Khaos

YAPC::Europe - Are Joint Talks A Good Idea?

Marty and I are giving our first joint talk which could well turn out to be a disaster. At the time of submission this sounded like a great idea. Marty knows that I pay more attention to detail than him so the talk should have structure and I know that Marty should be able to keep the audience entertained and if all else fails talk for an hour about something.

When I mentioned YAPC this morning he said, “What are we planning on talking about again?”. (See, I pay more attention to detail: I know the talk’s about CPAN). This surprised me as I have already sent him a talk outline and can remember having discussions about the content of this talk. He laughed and said, “Well I’m not sure I actually read the outline; I just thought you wanted me to format it” (yes he actually said the semi-colon). And in relation to the conversations he said, “Was that when I was watching that episode of South Park…”.

3 Responses to “YAPC::Europe – Are Joint Talks A Good Idea?”

  1. Stray Taoist Says:
    August 26th, 2006 at 3:49 pm

    It sure beats talks about joints, I think.

    I like the way that, even though youse live in the same house, you *sent* him the outline. That made me smile wryly, and look into the middle distance. (Although that might have been the Emmylou I was playing at the same time.)

    Still, I shall come watch the comedic interplay.

  2. Mark Fowler Says:
    August 26th, 2006 at 5:49 pm

    In my experience, joint talks done right can work really well.

    Richard Clamp and I gave a joint talk at whichever YAPC it was back in Amsterdam.

    We wrote the script for the talk in an editor running in a terminal connected via a screen session in ‘-x’ mode to each of our laptops, whilst sitting on the couch next to each other. This meant that we could both move the cursor, and take control instantly. This was important as our ‘script’ required me to complete his sentances and vice versa, and enabled us to write the free-flowing script the same way we might chat on irc.

    James Duncan and I are giving a joint talk at EuroOSCON this year. I’m looking forward to that, since I think James is an excellent speaker.

  3. Ack-ack-ack! » Planning a YAPC::Europe talk Says:
    August 27th, 2006 at 1:14 am

    […] Karen has already mentioned our joint YAPC::Europe talk called “My First CPAN Module“. We probably should rehearse it, or at least talk about it when I’m not watching South Park.  I did read the outline she wrote, and I’m sure I could easily talk for at least an hour by following her plan. […]

Pole Dancing - World Record Attempt

Tonight my sister-in-law told me that she would be taking part in the attempt to beat the world record for the most people taking part in the same pole dancing routine. She asked me if I wanted to take part and it does sound like an interesting way to keep fit. But I’m not sure that I’m flexible enough to try pole dancing.

Black Ink

Recently I’ve been reading about handwriting and how much is given away about personality and emotional health in one A4 page of writing. I’ve been aware for a long time that everything I say and every movement I make can be communicating things I may not want other people to know. But I must admit I’ve never before thought about the colour of ink I habitually use to write with. I am aware that I made a deliberate decision to use black ink. It didn’t seem like a big decision though as really the only ink colours I could choose from were blue, black, red and green.

Writers who habitually and from choice use black ink are not so much revealing an emotional state as an attitude towards communication.

Such individuals are concerned with precision, exactitude and in the clear understanding of all aspects of the message they are attempting to convey. They have a strong desire to make themselves clear and to avoid confusion. Frequently the use of such ink is associated with people in professions which demand a high degree of precision, such as accountancy, engineering, mathematics and so on. [The Hidden Language of Your Handwriting, Greene & Lewis]

4 Responses to “Black Ink”

  1. SWM Says:
    August 7th, 2006 at 12:27 am

    Hi,

    This reminds me, I gave a copy of my signature to your husband. Did you ever recieve it, or do I have hit him across the head on Tuesday? 🙂

  2. karen Says:
    August 7th, 2006 at 8:54 am

    He didn’t give this to me. But he has now that I’ve mentioned it to him 🙂

  3. Stray Taoist Says:
    August 7th, 2006 at 8:56 pm

    hey have a strong desire to make themselves clear and to avoid confusion.

    That is obviously a crock. I always write in black in, and even have, natch, a black handwriting pen. (I think that meant they could charge me extra for it.)

    Actually, you know, that is a lie. I only use black ink for letters and signing my name. When I write (scribbled notes in work and so on) it is always in pencil. (But the big-pad-that-gets-turned-into-my-weekly-report is in pen. So um, scratch that actually.)

    Most of my writing (including song and tune stuff) is done in pencil.

    Pencil. I guess that means disorganised and messy and rambly. I do hope so.

    etc.

  4. karen Says:
    August 8th, 2006 at 9:20 am

    I just says that they have a strong desire to make themselves clear and avoid confusion – not that they actually succeed in doing this…