14 ms·
This annoys me too, especially since you can add a pet as fluff (pun intended) to a talk, while also integrating them as an example. I use my dog to demo things
by rpmisms 5y ago
This annoys me too, especially since you can add a pet as fluff (pun intended) to a talk, while also integrating them as an example. I use my dog to demo things all the time. "here's our sample user, Lucy. She's not too smart, so let's see how she navigates this UI". That's just a good speaking tactic.
- ravenstine 5y agoYeah at least that's more clever and legitimately humorous.
- rpmisms 5y agoAnd more importantly, it's on-topic. Adding flavor to a presentation can be tricky, you can't just toss unrelated information in there and keep the audience focused, you have to integrate it into the data you're presenting. We're engineers, social intelligence isn't our specialty, but this is pretty easy to codify.
- drewcoo 5y agoAnd that is incredibly effective. You're using your dog pics to anchor ideas in people's heads! When people remember your preso, they'll remember the dog images, but those will all represent some meaningful take-away from the talk.
- rpmisms 5y agoExactly! Brian Holt did this effectively in his (excellent) React course for Frontend Masters. He started off by introducing his dogs... And then built a pet adoption app. Brilliant, lots of hooks (literal and figurative) involving cute puppies literally built in to the project.
- ryanmcbride 5y agoYeah this is a great example of how to do it. Just enough of a change up to refocus attention on what you're saying.