I like Curt's point. We all have something to teach and we all have
something to learn. Linux, in general, and our user group, as well, is
designed to be something that everyone can participate in, from both a
learning and teaching perspective.
I'll admit that most of last week's presentation was over my head. I
enjoyed my time, though, and I'll go to the next meeting even if the
topic might be over my head, again.
I discovered something interesting a while back, when I gave a
presentation at NLUG. On a scale of 1-10, which 1 being "how do I burn
an ISO file" and 10 being "Linus Torvalds calls me for advice", I would
rate myself only a 3 or 4. That said, I had something to present at NLUG
because I thought it was interesting and thought others might find it
interesting as well.
I gave the presentation and a lot of people thanked me for it and said
that they might try that piece of software. For the most part, these
were people that were more advanced in Linux than I was. That was an
example, for me, of the amazing power that we all have as teachers and
as learners. Everyone has something that they can teach and everyone has
plenty that they can learn.
I say bring on the presentations at all skills levels. Some will be over
my head, some will be at my level, but I'll pick up something from all
of them, and I'll try to share something, too.
Chris
On Sep 13, 2008 07:20 AM, Curt Lundgren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> IMHO, I like the idea of an "ESL rating" or some such, and we'll all
> understand and agree that ESL is a prediction, as opposed to a
> guarantee. Sure, the material presented was mostly over my head. I
> developed an instant respect for the guy doing the presentation.
> People like this don't scare me; rather, they inspire me. Regardless
> of the topic, I felt I could at least participate as a user in any of
> the projects that were presented.
>
> Where I want to disagree is where you write "it just wasn't worth my
> time" - sure, our presenter speaks in rapid-fire, as people often do
> when they are trying to share a great deal of high-level information.
> His presentation style will smooth out as he matures. This wasn't
> just an opportunity for us to learn about some new technologies - it
> was also a growth opportunity for him. If he gets feedback that tells
> him he "went too fast and too far too quickly" he's going to take a
> different approach in the future. We benefited, he benefited.
>
> For my part, having rubbed elbows with some true Linux gurus, I'm
> grateful for several things:
>
> 1. That people at this level are on "our side".
> 2. That he's developing tools that will ultimately make my life
> easier, particularly as virtualization becomes more common.
> 3. To find out I wasn't the only one in the room who didn't come
> close to keeping up with him...!
>
> I thought the meeting and the presentation were both awesome.
>
> Curt
>
> On Sep 12, 3:06 pm, "Michael Stahnke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Quoting from nlug.org frontpage:
> >
> > In my humble opinion, it would be nice if we could kind of get a
> > heads
> > up on what each meeting is going to be like as far as Linux skill
> > level goes. Maybe an 'Expected Skill Level' (ESL) or something could
> > be suggested for each upcoming meeting of say....ESL-1 through
> > ESL-10
> > ('1' being knowing how to use the 'cd' and 'ls' commands, and '10'
> > being able to understand even half of last night!) ...something
> > ball-park at least as sort of a disclaimer that says 'Warning: your
> > brain may explode as a result of this meeting' or 'This meeting may
> > require that you have therapy afterward' ..or something along those
> > lines LOL. That's just my 2 cents, but I'd bet that at least 75% of
> > the group would agree that last night was totally over our heads. I
> > highly respect the level of expertise that the presenters had last
> > night, but it just wasn't worth my time because it was so deep.
> > Email
> > me or post back if you think I'm just way out of line or if you
> > agree.
> > (Brian Schnautz, Sept.10, 2008 [EMAIL PROTECTED])
> >
> > This is a great idea. I think I will work on this with Kevin for
> > our
> > presentations.
> >
> > stahnma
> >
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