Talked about how to craft a talk. some points.
subliminal - Ruby talks tend to be black & white because that's what the editor looks like when you are coding, so thats how people are use to receiving information. The Digigirlz program favors young hip women teachers to let the girls know this is something they can do, and give them a role model to aspire to
Inspirational take aways - Bob Martins "don't be blocked" made the whole talk worth while. The poem t'was the night before christmas created santa claus as you know him.
Finding the core - hard, but important
Schema - there is no point in teaching something if it is not needed. find out what your audience is currently doing, and come up with an example where that thinking completely breaks down. now show them where yours can help
Checkpoints - Think of the moment in the karate kid where daniel realizes he has learned to block with wax-on wax-off. The moment of learning, and the moment you realize you have learned are completely different. Furthermore the moment of realization brings with it 80% of the appreciation (sometimes more) how much time do you spend when creating your talk to help make sure the audience has realized that they have learned something?
I think this is extra telling with don's comments at the end, he said something to the effect of "i'm not sure what i've learned. to me learning is the part that changes how I act in the future. So I've gathered all this knowledge, and look forward to discovering what i've learned" this was a great sentiment, but I think it shows how little we think about checkpoints.
Mistery & Knowledge Gaps - Think the best example of this is in this talk by Josh Bloch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDN_EYUvUq0
Types of talks - Intro / Transitions / Sharpening
Intro - Ruby on rails 101
Transitions - What's new in Rails 3.0
Sharpening - Tips and tricks to optimize Rails
Sharpening talks always have a prereq. Make sure that prereq is in your title.
Titles - All important, Try to make sure that your title allows the reader to decide if he should be at your talk
subliminal - Ruby talks tend to be black & white because that's what the editor looks like when you are coding, so thats how people are use to receiving information. The Digigirlz program favors young hip women teachers to let the girls know this is something they can do, and give them a role model to aspire to
Inspirational take aways - Bob Martins "don't be blocked" made the whole talk worth while. The poem t'was the night before christmas created santa claus as you know him.
Finding the core - hard, but important
Schema - there is no point in teaching something if it is not needed. find out what your audience is currently doing, and come up with an example where that thinking completely breaks down. now show them where yours can help
Checkpoints - Think of the moment in the karate kid where daniel realizes he has learned to block with wax-on wax-off. The moment of learning, and the moment you realize you have learned are completely different. Furthermore the moment of realization brings with it 80% of the appreciation (sometimes more) how much time do you spend when creating your talk to help make sure the audience has realized that they have learned something?
I think this is extra telling with don's comments at the end, he said something to the effect of "i'm not sure what i've learned. to me learning is the part that changes how I act in the future. So I've gathered all this knowledge, and look forward to discovering what i've learned" this was a great sentiment, but I think it shows how little we think about checkpoints.
Mistery & Knowledge Gaps - Think the best example of this is in this talk by Josh Bloch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDN_EYUvUq0
Types of talks - Intro / Transitions / Sharpening
Intro - Ruby on rails 101
Transitions - What's new in Rails 3.0
Sharpening - Tips and tricks to optimize Rails
Sharpening talks always have a prereq. Make sure that prereq is in your title.
Titles - All important, Try to make sure that your title allows the reader to decide if he should be at your talk