[TriZPUG] May Meeting Call for Speakers

[Chris Calloway]

On 4/28/2009 9:31 PM, Chris Rossi wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 8:23 PM, Bradley A. Crittenden <
> brad.crittenden at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Apr 28, 2009, at 18:04 , bob gailer wrote:
>>
>>  Chris Calloway wrote:
>>>> As always, though, each of you is expected to be ready with a lightning
>>>> talk if called on.
>>>>
>>> I am concerned about this, as I can see such an expectation discouraging
>>> some newcomer.
>>>
>> That's just Chris being all blustery.  No newcomer should be scared to come
>> to a meeting.
>>
>>
> Maybe we should offer treats for those who do give lightning talks?

Maybe. I've seen prizes given to best lightning talk at PyCons. It would 
be nice to have enough lightning talks to have a vote on the best. I'll 
try to have a prize in reserve just in case we do.

I had to look up blustery. I'm pretty sure we've only bullied newcomers 
into telling us who they are, and that bullying amounted to, "Please 
sound off around the room and tell us who you are." And I'm pretty sure 
no one has ever been bullied for not bringing a lightning talk.

When it comes to lightning talks, we usually ask if anyone's got one. 
Sometimes someone or more does. Sometimes not. Sometimes we've called on 
specific people who have been coming for a long time when no one 
volunteers, and it turned out they did have something to share.

Certainly I think we want to promote TriZPUG meetings as participatory 
rather than a spectator sport. TriZPUG is not designed to be some people 
entertaining other people, although there are some people who take the 
lead in facilitating meetings and events. So I like to encourage 
participants to bring lightning talks. I want to hear what other people 
have to say. In fact, I do *expect* to. And sometimes my expectations 
are met. :)

If you don't bring a lightning talk, no one is going to bother you. In 
fact, no one is really going to notice. The people who brought lightning 
talks will get all the notice. And we may not even have time to get to 
lightning talks if the featured speaker takes up enough time. That's why 
a lightning talk can be something you don't even have to prepare for. 
Some of our best lightning talks have been someone standing up and 
sharing something Python-related they saw on some website that might be 
of interest to others.

I hope this clears that up.

-- 
Sincerely,

Chris Calloway
http://www.secoora.org
office: 332 Chapman Hall   phone: (919) 599-3530
mail: Campus Box #3300, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599