Subject: Speaker training

From: Carsten Bormann <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 11:48:07 -0500

Maybe the EDU group should include a slot for speaker training at each 
IETF, covering such fundamentals as

-- don't blow into lavalier microphones (they have clips -- use them!)
-- come to the front with a fully booted laptop, presentation software 
already started, presentation loaded (and, if OS permits, started)
-- know how to switch your computer to external video mode (and be 
patient with the projector catching the frequency)
-- don't screw VGA cables to your computer unless you own the WG anyway
-- don't use 7-point type
-- keep time
(-- what is a WG agenda slot about in the first place, how not to use 
PowerPoint, etc.)

and of course
-- say your name at the comments microphone

After having been mistreated a lot by various speakers (and watching 
speakers completely ruin their work by being unintellegible and appear 
just plain stupid) this week, I perceive a need.

Gruesse, Carsten

---

From: Jeffrey Altman <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 12:37:46 -0500

This IETF I tried a very different approach to presentations which
worked quite well.  I set a deadline of 24 hours before the WG session
for all presentations to be delivered to the Chair.  I then took the
time to edit the presentations into a single PDF file for the entire
meeting.  I also brought an extra laptop to use for the presentations
which allowed the Chair to monitor the Jabber room as well as the
in room proceedings while the presentations were being given.

The meeting ran smoothly and without delays.  While some individuals
moaned about the earlier deadline no one missed it.

Jeffrey Altman
Kitten WG Chair

---

From: Robert Sparks <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 12:22:07 -0600

Carsten -

Are you asking for a training session for the IETF contributors at 
large, or a
session that would train chairs to coach their presenters along these 
lines?

I see most of what you call out below as things a chair should be 
leading their
groups contributors to achieve.

The exception is microphone use - many of the sessions I attended 
suffered
badly from microphones being set at inappropriate levels. The lavaliers 
were
ineffective unless they were held very close to (or in) the breath 
path, and the
floor mikes were often just above the threshold of feedback. In all but 
a small
handful of sessions, nobody did anything to change the situation, even 
when
we had an MBone tech in the room.

We should tell the chairs how to get such things fixed quickly (I think 
the answer
is to send someone to the secretariat's desk). It would be a good 
optimization if
there were a way to call for the facilities AV people without having to 
send someone
out of the room (using a "facilities" chatroom or email alias perhaps 
(forgive the
early jump to mechanism)).

RjS