An End To Boring Speakers
When I read Jay Lehr’s Let There Be Stoning, I figured he was channeling Kathy Sierra…but then I realized he wrote it in 1985. With quotes like this, I think I can be forgiven for my my mistake:
Let there be an end to incredibly boring speakers! They are not sophisticated, erudite scientists speaking above our intellectual capability; they are arrogant, thoughtless individuals who insult our very presence by the lack of concern for our desire to benefit from a meeting which we choose to attend.
In other words, they spend too much time trying to convince the audience how smart they were and not enough on how to help their users kick ass! I certainly can’t speak for Kathy, but I think she would support Jay in the shaming of poor presenters. I also like this line:
[the speaker] must convey enlightened enthusiasm for his subject and the advances he has attained.
Now, I’ve never read anything about bad foils (though I did have a CIO that used transparencies for all of his presentations…) but he takes a shot at those folks that think their audience can’t read – in other words, call an audible. For a comparison, you may want to read Kathy’s take on deadly presentations.
A scientist who cannot retain in his head the essence of his latest work can hardly be said to be enraptured by his subject.
My only complaint…the PDF is password protected meaning the good old copy and paste doesn’t work. Sigh. Way to go Presentation Zen for linking to this article – it should be required reading for technical presenters!
