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So I have to admit. I'm still quite torn. On one hand, keeping slides simple and avoiding "eye charts" clearly makes for better readability, and reduces the r

So I have to admit. I'm still quite torn. On one hand, keeping slides simple and avoiding "eye charts" clearly makes for better readability, and reduces the risk of the presenter "reading from the slide." OTOH, a set of slides like that is utterly useless after the fact, unless it's accompanied by a transcript. Both audio and video recordings require serial attention for 15/30/60 minutes that I typically will not have, and I certainly can't see doing that to anyone else. A question to the assembled: If you make "Presentation Zen"/"Merlin Mann"/etc. low-text high-concept slides for your talk, how do you make sure your presentation is accessible after the fact?

jgrahamc 14y ago
I commented on this the other day. I won't give a talk unless video is being made freely available: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4762351 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4762351 Since I tend to give talks without bullet points it's essential that people can hear me talk.
- saurik 14y ago
  I'm actually the opposite: I tend to avoid being paid to speak (one time I was actually paid, but I didn't cash the check), but if you want to record a video of me speaking for your usage on your website, then I consider that something you really need to be saying up front and which you should probably be paying for (and thereby which I often just won't do, as I usually avoid being paid; my standpoint on avoiding being paid will probably change over time, though). The first issue is that it isn't really "publicity" for me (to respond to your linked point #3 about wanting publicity), it is free and valuable content for the event: to the extent to which I obtain publicity, I get it from the people at the event that I am addressing with my talk, not from the people who run the event; the second one is that recording the video to go with the slides doesn't mean that the content will now be understandable, as I feel truly awesome content is often somewhat interactive (I try to break the ice quickly to allow questions to interrupt me); and, finally, it has a severe cost on the talk... when you are speaking with a smaller circle, you can tailor your talk to directly meet their needs (I make it a point to meet as many people as I can before I give a talk to ask why they are attending the conference, what they wanted to get out of it, what company the work for, etc. and I then retarget my talk to directly serve those interests, use language appropriate to the audience, and sometimes can come up with specific and more useful examples), but when you know that thousands of random people are going to be watching this recorded later you suddenly have to talk to a general audience and have to be more guarded about stories and predictions (as you will certainly be called on them years later in drastically different contexts)... it really just ruins the experience. (edit:) In essence, it is actually a different medium from a "live" talk: a talk that is being recorded is to a different audience (undermining the goal of having a conference tailored to specific topics and interests) and has different constraints (difficult interactivity with either the audience or the slides, a tradeoff on movement on stage vs. framing of the camera), in the same way that a slidedeck without an associated talk is a different medium from a talk; you aren't really giving a talk to a conference anymore: you are giving an address to the world.
simonw 14y ago
The best way of handling this in my opinion is to publish an annotated version of the slides afterwards. Here's a good example: https://speakerdeck.com/zachinglis/notes https://speakerdeck.com/zachinglis/notes
- evolve2k 14y ago
  I would agree for a talk you should optimize for the primary medium, being live presenting. Sure if you want to spread the word you can create other content with the same topic name, like a good blog post, to help you get the message out. There's noting worse than crappy over texted slides where I attend and am thinking, I could have just stayed home and read the slides. Apparently there was a classic talk by Dr Nic from Engine Yard who also does stand up comedy, the speaker didn't show up for some reason so Dr Nic jumped up and gave the talk cause he could just read the slides like everyone else. (disclaimer: wasn't there so facts may vary)
majormajor 14y ago
The approach I usually go with is to initially create a full set of notes/slides that contain everything I'll want to cover, and then use a copy of that as the basis for my slides, which I then aggressively strip stuff out of. Then I've got the original notes still to refer to if needed while giving the talk, and to distribute. Slides for during a presentation and slides/notes for reference without hearing the talk at the same time have two completely different needs to fill, and I don't think there's a one-piece solution to both. Especially since I feel the same way that, outside of a conference setting, referring to an audio/video recording of a presentation is much less efficient than a proper set of notes.
TeMPOraL 14y ago
> If you make "Presentation Zen"/"Merlin Mann"/etc. low-text high-concept slides for your talk, how do you make sure your presentation is accessible after the fact? The problem here is that you try to optimize for two opposite goals - high focus/low information density visuals for talking, and broad-spectrum/high information density visuals for reading afterwards. I'd say, you should go with first, and as for the latter, go and write an article. A video or slides with additional adnotations is an acceptable compromise.
saraid216 14y ago
TeMPoraL's comment comes close to my response, but it's not quite what I'd say: A slide deck is a visual aid. Its only purpose is to be a visual aid. If you want your audience to take a physical memento away with them, don't be lazy: make a separate, physical memento designed to be taken away with them. Your slide deck should be useless after the fact, just like a bullet shell casing is useless after you've fired the bullet. When you make something, make it with a singular purpose in mind and make it fulfill that purpose well. IIRC, Presentation Zen covered this fairly well; in fact, I'm pretty sure Garr Reynolds is where I got this notion to begin with.

