Re:Rules for Conferences (2019)
by mostlylurks on Tuesday May 10, 2022 @05:09PM
(#31332761)
>managing 80% of the info in double that time (20%) would surprise me.
This isn't particularly difficult. If you skip the pleasantries at the start and end of a talk and use a playback rate of 4x, you'll more or less get that 20% duration. 4x is quite understandable (once you're used to it) given how slowly people giving talks tend to talk. Though if a talk is really dense in terms of content, you might have to go slower just to give your brain a chance to digest the information. Most tech talks aren't that dense, however.
Honestly this depends on the conference, but if it's the kind of thing where it's a CV filler mill you won't learn anything from either the talk or reading the paper. And then there are talks which are impressive because the authors did a lot of work - again you don't learn anything because the solution is obvious, just takes a lot of effort. In those cases I agree it's better to shmooze.
> Don’t attend any talk that’s being recorded
I know myself. I've tried watching those back but it never happens. At best one or two talks if I'm particularly curious about one thing and there's no info about it elsewhere.
Which makes me think talks may just not be the best form. I guess I like them for the combination of entertainment while getting new info.
> You’ll get all the same info in 10% the time by skipping through the video later
That's the problem with video, though: it's almost impossible to skim. I'd be curious if someone quizzed you on those talks after watching them in real-time versus with skipping. Sure, 10% and "all the same info" are both hyperboles and are not to be taken literally, but managing 80% of the info in double that time (20%) would surprise me.
> Caveat: if attending the talk will let you meet the speaker (usually it won’t)
What conferences do you go to where the speaker is locked away after the talk? This confuses me. Or do you mean the line will be too long anyway and there is no point trying?