As someone who has given a talk, here and there, one of my favorite things to do (and attend), is small, lightly-attended panel discussions, with a loose format, and the projector available to everyone at the table, via an HDMI switch.
They are best when the panel encourages the audience to participate, and have interesting people sitting at the table. These may not be jargonauts, but people that don't intimidate folks for asking questions, and speak in the vernacular. It helps if the folks at the table have good interpersonal chemistry.
One of my favorite sessions (that I attended -not spoke at), was at a MacHack conference (yeah...old), given by a couple of guys from the Apple "Blue Meanies" team. They were almost like a comedy duo, and gave great information, in a relaxing manner.
MacHack was great. It was a tremendous opportunity to interact directly with Apple geeks.
The standard Apple "One Guy/Gal With Xcode on Presentation Mode" talks are great fodder for after-conference review, but B O R I N G to attend. The production quality is usually great, but I never seem to get much out of the one I attend. I have to review it, in order to understand it.
They are best when the panel encourages the audience to participate, and have interesting people sitting at the table. These may not be jargonauts, but people that don't intimidate folks for asking questions, and speak in the vernacular. It helps if the folks at the table have good interpersonal chemistry.
One of my favorite sessions (that I attended -not spoke at), was at a MacHack conference (yeah...old), given by a couple of guys from the Apple "Blue Meanies" team. They were almost like a comedy duo, and gave great information, in a relaxing manner.
MacHack was great. It was a tremendous opportunity to interact directly with Apple geeks.
The standard Apple "One Guy/Gal With Xcode on Presentation Mode" talks are great fodder for after-conference review, but B O R I N G to attend. The production quality is usually great, but I never seem to get much out of the one I attend. I have to review it, in order to understand it.