jgrahamc 14y ago

I commented on this the other day. I won't give a talk unless video is being made freely available: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4762351 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4762351 Since I tend to give talks without bullet points it's essential that people can hear me talk.

saurik 14y ago
I'm actually the opposite: I tend to avoid being paid to speak (one time I was actually paid, but I didn't cash the check), but if you want to record a video of me speaking for your usage on your website, then I consider that something you really need to be saying up front and which you should probably be paying for (and thereby which I often just won't do, as I usually avoid being paid; my standpoint on avoiding being paid will probably change over time, though). The first issue is that it isn't really "publicity" for me (to respond to your linked point #3 about wanting publicity), it is free and valuable content for the event: to the extent to which I obtain publicity, I get it from the people at the event that I am addressing with my talk, not from the people who run the event; the second one is that recording the video to go with the slides doesn't mean that the content will now be understandable, as I feel truly awesome content is often somewhat interactive (I try to break the ice quickly to allow questions to interrupt me); and, finally, it has a severe cost on the talk... when you are speaking with a smaller circle, you can tailor your talk to directly meet their needs (I make it a point to meet as many people as I can before I give a talk to ask why they are attending the conference, what they wanted to get out of it, what company the work for, etc. and I then retarget my talk to directly serve those interests, use language appropriate to the audience, and sometimes can come up with specific and more useful examples), but when you know that thousands of random people are going to be watching this recorded later you suddenly have to talk to a general audience and have to be more guarded about stories and predictions (as you will certainly be called on them years later in drastically different contexts)... it really just ruins the experience. (edit:) In essence, it is actually a different medium from a "live" talk: a talk that is being recorded is to a different audience (undermining the goal of having a conference tailored to specific topics and interests) and has different constraints (difficult interactivity with either the audience or the slides, a tradeoff on movement on stage vs. framing of the camera), in the same way that a slidedeck without an associated talk is a different medium from a talk; you aren't really giving a talk to a conference anymore: you are giving an address to the world.

simonw 14y ago

The best way of handling this in my opinion is to publish an annotated version of the slides afterwards. Here's a good example: https://speakerdeck.com/zachinglis/notes https://speakerdeck.com/zachinglis/notes

evolve2k 14y ago
I would agree for a talk you should optimize for the primary medium, being live presenting. Sure if you want to spread the word you can create other content with the same topic name, like a good blog post, to help you get the message out. There's noting worse than crappy over texted slides where I attend and am thinking, I could have just stayed home and read the slides. Apparently there was a classic talk by Dr Nic from Engine Yard who also does stand up comedy, the speaker didn't show up for some reason so Dr Nic jumped up and gave the talk cause he could just read the slides like everyone else. (disclaimer: wasn't there so facts may vary)

majormajor 14y ago

The approach I usually go with is to initially create a full set of notes/slides that contain everything I'll want to cover, and then use a copy of that as the basis for my slides, which I then aggressively strip stuff out of. Then I've got the original notes still to refer to if needed while giving the talk, and to distribute. Slides for during a presentation and slides/notes for reference without hearing the talk at the same time have two completely different needs to fill, and I don't think there's a one-piece solution to both. Especially since I feel the same way that, outside of a conference setting, referring to an audio/video recording of a presentation is much less efficient than a proper set of notes.

TeMPOraL 14y ago

> If you make "Presentation Zen"/"Merlin Mann"/etc. low-text high-concept slides for your talk, how do you make sure your presentation is accessible after the fact? The problem here is that you try to optimize for two opposite goals - high focus/low information density visuals for talking, and broad-spectrum/high information density visuals for reading afterwards. I'd say, you should go with first, and as for the latter, go and write an article. A video or slides with additional adnotations is an acceptable compromise.

saraid216 14y ago

TeMPoraL's comment comes close to my response, but it's not quite what I'd say: A slide deck is a visual aid. Its only purpose is to be a visual aid. If you want your audience to take a physical memento away with them, don't be lazy: make a separate, physical memento designed to be taken away with them. Your slide deck should be useless after the fact, just like a bullet shell casing is useless after you've fired the bullet. When you make something, make it with a singular purpose in mind and make it fulfill that purpose well. IIRC, Presentation Zen covered this fairly well; in fact, I'm pretty sure Garr Reynolds is where I got this notion to begin with.