Eat the Mike
Jul 06, 2026 6:40 PM
Daria Barteneva of Microsoft Azure
Eat the Mike
"Eat the Mike or Lightning Talk Karaoke (a well-known format in tech/conference communities) is an improvised presentation game where speakers take the stage to deliver a short talk using slides they've never seen before. Each presenter gets 2-3 minutes to narrate a random slide deck on the fly, turning unexpected charts, stock photos, and absurd diagrams into a coherent (or hilariously incoherent) story. It's equal parts public speaking practice and comedy night. Participants build confidence presenting under pressure, learn to think on their feet, and discover that the fear of "not knowing what to say" is survivable - and often funnier than a rehearsed talk. Whether you volunteer to speak or just watch, you'll leave with a lighter perspective on presentations and a reminder that the best talks come from authenticity, not perfection."
Daria is a Principal Site Reliability Engineer in Observability Engineering in Azure. With a background in Applied Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, and Music, Daria is passionate about machine learning, diversity in tech, and opera. In her current role, Daria is focused on changing organisational culture, processes, and platforms to improve service reliability and on-call experience. She has spoken at conferences on various aspects of reliability and human factors that play a key role in engineering practices, and has written for O'Reilly.