(no subject)
So, on April 12th I'll be giving my first lecture at a con, and the process of preparing for it has been... very different than I'd imagined! Not in a bad way, but in a way where it's wigging me out a little because this is not how I'm used to preparing for things. This will probably turn out to be a great thing! But anyway, let's talk about the details because that makes me less nervous.
I've done relatively a lot of different kinds of public speaking. Presentations for dozens of strangers at work, university level debate (where I presented arguments in front of packed rooms that included judges), presenting at two academic conferences in grad school, and just generally fun bits and bobs like a humorous presentation on "What Is Novi God" a friend and I did in the military, and stuff like that.
Public speaking is a performance, and you can always bomb a performance, especially when you do it rarely, like I do, and don't get practice in between, but I do usually get compliments on my lectures/presentations, so I feel like I'm pretty good for a non-professional performer. I know all the rules about presentations, about body language, about engaging the audience. Again, that doesn't mean I'm always 100% great, but it does make me feel like I'd be OK doing a lecture at a con.
Anyway, the process in Israel is pretty different, I'm pretty sure, from the process in other places, in what's probably a pretty positive way?
I thought it would just be - suggest a lecture/content (I also know abroad a lot of times the popular content is panels, but here it's mostly lectures/presentations by one individual, in addition to the usual games, quizzes, improv, etc), get picked by the content team if relevant, get a date and a time, maybe submit some kind of draft in advance, and then show up on the day to do the lecture.
But that is not the case! I'll say right now that all the extra stuff is optional - technically you can simply submit content, get picked, show up on the day and that's it, but the con works very hard to encourage you to take advantage of the other stuff they have to offer.
#1 - lectures for lecturers
A while after they settled on times, titles, summaries and bios for everyone for the printed con program, they invited everyone who'll be giving a lecture (or any similar content), especially first timers, to an evening of prep.
There was food and drinks, and 4 different presentations by veteran lecturers and con organizers. One on how to go from a cool idea to a great lecture, one on how to build power point presentations that really work for your content, one on public speaking (body language, voice, movement, eye contact, etc), and one on how to handle audience questions/interruptions.
That last one was the one I enjoyed the most, because the first three mostly covered things I already knew, but fannish cons everywhere, I think, are more prone to interruptions than other events, and it was great to have someone specifically prepare you for it.
I especially loved that the dude basically spent the entire presentation going "I will now scientifically prove to you that you don't need to take any questions from the audience at any point. You can if you want to, but understand that you're going against the interests of most people in the room, 9 times out of 10, and there's no NEED to do it if you're at all hesitant."
It was a really, really great presentation. He was like - people paid money to hear YOU speak (the con sells tickets to each specific event), you were chosen by the content team, you worked hard on your lecture, you did a pilot - I URGE YOU TO DO A PILOT! - so all the questions that could interest the entire audience are already covered in your lecture. Everything else is only of interest to a minority, and you're betraying the money-paying majority by catering to them.
He also super encouraged everyone to shut down dudes ("and it's usually a dude, let's be honest") who are disruptive or just trying to show off with their questions. He was like - BE TOTALLY CONFIDENT THAT SHUTTING THEM DOWN IS YOUR RIGHT IF NOT YOUR DUTY.
#2 - public speaking workshop
After all that, I got an invite to a workshop on how to give a lecture, where all that advice was going to be put into practice. The workshop is tonight, so IDK how good or bad it's going to be, but supposedly the number of participants is limited (and first time lecturers receive priority) so we can actually perform during the workshop and practice all those rusty public speaking skills.
Again, this was 100% optional, but the con was very insistent with ~encouraging~ people, especially first timers, to sign up.
#3 - pilot
This is the part that threw me the most, because I totally wasn't expecting it, especially for a one time volunteer lecture at a two day fannish con.
Basically the major Israeli cons all have this system worked out where lecturers give practice lectures before the actual event, to a small audience meant to give feedback. I... am very skeptical about this because there's an element of freshness to a performance for me, and an element of nerves that helps me focus, and doing a "practice" run in front of a small audience is just... not something I'm used to. But apparently veteran lecturers swear by it, so maybe it will be THE BEST THING and I did sign up for it.
