Student Observations on Weekly Presentations

[David Bovill]

Thanks for the comments Calvin!

The encouragement and constructive comments are very motivating. The
sessions are certainly informal - in my view the lower and more fun the
expectations the more it will encourage other people to give it a go -
really everyone has something to show that others can enjoy and learn from.

Also, for now we are experimenting with formats and techniques - so I think
you will see a lot of cool tools being added to the mix in the coming weeks
- think of it as beta for now with a more professional launch towards the
time of the conference - at least that's my excuse :)

On 25 January 2011 19:59, Calvin Waterbury <cjw at eml.cc> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> First off, "BRAVO!" to all who take their time and knowledge to make these
> presentations!  They have been extremely helpful in my learning of LiveCode
> and in being introduced to the programming world outside of Windows®!
>
> I also wish to convey my comments herein are not intended as criticisms,
> but as a "reflection" through the eyes of a student.  If nothing changes, I
> will still continue to participate and glean what I can from each session.
>  I realize that "newbies" are in the minority and I do not expect nor desire
> the presentations to be "dumbed down."  I can understand that spicing up a
> presentation makes for a less mundane experience.
>
> My comments are from only seeing four presentations.  Perhaps the
> presenters were having "off days?"
>
> Ok, with the above preamble/disclaimers in place, here are some thoughts
> for your consideration when you present...
>
> 1. RECORDING - Please make sure you are recording, if you intend to do so
> and let your audience know at the outset you are doing so.  Others mileage
> may vary, but for me knowing I will be able to review the presentation
> allows me to relax and look at the bigger picture and more robust
> interaction of Q&A during the live presentation.  The couple of times the
> chat had comments like "Is he recording?" and "Did he turn on the recorder?"
> sent me into a quasi-panic of myopia and tunnel-vision because I did not
> want to miss any details.
>
> 2. SCREEN VIEW - It is nice to match a face to a voice.  Seeing the "camera
> view" of the presenter at the beginning and briefly "here and there" during
> the presentation certainly assists the tardy as well. Aside from these brief
> displays, it is very helpful if the screen real estate, the "screen view" is
> allocated to the computer desktop and specific windows where the coding
> action is happening.  Without doing so, it is impossible to read the script,
> etc. windows.
>
> 3. DISTRACTIONS - Just a quick note to say I found the visual effects and
> cartoon animations to distracting for my taste, besides taking up screen
> area.  This is my own personal opinion and not necessarily the opinion of
> any other participant(s).
>
> 4. VERBOSITY - I realize this comes easier to some than others, but try to
> verbalize your thought processes as you are working through your
> presentation.  This really helps to "connect the dots," especially for those
> of us who do not have the same familiarity yet.  While I am a newbie to
> LiveCode, I am not a novice programmer and "hearing" the logic spoken allows
> my experience to assist my learning.  Also, if your presentation contains a
> bug, hearing the logic may allow me to assist in debugging where otherwise I
> could not.
>
> 5. KEEP AN EYE ON THE CHAT - *We* are able to see and hear you via USTREAM,
> but but the only way you can "see" or "hear" our feedback is via the
> ChatRev.  I noticed more than one instance where the presenter was oblivious
> to what the audience was trying to "say," especially when there were
> problems like sound issues, performance, clarity, etc.
>
>
> Ok, there are my notes from *my* experiences.  Use what you feel is valid
> and throw out the rest, but by all means please continue to present!  :)
>
> I would like to encourage everyone to present something.  Everyone has
> their own personal way of communicating and the way *you* might say
> something could unlock someone's understanding where no one else's would.
>  You don't have to be a guru-coder to present either.  Maybe your
> presentation could be about how you lay out your LiveCode work space, what
> ancillary tools you use to develop, etc.  I am working on a project that I
> will present, hopefully in about six weeks, if I haven't bit off more than I
> can chew. ;)
>
> FYI - I used to work in a television station years ago and have coached
> people into getting over the intimidation, anxiety and stage fright of being
> in front of an audience on camera.  I'll be glad to help if you want to try
> and present.  Unfortunately, I will have to defer the technical questions
> about using USTREAM to other experienced presenters at this time.
>