Hung Doan

I often host technical sharing sessions within my organization or team, and here is my typical layout. Hopefully, it will be helpful if you need ideas on how to structure your own sessions.

Here are some sections that I usually use in my presentation scripts, and I found they are really helpful:

1. Welcome and Introduction

• Brief overview of the session objectives
• Speaker introduction and topic background

2. Problem Statement & Relevance

• Outline the problem or motivation behind the topic
• Why it’s important and relevant to the audience

This is the most important topic, as it outlines what you plan to deliver, ensuring that both you and the audience are aligned on expectations and areas of focus.

3. Overview of Key Concepts

• Introduce fundamental concepts and any necessary background
• Define key terms or components related to the topic.
• Briefly review prior research, frameworks, or solutions related to the topic.
  • Establish context for your approach by discussing how existing research influenced it.
  • Highlight gaps or limitations in previous work that your solution addresses.

4. Deep Dive to Solution/Approach

• Explain the approach, methodology, or solution in detail
• Showcase any frameworks, architectures, or tools used

5. Demo or Example

• Live demonstration or a real-world example (if applicable)
• Walkthrough of key features or functionalities

6. Outcome and Benefits

• Highlight the main results, benchmarks, or improvements
• Discuss the practical impact and benefits
• Present the pros and cons of your solution or approach as you explain it.

7. Challenges & Lessons Learned

• Briefly cover any major challenges faced
• Share insights or lessons that could benefit the audience

8. Future Work & Next Steps

• Discuss potential improvements, future updates, or related areas of interest

9. Wrap-Up & Key Takeaways

• Summarize key points and encourage further exploration.

10. Q&A session

• From my point of view, the most promising part of every sharing session is the Q&A as it helps me learn and brainstorm a lot with my colleagues.

11. Resources and further reading

• Resources and references are very important, but sometimes we overlook this part. They’re incredibly helpful when sharing slides with friends or colleagues. You might also be surprised at how useful these references are when you revisit the topic after a year or so.

TIP:

• Stay within your “Problem Statement & Relevance”, this is your ultimate goal. Guide your sharing and discussions to revolve around these statements. Think like a storyteller: every slide, image, moment, and spoken word should serve a purpose in reinforcing them.

• Be mindful of your audience – adjust your tone, pace, and style to suit the room.