Again, though optional, the con STRONGLY encouraged all lecturers to sign up for this. There's a special team that organizes the pilots, which are held in people's private homes. So basically they find a few "hosts", and then work with lecturers to find out when the lecture will be ready (also encourages people to be ready way in advance) and find 5-7 people to listen to the lecture in someone's living room and give feedback.
Theoretically, this also helps spread the word about your lecture? Because if it's really good it could get early buzz in the community? IDK.
The way they find people to listen to pilots is by inviting other lecturers and con organizers/staff, of course, so I've also gotten lots of invitations to other pilots, after filling out a form with my areas of interest and availability. Their email to lecturers was like "you know how not having a time turner sucks? Well, now you don't have to miss cool content from the con because you'll be lecturing then or because it's scheduled opposite each other! You can come listen to lectures early!"
Anyway, there also seems to be a very strict and well established system of feedback, like you're allowed to be critical but only in a constructive way, etc.
Anyway, my pilot was scheduled for early next week and will apparently take place at the house of a local BNF in the SFF community? IDEK.
It's also a little weird and hilarious to see who signed up for my pilot. They send the invitation to anyone whose interest match the lecture, and then cap the number of participants at some point, I assume? The pilot I signed up to listen to (about Harry Potter! While mine is about far more esoteric literature) has 4 people to give feedback, while the pilot for my lecture has 7. IDK if that's because the lecture sounds interesting (pressure! >_<) or because more people were available then, or what.
Also, one of the people who signed up for mine is the dude who gave a lecture on How To Build A Good Lecture at the event described in #1, so. THAT'S NOT STRESSFUL.
IDK, I just find a small focus group whose job is to critique SO MUCH MORE STRESSFUL than a big audience who just came to have fun. Blah. Whatever, maybe it will be amazing and I'll get addicted to doing pilots like everyone else seems to be.
And let's be honest, my lecture is scheduled for 2pm on a day when most of the country is at work (only some have the day off), so maybe those 7 people are the biggest audience I'll get, lol.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that Israel has this system for cons, which definitely helps improve the quality of lectures, and is definitely a result of how small and local we are. I actually wish this system would be more widely known locally, I think it would encourage even more people who don't think of themselves as good lecturers to submit content.
Although, a bunch of my friends who used to be involved in organizing cons a decade ago aren't familiar with this system at all, so I'm assuming it's all from the last few years, which is why not many people have heard about it.
comments on Dreamwidth
I've done relatively a lot of different kinds of public speaking. Presentations for dozens of strangers at work, university level debate (where I presented arguments in front of packed rooms that included judges), presenting at two academic conferences in grad school, and just generally fun bits and bobs like a humorous presentation on "What Is Novi God" a friend and I did in the military, and stuff like that.
Public speaking is a performance, and you can always bomb a performance, especially when you do it rarely, like I do, and don't get practice in between, but I do usually get compliments on my lectures/presentations, so I feel like I'm pretty good for a non-professional performer. I know all the rules about presentations, about body language, about engaging the audience. Again, that doesn't mean I'm always 100% great, but it does make me feel like I'd be OK doing a lecture at a con.
Anyway, the process in Israel is pretty different, I'm pretty sure, from the process in other places, in what's probably a pretty positive way?
I thought it would just be - suggest a lecture/content (I also know abroad a lot of times the popular content is panels, but here it's mostly lectures/presentations by one individual, in addition to the usual games, quizzes, improv, etc), get picked by the content team if relevant, get a date and a time, maybe submit some kind of draft in advance, and then show up on the day to do the lecture.
But that is not the case! I'll say right now that all the extra stuff is optional - technically you can simply submit content, get picked, show up on the day and that's it, but the con works very hard to encourage you to take advantage of the other stuff they have to offer.
#1 - lectures for lecturers
A while after they settled on times, titles, summaries and bios for everyone for the printed con program, they invited everyone who'll be giving a lecture (or any similar content), especially first timers, to an evening of prep.
There was food and drinks, and 4 different presentations by veteran lecturers and con organizers. One on how to go from a cool idea to a great lecture, one on how to build power point presentations that really work for your content, one on public speaking (body language, voice, movement, eye contact, etc), and one on how to handle audience questions/interruptions.
That last one was the one I enjoyed the most, because the first three mostly covered things I already knew, but fannish cons everywhere, I think, are more prone to interruptions than other events, and it was great to have someone specifically prepare you for it.
