Unexpurgated text...

[alexpgp]

I do not a head count of how many people were in the room at the ATA Conference in Boston last October for my presentation titled Search-fu! Finding Terminology on the Internet, but I do recall noting there were people standing along the back wall during my talk. So, I figure there must've been 120 to 150 people in the room

Of those attending, 55 members of the audience were kind enough to fill out a session evaluation form, unanimously agreeing that the session was useful, and that I presented the material effectively, and that I demonstrated knowledge of the subject. All evaluators also agreed they would attend session where I was the speaker. All but one said they'd recommend the session to a colleague, and that one was probably the person who gave my session an overall grade of "fair." (A useful session presented well by a knowledgeable speaker, and that rates just a "fair"? Go figure.)

The comments, presented below just as they appeared in this morning's email from the ATA, were gratifying (even if a couple of them puzzle me):

Very good presentation on a topic great importance; Great info. very effective speaker. ; very useful into generally clean entertaining speaker. ; I was hoping for a new search possibilities why not living still helpful. Thanks! ; The best; Very useful!; I know some of the info but get lots of new tips. ; Brilliant!; Search finding terminology; Excellent! ; Good information and great use of human to keep us awake. ; One of the best Practical, organized understated by all lang even when using session. ; Very dynamic, fun wonderful moderator; Educative and entertaining; Google is indeed a powerful tool for translators!; Dynamic, fun useful presentation an content. ; Could have been longer. Handout needed. No time to take notes.; Very good presenter but a bit basic for me. ; Recipe for success; useful content + humor well done; Brilliant funny, interesting presenter and incredibly useful content; Really useful context here, look forward to the next one; Especially "Ever note" tip; Great presentation! Very useful and funny too! ; Very informative - very dynamic - great; More than excellent!; Great tips!; Too fast to take notes, some explanation glossed over; good humor. ; Dynamic speakers; The presentation was very interactive. I found out a lot of new things.

I have less than a week to figure out what, if anything to present at this year's conference, which will be held in San Diego.

Cheers...

Comments

[great-dame.livejournal.com]

What key point do you want them to walk away with? I usually start with that.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

That's a fair question, but the answer is not necessarily obvious.

That's because, in the final analysis, the purpose of speaking to an audience of one's peers at an industry event is to build one's reputation and "visibility" (i.e., the key point I want folks to take away is that I'm a capable expert). And the mechanism by which this is done is by demonstrating a thorough knowledge of some useful aspect of the craft.

I've made about a dozen presentations over the years, ranging from the different ways of representing Cyrillic letters on computers, to using wikis, to creating glossaries, to an overview of aerospace terms, to honing one's "search-fu."

Something will occur to me, I'm sure.

Cheers...

[great-dame.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm always trying to build my visibility. Something happened tonight at work that threatened all of that and really hurt my heart. I had a customer become upset and defensive when I asked to see their receipt and they declared that I wanted to check them because I was white and he was black.

It took me completely off-guard because I wasn't prepared for the scenario.

Rather than shut up and let him walk away like I should have, I said, "You're saying that I picked you out because your skin is a different color from mine?!"

Ugh, downhill from there.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

There will always be folks out there who, for their own reasons, will say stuff like that. And as long as that wasn't the rationale behind your selecting the fellow, if I were you I'd do my best to forget the whole thing (and more important, to not let it affect your future performance).

Yeah, I know... easier said than done.

Still—