On 2/15/20 4:52 PM, Joel M. Halpern wrote:
Actually, all the slides can be (and should be) posted in the meeting
materials section before the meeeting. For the sessions I co-chair,
we make sure to get the material posted before the meeting starts.
Preferably enough before that people can look at them.
Having said that, I have to disagree with the claim that there is no
need to present the material. Reading slides is NOT the same as
getting a decent presentation. And more importantly, the slides help
shape the discussion. the remind people of context. They frame the
quesitons that need to be discussed.
I will agree to an extent. I have occasionally seen brief
presentations and slides that helped to frame discussion. Mostly what
I object to is devoting the lion's share of the time allotted to an
author to be used for presentation, leaving only minimal time for
discussion at the end. That, IMO, is not usually an effective use of
face-to-face time. Also, slides put meeting attendees into passive
mode, when what is needed is active discussion. So sure, a few slides
can be helpful, but it's easy to go overboard.
More broadly, while slides _can_ be used (sparingly) to frame discussion
at a meeting, IMO they're actually more useful to summarize the document
and discussion topics _before_ the meeting and/or to help participants
"catch up" even after the meeting is held.
Keith
