I was fortunate enough to basically be handed the opportunity to give a conference presentation at Compuers in Libraries from a too-kind colleague who I imagine lacked the time or interest in giving it. The topic I was asked to speak on was Green Open Access, and that’s basically it. Kind of a big topic to cover in any great detail, and more difficultly a big topic for me to cover from my point of view and experience without coming off as a downer. I didn’t want to go in as a mostly frustrated repoman, but I absolutely did not want to present Green OA as the magical wonderland of kittens and bunnies and smiling flowers. I seethe when technologies and trends are presented to librarians as OMG ISN’T THIS GREAT, because let me tell 95% of the time THEY ARE DEDICEDLY NOT.
At this point you should know that I am heavily debating just how professional I should be on this vaguley professional blog, and whether or not I should make those all-caps bits into hyperlinks pointing you to just exactly what I’m getting at.
So my goals were to be realistic and speak from my experiences while still providing broad coverage of the topic and contemporary status of things, and to do this in a creative, concise, and aesthetically pleasing way that didn’t consist of a default PP template with a bunch of bullet points.
By the way, anyone who presents with any frequency whatsoever owes themselves at least a Macbook, because Keynote absolutely blows away Powerpoint. And I’m no Mac zealot.
I’d like to think I pulled this off, the whole “broad overview peppered with harsh reality” thing. I’ll be recording a voiceover for my Keynote and putting it up on Google video soon, so I’ll let readers be the judges.
Tags: 1 Comment
you definitely pulled it off - a great mix of reality and possibility.
also, watching you present made me yearn for my macbook (which recently died a horrible death thanks to a glass of spilled milk).
great to meet you!