Inaugural Sheffield Geekup
Overall I think the event was well-organised, there were certainly plenty of people there and we had a projector, speakers and a room so it pretty much ticked all the boxes. The Fat Cat is a nice pub, with good beer, but for those of us coming from further afield it was a bit tricky to get to as its not exactly handy for the station. The evening was good however I felt that the timings slipped badly – I was the first speaker and although there was somthing else happening earlier on, the talks aimed for 7:30 were actually nearer 9pm … so a couple of pints later than I was expecting my audience to be and I think my talk came across as rather dry as a result! Also since one of the speakers ran over his time completely (now I understand why other geekups sit with a stopwatch and click the slides through for you!), I had about ten minutes after the talks to hand out a couple of business cards and answer a few quick questions before I had to dash off for my train. All of these though are only teething problems and I think everyone had a pretty good time, so well done to Jag for getting it off the ground … here’s to next month!
I think the timing for the talks is something Jag will be working on for next time. You timing, however, was impeccable, as Ian Ibbotson pointed out! I wouldn’t say your talk was too dry but that you perhaps tried to cover too much in 6 minutes (which I think I did too). I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the show but I wanted to say that your presentation technique was excellent. Good luck with the main event in Holland :)
Tamlyn: Thanks for the vote of confidence :) Its a tricky one because with 20 slides you can either do basics or interesting stuff, there isn’t room for both. I very much enjoyed your talk, great slide design and images as well – very nice!
Today I leave for Amsterdam, to visit the Dutch PHP Conference where I will be getting my first experience as a conference speaker. It would be fair to say that I’m very nervous – its a high profile event and the other speakers in the lineup are pretty a