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Present Around Our Worlds

James Shaw
We are now into a new round of Present Around The World (PATW) competitions in which groups of our younger members each make short presentation at various centres around the world.


I wonder if there is scope for adopting this format and extending it to the wider membership?


We are fortunate that there are people prepared to give presentations at local centres that last around an hour. Usually they are 'up to the minute', informing us about new advances in technology. That tends to restrict presentations to those 'on the leading edge'. However there must be many interesting aspects of technology that might be routine to the specialist but that are unknown to the wider population. There must also be many people with a good tale to tell but who haven't got the resources to stage an hour long event but who would be quite happy to work within the ten-minute format of PATW, especially if was more a chat or conversation rather than a competition.


What I have in mind then is that local centres should stage an event where several members agree to do a short talk each, so as to make up a session equivalent in time to a normal event. There doesn't need to be a competitive element, the aim is to be encouraging, not intimidating! Not only could such an event be interesting to members but it could 'open the window' to schoolchildren etc. as to the range of activities that make up the various 'worlds' of engineers.


Any thoughts?
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    Hi James,


    In principle I think this is a brilliant idea. One of the areas we have always struggled with as an LN is how to create real networking, where members can discover that other engineers and companies in their areas have the skills and knowledge they are looking for - possibly in completely different industries.


    The challenge is to create the right atmosphere for this to happen. Engineers who will happily chat about their work in the pub often find it very different presenting rather than chatting. And, as we all know from many seminars and conferences, it is easy to end up with a situation where only those with something to sell will be happy to present. There's also the very common problem of employers who do not like their employees talking about their work without approval in triplicate from on high. (And, for those of us in consultancy roles, we have to be very careful about client confidentiality.)


    But on the flip side, as you're suggesting, there may well be many of us in and around LNs who wouldn't feel we we have enough "meat" in a subject for a full presentation, but might have a 10-15 minute talk in us. So I think my instinct is that it would be worth trying, perhaps not to frequently, but maybe once or twice a year in a region, maybe with a loosely linked theme?


    The main problem I can see as a LN is how to contact members in a region to gain expression of interest in presenting at such an event? 


    Cheers,


    Andy


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  • 0
    Hi James,


    In principle I think this is a brilliant idea. One of the areas we have always struggled with as an LN is how to create real networking, where members can discover that other engineers and companies in their areas have the skills and knowledge they are looking for - possibly in completely different industries.


    The challenge is to create the right atmosphere for this to happen. Engineers who will happily chat about their work in the pub often find it very different presenting rather than chatting. And, as we all know from many seminars and conferences, it is easy to end up with a situation where only those with something to sell will be happy to present. There's also the very common problem of employers who do not like their employees talking about their work without approval in triplicate from on high. (And, for those of us in consultancy roles, we have to be very careful about client confidentiality.)


    But on the flip side, as you're suggesting, there may well be many of us in and around LNs who wouldn't feel we we have enough "meat" in a subject for a full presentation, but might have a 10-15 minute talk in us. So I think my instinct is that it would be worth trying, perhaps not to frequently, but maybe once or twice a year in a region, maybe with a loosely linked theme?


    The main problem I can see as a LN is how to contact members in a region to gain expression of interest in presenting at such an event? 


    Cheers,


    Andy


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