> Tim May[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote > > Here's a minor digression into something which I occasionally think > about: whether it's useful to take detailed notes at conferences (or > classrooms, for that matter) or just listen intently. > > On Tuesday, October 29, 2002, at 07:11 AM, Trei, Peter wrote: > > > > A 6 hour fuel cell would alleviate this problem. What > > it would be even better for is conferences - at Usenix > > etal, people get very creative in trying to be usefully > > near the speaker *and* a socket (Hint: there are usually > > powerbars inside the bases of video monitors and speaker > > stacks). > > Item: At most Cypherpunks meetings someone is sitting with their laptop > open, recording notes (or whatever). I usually wonder what they plan to > do with the notes...not in any paranoid sense, just wondering if > they'll ever look at the notes again, and why. > I rarely get to cpunk meetings :-( , but I agree - paper notes of high level concepts and pointers to find out more (usually URLs and email addresses) are the best things to write down.
> Item: I notice that the note-takers aren't as involved in the give and > take of discussion as others are. Partly this may be their nature > (correlated with their note-taking in some way), partly this may be > their focus on their notes, and partly this may be logistical (they're > still typing, they will have to put down their laptop to stand or > gesture or whatever it is that active participants do). > I think part of what's happening is that presentations fit the pattern of a university lecture. Most of us have at least 4 years of daily experience taking lecture notes, and it becomes a habit. > Item: At conferences, where companies may require detailed trip > reports, note-taking can be very important. (Though, when I was > attending conferences for Intel, it was more important to learn bits of > scuttlebutt out in the lobby than it was to hear some boring > presentation inside the auditorium. And tape-recording was usually > better for capturing details anyway. Getting copies of the slides was a > win, too. I assume that some conference speakers are now distributing > slides _during_ the presentation, via 802.11, allowing those with > laptops to follow along in real-time. And the slides are usually at a > fixed site.) > I've done this, and it's very useful. The usual format is zipped Powerpoint, and occasionally PDF or HTML. However, the slides are often difficult to follow without the accompanying speech, so I take notes about stuff that *isn't* on the slides. I wish more presenters would include their remarks with (but not on) the slides. > Item: Note-taking can also be useful in maintaining alertness! Many > times I have been bored to tears with speakers, and only the keeping of > notes (pen and paper, or laptop) kept me awake. > There are many times when I'm only interested in a part of a talk. While waiting through the 'boring bits', 802.11 access allows me to catch up on my email, check slashdot, etc. [...] > Lastly, in the past several airline flights I have taken with my > laptop, I have never opened it and used it. Granted, I didn't _need_ > to. But I always have more reading to do than laptopping to do, so > reading on a flight works for me. (I accept that business travelers may > choose to do more laptopping than reading.) > Aside from 'work-related' laptopping, I play Nethack, listen to mp3s, do fun programming, and watch DVDs (the latter is a godsend if you travel with kids, in a plane or a car). > --Tim May
