On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 2:00 PM Ted Lemon <mellon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 14, 2019, at 2:43 PM, Mary B <mary.h.barnes@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:AFAICT, those most against presentations are those for whom English is a native language. We know we have speakers that talk really, really fast. If I, as a native English speaker have problems following them, I can't fathom how others can.What this suggests to me is not that we should use more slides, in order to help non-native speakers, but rather that we should rely less on the spoken word. It can be helpful to see peoples’ body language, so I don’t think we can completely eliminate the need for this, but what in-person meetings do best is to help people to come into agreement on contentious issues, and if this process excludes everyone who can’t keep up with rapid-fire english speech, then that’s going to be a problem, isn’t it?
[MB] I wasn't suggesting more slides, but there seems to be some folks in these discussions that think we can do away with presentations altogether. I agree that the notion is to come to agreement on contentious issues. One challenge is that everyone in the room doesn't have the same level of understanding of the issue. So, it's extremely important IMHO to make sure the issue is well framed. Some folks might find some of what's said repetitive. In reality, we could have WG sessions and get stuff done with a fraction of the number of people in the room. But, if the notion is to be more open and increase participation from new folks, we need to ensure that what we do makes sense to the point that they can see how they might contribute in the future. [/MB]
