differentials

what is Retinal detachment?

I was pleased to see they had a neat theater there. It was noticeable how the acoustics were really designed to make the most out of a presenter’s voice. Even the whispering in the audience is well-projected! (sheesh.) So if you wanted to walk around, you could explore the space for style. The computers were stationed there already. There was a sleek monitor facing the presenter so he or she wouldn’t have to be in an awkward position to view his slides and at the same time face the audience. And what was cool was the adjustable lights via the monitor. You can adjust it yourself according to the dimness or brightness the theme of your powerpoint presentation requires. There is also a projector there. This is the one where you can put a paper on and draw or wave your hand and this is what will be seen on the big screen behind.

So what kind of presentation would have matched this setup? When I was preparing for the conference, I was worried about my powerpoint skills. I thought that mine will turn out to be too plain if I continue the way I have been doing my powerpoint presentations. So I put in a bit of effort to at least have a special background.

It turned out that the mantra of ‘keeping it simple’ was followed by almost everyone. My old style of presentations would have easily fit here. There weren’t fancy animations. There weren’t any complicated backgrounds. Many had their logos at the top or bottom and that’s it. The text is black and the background is white. Simple. Most of the more veteran speakers even had less than 20 slides.

There was a particular speaker who caught my attention though. He is a doctor of medicine probably in his 50’s or early 60’s. He walked to the front with all the confidence that mattered. He didn’t bring a powerpoint presentation with him. Instead, he had transparencies. That was fine in keeping with the black-text-white-background theme, I thought. Then he flashed his slides. Whoa. There were parts he crossed out in blue and words inserted below and above the printed phrases. The slide looked as if you printed some page for you to edit on paper. And the penmanship used to edit it wasn’t that neat as well. I closed my eyes. There were flashes of light. There were floaters. I opened my eyes. Yep, the edited page was still there. He said he had to make some modifications so that it will fit the theme of the session, e-Learning. What is so cool about the whole thing is that he was quite matter-of-factly in his way. Interesting. One day I’ll pull off something like this, too. Yep, that would have to be in an international conference, too. Hehe.My own mantra: Showmanship rules!
So much for fanciness now, I guess. No more flashes of light. No more floaters. Keep it simple is the lesson. You are the presentation.

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