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> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Posada [mailto:jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 12:45 PM
> Subject: RE: Trip Reports re: presentations
>
<snip>
> > 2. They'll more than likely be taking additional notes,
> which will be
> > very
> > helpful.
>
> They can take notes anyway...and for those that don't have
> paper, I usualy
> being a supply of 25 sheet notepads.
And the notes will be all jumbled together. I think it's far more helpful to
take notes on handouts, relating each note to the subject of each slide.
>
> > 3. Better that then uninformed questions. If I'm seeing a
> presentation
> > and
> > can only view what's up on screen, especially in the case
> mentioned, I'd
> > take it with a huge grain of salt, wondering what was being
> hidden, and
> > I
> > might be much more hostile in that case. If the material is
> there, it
> > can be
> > reviewed, compared, and otherwise looked over, and the resulting
> > questions
> > are likely to be more intelligent.
>
> The questions come at the end, so they've been informed of everything
> prior to Q&A session anyway. The problem with questions during a
> presenation is that it opens you to loosing control of the
> presenation.
>
The problem with questions held to the end is that (a) sometimes questions
are forgotten as more subject matter has been piled on, and (b) the
questioners need to take extra time to place the question in context:
reviewing the area of the presentation that the question stemmed from.
I've been in presentations where presenters say that questions are welcome
anytime. And I've been to presentations where presenters have asked that all
questions be held to the end. In almost all cases, I found the former to be
more useful, with the questions always relevant to the matter at hand, and
the presenters always able tom complete their presentation within the
allotted time. Such methods tend to be much more user friendly, rather than
from the school of
I'm-the-expert-here-to-talk-and-you're-the-student-so-sit-there-and-listen.
Both techniques are used in classrooms as well as at conferences; I've found
students learn more and get involved with the subject more when there is
ongoing interaction.
--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled carpenters
don't get insulted when told they are not architects, but highly skilled
programmers do get insulted when they are told they are not UI designers."
- anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
by Jeff Johnson
Chuck Martin, Sr. Technical Writer
cmartin -at- serena -dot- com
P.S. Woo Hoo! Fun Friday afternoon debate! :)
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