Ten Tips for Preparing a Short Coding Demo/Tutorial

Toby Hodges

EMBL Bio-IT Project

2020-04-14

Slides licensed CC-BY

Some background

  • At EMBL (Heidelberg) we have two series of regular user meetings:
    • EPUG: The EMBL Python User Group
    • emblr: EMBL R Users/Learners
  • Short (~60 min) sessions
  • Every two weeks (roughly)

Some background

  • Sessions usually begin with a short demo or tutorial
    • set the scene for a more general group discussion
    • teach attendees how to do something with the language
    • demonstrate a particular module/library
    • introduce a problem the session lead would like help to solve
  • Session leads are volunteers from the community

Some background

  • Organisers would love to see more community members volunteer to lead sessions
  • You are probably not sure what's involved
  • ... or how to start preparing to lead one
  • These are my top ten tips

1. Re-use when you can

  • look for pre-existing material
  • assess the quality
  • check that the license allows re-use/adaptation

2. Be realistic about what you can cover

  • "figure out what you'd like to cover, then reduce it by 2/3"
  • remember your audience may need time to understand background

3. Less is more

  • go slowly
  • it's better to finish early than to rush
  • ... and much better than finishing late

4. Prepare some material in advance

  • Jupyter
  • RMarkdown
  • (or something similar)
  • share it (and info on prerequisites) with participants beforehand/when session starts

5. Prepare a list of resources/further reading

  • point people towards where they can learn more
  • take pressure off yourself to cover everything

6. Write your demo code live

  • ... and ask audience members to follow along
  • more engaging
  • audience will learn more
  • slows you down
  • easier to emphasise important points

7. Check your assumptions

  • you are not your audience
  • their motivations to learn may be different from yours
  • they may find different aspects difficult
  • they may not know what you think they know
  • if in doubt, ask them

8. Ask your colleagues for help

  • organisers can check your material and offer advice before the session
  • audience members can provide quick feedback during the session
  • ... and can usually spot that typo faster than you can

9. Use a headset

(This slide courtesy of SARS-CoV2)

  • maintain appropriate distance between keyboard and microphone
  • use screen-sharing for live demo
  • use the feedback buttons ("yes", "no", "faster", "slower") to get quick responses from the audience

10. Relax and have fun!

  • you're not expected to know everything
  • embrace mistakes and help others understand what went wrong
  • stick to your prepared material
  • be kind
  • remember you can always come back for a second session

For more information

Acknowledgments