VanLUG Email Archive
Traduisez - Übersetzen - Traduzca - Traduza - Tradurre - Translate
Bean (ben@emediastudios.com)
Sat, 17 Mar 2001 11:00:31 -0800
> However, I also understand that some of us
> want to take Linux into the boardroom and onto the corporate desktop.
> So we are going to be judged accordingly. We have to anticipate and
> expect that. I don't think reasonable people will demand huge
> expenditures of cash, or highly polished presentations,
> but competence is a different matter. There is
> no reason for us to be perceived as incompetent, ignorant or poorly
> prepared. These things are totally within our control.
Absolutely! Hopefully next year one of the people hoping to take Linux into the
boardrooms of the world (or at least Vancouver ;-) will be willing to step up to the
mic when the call for presenters goes out. I would think that a consultant or someone
else with a vested interest in putting the best corporate face on Linux would be best
suited for such presentations. No doubt Mr. Dunn's clients would have been much more
impressed had the presentation not only been well prepared, but been delivered by Mr.
Dunn himself!
> Absolutely. We have to move forward. We have to be solution centered.
> It's quite important to be supportive of one another - but that's not
> to say we can't also be constructively critical of each other too.
Certainly. Constructive criticism is the best way to improve. What I was attempting to
do, however, was move the constructive criticism away from individual presenters and
put it where I think it belongs, at the pre-Comdex organizational run-up. As a member
of the Poster Committee, who posted an emergency message to the list just hours ahead
of your print deadline, you must be aware that many of this year's short comings are
rooted in the relative lack of preparation compared to previous years.
> >Public speaking can be very intimidating. It takes a considerable amount of courage
> >to step in front of an audience of strangers. Voluntarily doing so is commendable,
> >but many of us "computer types", stereotype or not, do not have the skills required
> >to pull it off in a "slick" way.
>
> It's neither desireable nor necessary to present yourself as a
> professional communicator. I never believe salesmen anyways. But it is
> necessary to be well prepared - even to the point of having your
> presentation memorized or half-memorized and to know what you are
> talking about. If you can demonstrate your knowledge and intrest and
> understanding of the subject, get that across to your audience and
> they won't care if you're geeky. If you can teach your audience
> something they will judge you positively.
It's not a matter of being geeky or not (Comdex _is_ a computer convention after all),
it's a matter of having the social skills to be able to step in front of a crowd and
deliver a suitable presentation. I would hope it comes as a surprise to no one on this
list that computer folks are sometimes found to be wanting of these skills. We need to
recognize that not everyone is a good presenter and that, when the call for presenters
is put out, we find a way to gently steer such people into a position that might make
better use of their strengths and yet maintain their enthusiasm and sense of worthwhile
involvement. Our membership has an amazing assortment of skills and areas of
expertise. Next year we need to do a better job of finding the "presenters" amongst us
and encourage their involvement. Failing to review the presentations prior to Comdex
was, IMHO, this year's major flaw. If we, as a group, put a person in a suitation that
he isn't well equiped for we as a group should take any blame and work to avoid it
being repeated in the future.
> There are ways of dealing with the 'jitters'. Some people for example
> recommend closing your eyes and imagining your audience in their
> underwear. So imagine the Telus Theatre - all those guys - boxers or
> briefs??? Silk or cotton??? Who among us is a 'thong man' :=))) The
> mind may boggle at the possiblities but it is hard to be afraid of
> people in their underware.
I guess it depends on the audience. There's more than one VanLUG member I wouldn't want
to picture in such a situation ;-).
- Ben
-- This message came to you via the Vancouver Linux Users Group mailing list. For unsubscription instructions do not email the list, but rather send mail to <vanlug-request@gweep.bc.ca>.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 03 Jul 2001 - 19:14:49