What makes a good talk?
Like many of us; I have attended a multitude of talks at conferences and other forums. This course has helped me answer the question, "Was it the topic or the speaker that made a 'good' v. 'bad' presentation"? I have attended presentations on topics that were highly interesting 'on paper' but the speaker did a poor job. Various incarnations of topics and talks that make for good v. bad presentations now make more sense when viewed through the lense of ML 117.
The best talks remain relevant and interesting. State changes are also important to prevent boredom regardless of how good the topic.
The topic has some inherent interest for participants and/or the subject is highly relevant/trending. The speaker has done their homework regarding the audience and is qualified to address the topic.
Being able to anwser question on the topic is important as the subject being interesting.
What if a speaker cannot answer a question, however, they provided a 'Good' talk. Would inability to answer a question change a talk to 'Bad'? How a speaker responds to a question they cannot answer may point us towards our judgment of that talk. If links, references, or more information is provided then I see this as sufficient evidence that the speaker is qualified.
You can't know everything, but why would a speaker not know his or her subject matter? Why would you stand in front of people and make a fool out of youself.
By the same token, I have heard interesting speakers give talks on subjects that were what I considered less than exciting, yet they kept my attention. They were masters at using state changes, jokes everyone would understand, answering questions and making the talk fun.
A reasonable inference is that: the depth of knowledge on a given subject will vary for every speaker. Even a person who researches and writes a dissertation will not necessarily be an 'expert' on every possible question that might be asked. The key is to know where and how to get more information. On the other hand; if a speaker has spent their career working in a particular field of study I would expect them to know the answer to more potential questions.
Douglas,
I agree as there will always be questions on a subject that you can't answer. Now, if you can't answer a basic question clearly that's a problem, however there can be tough questions that you haven't researched or thought about before & that you now need to look into more.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
you need to control your talk and the time limitation since the topic becomes interesting.
Karen,
definitely true. When given a time limit stay within it, it is considered very rude to go way over, even if you are an expert.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
