[kwlug-disc] Review: Short presentation night

[John Van Ostrand]

----- Original Message -----
> What did you think?

I was part of it and didn't mind condensing my presentation. I also enjoyed the other presentations. Short is good. And if a topic deserves more time, it can get a dedicated night, or could be delivered in 20 to 30 minute bursts over successive months.
 
> Were the topics too different and thus no audience was served
> adequately?

Attendance was good. I wonder if multiple topics is a way to draw more people to a meeting. They may gain new interests if they sit through presentations they wouldn't have come to see.

> Did the diversity of topics provide something for everyone?

Yes. And the ones that didn't flew by quickly enough.

> How soon should we consider doing another short topic night?

Every month, or perhaps just most months.

> What changes should we make to improve the next short topic night?

Bigger gaps between presentations, more time for questions. If a night ends early there is plenty to fill the extra time: questions, news, social time, polling for new topics or just early Zeke time.

We could have some "threads" of topics. For example a Vim thread: a 10 minute session every month to show some useful feature in Vim. Or a command-line thread with a new command each month, call Paul's screen presentation the first. Perhaps a GUI tools thread with a new GUI tool every month (hello Marcel?.) 

Other Downsides:

It means we need more than 12 presenters in a year, recruiting is a little more difficult. Perhaps more people would be willing to do a 20 minute presentation than a 2 hour one. It does expand the range of topics that we can do.

Presenters will need to be moderated.

-- 
John Van Ostrand 
CTO, co-CEO 
Net Direct Inc. 
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12, Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6 
Ph: 866-883-1172 x5102 
Fx: 519-883-8533 

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