Speaker Mentoring
=================

The Symfony community benefits greatly when as many people as possible
share their knowledge and experience with others. Every different
point of view adds to our collective understanding of how to best use
and evolve the code, design patterns and architecture provided within
the Symfony community. Because of this, we specifically want to hear
from long-time contributors and new users, who often come across entirely
different challenges with a totally fresh new look and perspective.

How to get started
------------------

Giving a first talk at a conference can seem quite intimidating. But
don't worry! At one time, every speaker went through the same process.
And so, we want to make sure that as many people as possible are empowered
to take this path if they are motivated. We have collected a few resources
with advice to get started. More importantly, we can connect experienced
speakers with people who are just taking their first steps in this area:

.. tip::

    A good first step might be to give a talk at a local user group to a
    smaller crowd that one knows more intimately. A next step could be to
    give a talk at a conference in your first language.

The best way to find people that can review your talk idea or slides is
the `#speaker-mentoring`_ channel on `Symfony Slack`_. There are many
seasoned speakers with knowledge in various parts of Symfony that are
motivated to help you get started on your path towards becoming a
public speaker. They can even do practice runs via video chat!
Furthermore, they can also be an ally when it comes to the day of
giving the talk at a conference!

A great resource with advice on everything related to `public speaking`_
is a collection of links maintained by VM (Vicky) Brasseur. It covers
everything from finding a conference call for proposals, how to
refine a proposal, to how to put together slide decks to practical
tips for preparation and talk delivery.

.. _`#speaker-mentoring`: https://symfony-devs.slack.com/messages/speaker-mentoring
.. _`Symfony Slack`: https://symfony.com/slack-invite
.. _`public speaking`: https://github.com/vmbrasseur/Public_Speaking
