On how not to give a talk
Tuesday, 6 December 2005 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daToday was a one-day conference for computer tech staff at the University. There were 200 or so attendees and three tracks of six sessions.
In the morning there was a session on "Presentation Hints And Tips For Techies" (which I did not attend, as I've been to similar sessions in the past, and I wanted to learn about "Anarchy and the Workstation Next Door", next door.) But- excellent idea, Intro Speaking for Techies.
During the morning break, I was chatting with my boss2 andhis boss2 (a Dean) the Vice-Provost for Information Technology (who used to be a School Dean) about whether the conference was actually worth the 1,000-1,500 person-hours it occupied when all was said and done. And that in planning, they consciously decided to hold this Tips session at the conference, instead of a few months beforehand, though boss2 thought that would've been a good idea.
Just after lunch, a presenter who shall remain anonymous started his talk by saying, "I went to the tips talk, and maybe I should throw out my slides based on what I learned there. But I'm not going to." He proceeded to give 40 minutes of blindingly obvious background information, followed with ten minutes of semi-useful bits.
Rule number 1; don't give the wrong talk for your audience. Think about the fact that you're speaking to professionals. If in doubt, ask around before you write the talk. Rule number 2, which should've been in the morning session, even if it wasn't: don't lie on the abstract. Don't make the abstract a broad, jucy topic and then only talk about one small bit.
*sigh*.
I will be sharing some thoughts with boss2 tomorrow, since we had been expressly talking about ways the conference could be made more useful. But I think it's also been useful to vent here beforehand. :)
In the morning there was a session on "Presentation Hints And Tips For Techies" (which I did not attend, as I've been to similar sessions in the past, and I wanted to learn about "Anarchy and the Workstation Next Door", next door.) But- excellent idea, Intro Speaking for Techies.
During the morning break, I was chatting with my boss2 and
Just after lunch, a presenter who shall remain anonymous started his talk by saying, "I went to the tips talk, and maybe I should throw out my slides based on what I learned there. But I'm not going to." He proceeded to give 40 minutes of blindingly obvious background information, followed with ten minutes of semi-useful bits.
Rule number 1; don't give the wrong talk for your audience. Think about the fact that you're speaking to professionals. If in doubt, ask around before you write the talk. Rule number 2, which should've been in the morning session, even if it wasn't: don't lie on the abstract. Don't make the abstract a broad, jucy topic and then only talk about one small bit.
*sigh*.
I will be sharing some thoughts with boss2 tomorrow, since we had been expressly talking about ways the conference could be made more useful. But I think it's also been useful to vent here beforehand. :)
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small question:
Date: Wednesday, 7 December 2005 03:28 am (UTC)A presentation on how to give presentations is never a good thing just before, um, a bunch of presentations. Not only does it make the presenters nervous that they are doing everything wrong, but everyone now knows exactly what they are doing wrong. "If he pulls on his tie he's lying" and then everyone will be focusing more on ties then on what's being said....