I especially loved that the dude basically spent the entire presentation going "I will now scientifically prove to you that you don't need to take any questions from the audience at any point. You can if you want to, but understand that you're going against the interests of most people in the room, 9 times out of 10, and there's no NEED to do it if you're at all hesitant."
It was a really, really great presentation. He was like - people paid money to hear YOU speak (the con sells tickets to each specific event), you were chosen by the content team, you worked hard on your lecture, you did a pilot - I URGE YOU TO DO A PILOT! - so all the questions that could interest the entire audience are already covered in your lecture. Everything else is only of interest to a minority, and you're betraying the money-paying majority by catering to them.
He also super encouraged everyone to shut down dudes ("and it's usually a dude, let's be honest") who are disruptive or just trying to show off with their questions. He was like - BE TOTALLY CONFIDENT THAT SHUTTING THEM DOWN IS YOUR RIGHT IF NOT YOUR DUTY.
#2 - public speaking workshop
After all that, I got an invite to a workshop on how to give a lecture, where all that advice was going to be put into practice. The workshop is tonight, so IDK how good or bad it's going to be, but supposedly the number of participants is limited (and first time lecturers receive priority) so we can actually perform during the workshop and practice all those rusty public speaking skills.
Again, this was 100% optional, but the con was very insistent with ~encouraging~ people, especially first timers, to sign up.
#3 - pilot
This is the part that threw me the most, because I totally wasn't expecting it, especially for a one time volunteer lecture at a two day fannish con.
Basically the major Israeli cons all have this system worked out where lecturers give practice lectures before the actual event, to a small audience meant to give feedback. I... am very skeptical about this because there's an element of freshness to a performance for me, and an element of nerves that helps me focus, and doing a "practice" run in front of a small audience is just... not something I'm used to. But apparently veteran lecturers swear by it, so maybe it will be THE BEST THING and I did sign up for it.
Again, though optional, the con STRONGLY encouraged all lecturers to sign up for this. There's a special team that organizes the pilots, which are held in people's private homes. So basically they find a few "hosts", and then work with lecturers to find out when the lecture will be ready (also encourages people to be ready way in advance) and find 5-7 people to listen to the lecture in someone's living room and give feedback.
Theoretically, this also helps spread the word about your lecture? Because if it's really good it could get early buzz in the community? IDK.
The way they find people to listen to pilots is by inviting other lecturers and con organizers/staff, of course, so I've also gotten lots of invitations to other pilots, after filling out a form with my areas of interest and availability. Their email to lecturers was like "you know how not having a time turner sucks? Well, now you don't have to miss cool content from the con because you'll be lecturing then or because it's scheduled opposite each other! You can come listen to lectures early!"
Anyway, there also seems to be a very strict and well established system of feedback, like you're allowed to be critical but only in a constructive way, etc.
Anyway, my pilot was scheduled for early next week and will apparently take place at the house of a local BNF in the SFF community? IDEK.
It's also a little weird and hilarious to see who signed up for my pilot. They send the invitation to anyone whose interest match the lecture, and then cap the number of participants at some point, I assume? The pilot I signed up to listen to (about Harry Potter! While mine is about far more esoteric literature) has 4 people to give feedback, while the pilot for my lecture has 7. IDK if that's because the lecture sounds interesting (pressure! >_<) or because more people were available then, or what.
Also, one of the people who signed up for mine is the dude who gave a lecture on How To Build A Good Lecture at the event described in #1, so. THAT'S NOT STRESSFUL.
IDK, I just find a small focus group whose job is to critique SO MUCH MORE STRESSFUL than a big audience who just came to have fun. Blah. Whatever, maybe it will be amazing and I'll get addicted to doing pilots like everyone else seems to be.
And let's be honest, my lecture is scheduled for 2pm on a day when most of the country is at work (only some have the day off), so maybe those 7 people are the biggest audience I'll get, lol.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that Israel has this system for cons, which definitely helps improve the quality of lectures, and is definitely a result of how small and local we are. I actually wish this system would be more widely known locally, I think it would encourage even more people who don't think of themselves as good lecturers to submit content.
Although, a bunch of my friends who used to be involved in organizing cons a decade ago aren't familiar with this system at all, so I'm assuming it's all from the last few years, which is why not many people have heard about it.
comments on Dreamwidth