On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:58 PM, Stewart Mckinney <[email protected]>wrote:

> I'm really not sure about that; I've been to forty minute talks that kept
> me rapt from beginning to end.


Same here. In fact, more often than not -- I've been pretty lucky (and
pretty selective) with the conferences I've attended. But I personally
haven't seen too much trouble with the 40 minute standard. That said...


> I feel it would just support weaker subject matter. Granted the reverse
> nomination scheme would ease some of that pain but it's really easy for
> someone to stand in front of someone else and give a talk that sounds
> really exciting at first blush but there's really nothing to it after the
> first ten to twenty minutes.
>

Exactly. This format does a wonderful job of keeping that from happening :D


> I think saying that forty minutes is a "lecture" is pretty unfair and
> overbearing. This isn't a two hour and fifty minute "session" class at a
> university... and I've even been to talks that were four hours long and
> incredibly engaging.
>

Is that the exception or the rule? I'm guessing the former -- let's not get
crazy ;)


> Why not just focus on the content and then let the timing work itself out?
> Doesn't a arbitrary limit seem, well... arbitrary?
>

I tend to agree but I can't see how this could possibly work for scheduling
purposes. People need to know what they're getting into -- both speakers
and attendees. This isn't a local meetup we're talking about.


> Don't you think you will be doing certain subjects/speakers injustice? I
> mean, some people just operate in "long form". I don't think there's
> anything wrong with short form, either, but to "each
> subject its own".
>

I agree with this sentiment as well, but as Nuno said, *don't sign up to
speak if you arent up for it*. Same goes for conference goers -- if you
don't think the format is for you you should probably stay home. What
matters is that the format is communicated clearly, *especially* if it's a
little experimental. It's hard to argue that Mikeal hasn't done that.

I'm personally not sure how I feel about the short timeslots either but I'm
really curious to see how it turns out. If anything we need more
experimentation with conference formats, not less.

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