Lightning talks are 5 minute presentations to share information -- no experience necessary! This a great opportunity to take the stage and talk about something Django-related. You can sign up here.

If you're hesitant to sign up because you're not sure what to talk about, here are some suggestions:

• Favorite new library
• Recent side project
• Things our community needs to do better
• Someone needs to do x
• Tips and tricks
• Performance comparisons

Finally, if you're ready to give a talk, here's some advice to make the process smooth:

• Get to the point: 5 minutes doesn't give you the luxury of bringing the audience up to speed. Make sure your topic is relevant to the audience an you spend no more than 30 seconds on setup and background material. Don't try to cover every concept, just get the audience to a place where you spark their interest.

• Demos: if you're going to share slides or present a demo plan for failure. The projector might not get along with your laptop or the wifi might stop working. Limit your presentation to text (make that text large please!), screenshots, gifs, and recordings if possible.

• Be early: show up to Salons CDE early so the organizers know who you are and to let them know you're present and ready to give your talk. Also, try to finish your talk early. Whether 5 minutes seems like a long time or a short time to you, you never, ever want to hear the moderator say that time has expired.

• Enjoy: your topic should be familiar to you so all you have to do is share about it. Relax and have fun.

We hope you'll consider sharing a lightning talk and we look forward to hearing them. See you in Texas!