A little soft shoe
posted by DL Byron on March 22, 2005
I've been speaking lately, on the road, with more gigs coming up. Following the SXSW Panel, which rocked, yesterday's session didn't go so well. I didn't feel that I was connecting with the crowd and figured it out 1/2 way through when an audience member said, "what's RSS, what's a podcast . . . I'm lost." And damn, there it was, the session was going over their heads. Molly will speak today on the How/Why of Blogging and that session should've come first in the schedule. It was my mistake to be so involved in blogging that I forget to go over the basics. I also learned to be ready with the soft shoe, a little time-stretching entertainment, to keep a presentation going, when the crowd response is flat. Some humor and a good laugh could help.
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Comments
Mar 23 | J Lane said:
It was an unfortunate scheduling setup. It would have been better if Molly’s presentation would have been first — the how before the why.
For those of us that were familiar with the technology already, your presentation was great. You’re a good speaker, and the content was interesting, so don’t fret.
Besides, the marjority of the room got a good laugh out of the “What the heck is RSS?” question.
If you’re looking to add to your presentation, a little more on the law would have been cool. There was quite a bit of interest in “what makes corporate blogging different from putting out news releases?” We chatted the next morning about some of the Intranet blogging that some companies use too — that would have been cool — don’t know if you have any experience with that (ie. Google).
Mar 23 | -b- said:
That’s very kind thanks. I really appreciate it. I felt better, later, after more hallway conversations. I think part of it was coming off of the SXSW blog love fest. WDW is not the same blogging crowd. I’ll definitely add legal and government as well. Government blogging came up with 3 different attendess and I didn’t have any examples. There were like, “what would we post on?” Well, not the f-bomb!
Apr 13 | Bill said:
I’m the guy who uttered the what the heck is RSS, and I gotta tell you I was embarassed as all hell to admit I didn’t have a clue, but hey, thats why I paid all that money and flew all the way from Australia to attend the class. I am not the only one in the room who didn’t know the vocabulary, at least.
I am an old of tooth print guy who semi retired and keeping up with the technology is a fairly much full time gig. I thank God I didnt ask what the F bomb was, I dont think I really want to know. Luckily Byron politely apologised, which was not really necessary. The people in the room who are into it would be even more pissed off if a speaker of that quality and depth wrote to a beginners level I am sure, So no harm no foul, and keep your f bomb to yourself, please!
Apr 13 | -b- said:
Thanks for the comments. As J Lane noted, it was mostly the schedule and next time I’ll poll the audience for what they’re interested in: basics or straight into design. I think bloggers also forget how nascent blogging is. You’re not the only one who doesn’t know anything about blogging. I gave a seminar earlier this week and the crowd knew less than zero about blogging. I do hope you got something out of the lecture.