2022-07-20 lightning talks and thunderous applause

thunder, thunder, thunderclap - ho!

the membership has spoken, our doodle poll results are in. the date 2022-07-20 narrowly won out. therefore we will be hosting our first in a new series of lightning talk practice sessions on this date.

as introduced at our last meeting: in these sessions we will gather and take turns practicing delivering a short, condensed, prepared, and polished talk. afterwards, we will give and receive feedback, with the intent of improving our communication skills.

the aim is for these event to be both useful and fun. thus we'll keep the rules simple:

• attending is participating: everybody presents. come prepared.
• timed presentations: 3-5 minutes. you will be cut off if you pass 5 1/2 minutes. finish in under 3 minutes and i (oskar) will buy you a drink afterwards.
• supportive atmosphere: when not presenting, be the best audience you can.
• helpful feedback: take notes and be prepared to provide each presenter constructive and specific advice on how they might improve their presentation, in content and delivery.

you get to choose your topic, just make it something you care about. you have any good advice? do you need to practice an elevator pitch? want to share a solution to a problem? have you got a hobby project? seen a piece of code you really like -even if you didn’t write it? want to give a quick review of a published paper? do you want to tell us about a blog post that changed how you think about a topic?

we are aware of the usual gap between signups and attendance, and do appreciate that life can be unpredictable. specifically for this event, we ask that you please only sign up if you are available to attend and can commit to showing up.

we have secured a generous offer to use the office space of our friends at rittman mead. details to follow.

note that unlike the bi-monthly forum events, this in-person event will not be hybrid, nor recorded.