I gave a lightning talk at Codex Meetup Tokyo #1.

As the title “retrospective” suggests, you can probably guess how it went.

(Excerpting part of what was omitted)

I sincerely apologize for the poor delivery. I promise to make the most of this reflection (if there is a next time…) and take the stage fully prepared and in good condition.
I learned a great deal from speaking with so many people. Thank you very much.

Issue 1 - Over-engineering the slides

A few days before the talk, I came down with poor health and voice problems. I shifted to cramming everything I would have said into the slides so the material alone could carry the presentation.

As a result, the overall quality of the talk suffered. On top of packing too much spoken content into the slides, I kept editing until the last minute and couldn’t fully organize the structure.

Issue 2 - Voice problems

I thought my throat had recovered reasonably well by the day of the event, but once I was out, I found it difficult to project my voice.

Speaking smoothly during the talk was a struggle, and combined with Issue 1, it made for a very difficult listen.

Issue 3 - Topic choice

I must not shy away from admitting that the topic was a poor choice. I had condensed a topic originally submitted for a 15-minute session into a 5-minute LT. The key points ended up unclear, and the talk failed to get its message across. I should have consulted the organizers about changing the topic as soon as I was assigned a LT slot.

On top of that, trying to bring spec-driven development to a 15-minute session was, to put it mildly, insane.

I need to calmly reconsider: what matters is not which topic I want to present, but which topic the audience needs. I should rethink my role in the community.

Issue 4 - Lack of knowledge

This may seem unrelated to the talk itself at first glance, but I felt a lack of keeping up with the latest information, and a fundamental lack of knowledge about Codex.
The poor topic selection was partly due to this knowledge gap.

The complacency of thinking “I can just ask AI anyway,” and neglecting my core duty as a software engineer to keep learning because I was caught up in speaking and community activities — these are things I must seriously reflect on.

What went well

  • I feel that some attendees gained a degree of understanding and agreement with my arguments about spec-driven development using Codex.
  • Received some positive feedback on the slide content

Summary

I must commit to the following:

  • Thoroughly prepare and internalize the slides. Memorize and convey the intent behind every single item
  • Choose topics that match the event’s purpose and audience. Prioritize what is needed over what I want to talk about
  • Take better care of my health

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to speak and for everyone I got to talk with on the day.
If there is a next opportunity to put this reflection to use, I intend to prepare with everything I have to deliver a good talk.