts and clever tricks only experts know about insert thing here
The five reasons you win by giving me insert thing here
Why insert thing here will change your life forever, for free, right now