While giving a presentation last week someone remarked that it would have been nice if I had listed all the websites that I referred to on the handout. That's a fair comment, but here's my dilemma. Oftentimes, speakers are asked to turn in handouts weeks and even months before a presentation. I know that at least for me, I am constantly adding to presentations, sometimes up to the last minute. And in that tweaking I find new resources that I want to share. So then there's the decision, do I share only what's on the handout or do I provide all the tools that I think are useful to an audience? Because I want to leave participants with tools they can use, I present what I have just discovered. My belief is that the handout is to augment the presentation. For me it's not a transcript of everything I will be presenting.
Also, because I think it's easier to click on a link rather than retype a website address I decided to go ahead and create a Links page on my blog. Does this page include every website I will ever mention in a presentation? No. But it does have the ones that I speak about in the majority of my presentations. I will be adding new links as I find them so this is not a "static" resource.
The Links page is
here. It also can be found by clicking on the Links tab at the top of this blog.
5 comments:
That's a great solution, Gena. One that meets both your needs as a presenter and our needs as the presentees wanting every last bit of information you've shared. Thank you!
I have JUST this moment come from the end of the annual conferences of MoSGA (Missouri State Genealogical Association); we have 5 great presenters; all sessions had great handouts; all 5 ran into the type of thing you mentioned. (There are also the sites mentioned from the audience).
I think this is a pefectly WONDERFUL idea (as Susan Clark said); and I hope others follow your example.
Thanks Susan for your comment.
I think it makes it easier for audiences to go to a blog and click the links. I always wonder if audiences try out all the great websites on a handout, this helps to make it a little more interactive without publishing the whole handout online.
Hi Sue! Thanks for your comments.
There's is actually another California genealogist, Barbara Renick at Zroots < http://www.zroots.com/> who has a links page and she encourages audiences to make it their homepage so they always have the links there. So that's another idea presenters might want to consider.
Gena, that's a great idea. As a presenter, I always try to make sure the links I include in a handout are still active. As a result I end up having to check the links each time I am preparing to give a presentation; having a links page would be so much more efficient I think.
Denise
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