with going to crypto conferences, talks and workshops and getting bored after 5 minutes because the speaker doesn't know how to speak in public. The speaker is usually great at what he/she does but probably not great at explaining it.

YES! You're probably thinking (and you're right, baby) that maybe I'm too dumb to understand what the speaker is saying or, most likely, I have the attention span of a goldfish.

I'm confident that part of the audience is having the same experience as me, and I'm sure that there are people with an even lower attention span than mine.

I'm writing this post to give some tips to make your talk or workshop engaging, so people actually like it and understand the complex concepts you're talking about.

If you think you suck at giving workshops or public speaking, then this article can be helpful. If you think you're already a god, please read this post and comment: give me your advice and tips, as I'm here to learn as well.

I am a software engineer specialized in blockchain with a strong passion for explaining what I'm passionate about to others.
With Urbe I do Developer Engagement; I lead IRL Bootcamps on Ethereum since 2022. I've led 14 editions of the bootcamp and mentored more than 500 builders in more than 3 continents.

If you're leading workshops or presentations, the key is to prioritize fun.
People learn best when they're engaged, so here are some practical tips to make your sessions stick - drawn from real-world experience in blockchain education.

Too often, I've attended a talk where the speaker talked without breathing, eating his own words, with a very-hard-to-understand English pronunciation. Your voice is your primary tool: treat it like one.

• Use a microphone even for small groups. It ensures everyone hears clearly and you don't need to scream.

• Speak with enthusiasm. The tone, pace, and rhythm are important to keep the audience listening. Keep a high volume! Make the audience feel you're excited about the topic you're talking about.

• Try to keep a simple vocabulary, if possible. It makes it easy for you and the message lands more directly.

• One thing at a time. Start a thought → finish it → Pause → Move on to the next concept → repeat. Maintain order and follow a mental map. This will contribute to improving the clarity of the speech.

• Do not ramble. Think about what you're going to say and then say it. Don't think about it while you're saying it. The message will be much clearer and more direct.

• Breathe! When we are nervous, we forget to breathe and we skip words or letters. We end up in apnea. We talk too fast and no one understands. It's okay, sometimes it can happen. If you realize you mispronounced a word or you said a sentence that does not make sense, rephrase, re-say the words you meant to say. Take your time. Pause more.

• Work on your strong accent if you have one. I'm Italian and I'm not interested in sounding like an English gentleman. I just want my accent to not make the discussion impossible to follow.
  Think about a strong French or Indian accent. I understand zero when hearing people with that kind of accent. I have a lot of French and Indian friends and I love them, and that's why I constantly tell them to repeat what they said.
  I can do it with them but I cannot during a workshop. If you're French, Indian, Chinese, or any other non-native English-speaking nationality,

More guidance on how to speak clearly by Vinh Giang:

Before launching into content, build rapport. Ask questions to learn about your audience: "Who's new to Solidity? Why did you sign up today, what excites you about blockchain?" This reveals their levels (beginner vs. intermediate) and motivations, letting you tailor the session.

For instance, once I thought I was going to have a blockchain session with software engineering students - the organizer said so - just to discover that people were studying business and data science.
If I didn't ask "What are you guys studying?" I could have talked about complex programming patterns or even the EVM, causing the people to say "WTF is he even talking about?" and probably leave after 1 hour. Knowing that, I could drive the workshop toward a more interesting line for them, explain blockchain use cases, and make them build an app using AI tools (shootout to v0).

Another time, I asked the attendants questions to get their general level and they were so advanced we ended up working on complex DeFi protocols. Imagine giving them a workshop on conditional statements in Solidity or loops, it would have been pretty boring.

This is the beauty of doing this job. It doesn't matter if the topic will always be the same. The workshop will always be different depending on the attendants.

It's very important that if you're doing a talk or a workshop, you interact with attendants before, while, and after you are doing the workshop.

Example - asking questions: Asking before the lab starts:

• "What's your name? Where are you from? What's your background?"

• "What brings you here? What are you interested in?"

Asking while talking:

• "Raise your hands if you never heard about xyz"

• "Who likes abc? Who ever tried to do efg?"

• Even a simple "Does what I just said make sense?"

Asking after the workshop is done:

• "Did you like the talk?" is the question I always ask. I also ask if there was something specific they didn't like. Criticism is the only way I can improve.

Try to engage as much as possible. I try to ask a question every 5 minutes I'm talking. If they don't answer the question I asked, I don't go on. I need them to answer. If they don't, it means they are not following.

The more interactive → the more fun → the more attendants retain. Try to think about something they need to do. For workshops like the ones I do (on blockchain) it's easy: Just let them build something. Prepare a small project idea with some milestones.
Generally, I make them do a mini-app on Farcaster that uses a smart contract deployed on chain.

To prepare this, you need to have enough hours or you need to prepare a starter template so the attendants can do the task in a few minutes.

A good idea is to divide them into small teams. This will foster collaboration and will make the attendants become friends (or hopefully lovers).

You need to be willing to help them, unblock them if they get stuck (very often installing dependencies on different OSs) and pair program with them. Personally, it is the most exciting part of the job.

What if you don't have enough time? Be creative. Maybe prepare a game. Maybe use an app like Hoot!, where you can create a quiz on the topic you're talking about and let the attendants play at the end of the workshop. You can even put a prize on the quiz, so people are actually incentivized to follow.

Keep slides simple and readable. Use big, bold text and limit words per slide to key phrases. Visuals over walls of text.

Remember: If you go there and you just read the slides, you could have just sent the slides and they could read without coming to your talk.

Pro tip: Add memes to your presentation. I show this when my attendees create their first wallet:

• Build your style. For instance, my style is relaxed, usually informal, and very funny. I like making jokes all the time. I sometimes put music (good music) as a background to build up the atmosphere.

• Dress in a way that makes you feel comfortable and good looking. This will boost your confidence.

• Time your session: Practice to fit within limits, leaving buffer for Q&A.

• Tech check: If you do practical/technical sessions, do it yourself first to see what potential blockers the attendants can encounter.

There you have it, simple, battle-tested tips to transform your workshops from yawn-fests into can't-miss events.
Whether it's nailing your delivery, getting to know your crowd, keeping things interactive with builds or quizzes (shoutout to Hoot! for making that easy), or sprinkling in memes and music, the secret sauce is making learning feel like play. People won't just remember the tech; they'll crave more sessions like yours.

Next time you're prepping a talk, pick one or two of these to try. Start small, iterate based on feedback, and watch your audience light up. If you're in the blockchain world, dive into urbe.eth's bootcamps for real-world inspo; we've seen hundreds of builders get hooked. What's your favorite hack for keeping things engaging?
Drop it in the comments.

Let's level up together and make every workshop unforgettable! 🚀