Photo presentation

I have been asked to give an informal evening presentation at a micromounters' conference. Any suggestions on how long such a presentation should be (either by time or number of images)? Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Bob

Hi Bob, Been there, done that! I think that 45 minutes to an hour is good. Anything over that and people begin to get antsy . . . or if the lights are out some will fall asleep.

Another good rule of thumb is to not have more than one slide (or image) per minute available. You think you don't linger on them that long, but almost invariably, if you try to pack more in you either run over the time or have to leave some out at the end.

All the aforementioned advice is fabulous and right on the money....and just a few other ideas from personal experience....

If you go for distinct colours and great crystal forms with good contrast, and in good focus as well, this will keep them dazzled and hopefully not drifting off into slumberland.
Almost as important..vary your voice's volume and tone often and appropriately so that your voice dazzles them as well,
making sure that your mouth is always facing the microphone, and then, your words won't drift off into fuzzy softness
[ I have heard too many monotone lectures that no matter the quality of everything in it, drove me to the fluffly land of sleep.]

Anecdotal stories about the specimens or their collectors
can only colour up the talk as well, so if you know some, throw them into the mix and the time will just fly by for everyone, and they will
be clamouring for more...

good luck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2009 10:51AM by Ray Hill.

Hi all,

Thanks to all for the tips. If there are more, please keep them coming.

Bob

Hi Bob

Colour, variety, noise...and suprises!

Regards
Steve

45 mins is about all most people can cope with in a dark room after a busy day

Regards,
Ralph

It is a good idea if you can get some audience participation, to make the experience more interactive rather than a lecture. Make up a short quiz or two, either serious or light-hearted, and use that to break up sections of your talk. Ask your audience to try to identify an unusual piece. Get them to do things by a show of hands (eg. how many of you have pieces of this in your collection).
As a general rule, every presentation needs to have a point or purpose or theme. So you need to decide what message you want to deliver whether that is exposing the audience to a locality they would be interested in, or a species, crystal system, or whatever or just sharing your favorite pieces.
Also, try to incorporate personal experiences or anecdotes - tell the audience why a piece is of interest to you.
Lastly, do a couple of dry runs of your talk at home before you go "live". This will help you check the flow, pace and overall timing of your talk. If your nervous or uncomfortable giving this kind of talk, steady your nerves by remembering you are a world expert on the pieces in your collection, how you collected them, how you mounted them, how you photographed them, etc.

This topic indirectly brings up an idea. It would be interesting and very helpful to have a list of collectors that have canned talks, are preparing talks. For example, the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium is always looking for speakers. Also many clubs are looking for speakers; our Rochester club has the funds to bring in speakers and we try to get a few speakers from out side our area every year. Would something like this be useful? Al

Send me a PM some time, Al.

Perhaps we can talk about talks...