Proposed Meeting Formats

(This is a draft! Feel free to add)

Structured similarly to a Toastmasters meeting, following is a proposed format for a Presenter Mentor meeting (with mentees):

(Presenter Mentor member serves as timer, closely monitoring that each meeting aspect adheres to time limits, presenting visual feedback to speakers)

5 minutes:    Open Meeting, introductions, format 

10 minutes:   Presenter Mentor member performs short presentation, featuring both conceptual (.pptx) and code content, explicitly demonstrating presentation best practices.

10 minutes:    Mentee presents both conceptual and code content.
10 minutes:    Mentors provide feedback
10 minutes:    Mentee represents same conceptual and code content applying feedback from mentors.

The Charter Meeting

Presenter Mentor kicked off its Charter Meeting on Wed, July 16, with a subset of the DGC, including two DEs.

The majority of the meeting was spent defining the need for building local speaking talent and various approaches for delivering guidance and support.

At a high-level, the group crafted a "first-pass" mission statement:  "Raise the overall quality of local (Dallas area, to start) technology presenters through guidance and mentoring."

A number of very good suggestions were raised:

• Monthly meetings at which prospective speakers can be critiqued and trained.
• Simulating various speaking environments (from smaller rooms to larger venues, such as the room in which the DDNUG and ASP.NET SIG meetings are held.
• Videotaping both rehearsals and the actual presentation.
• Presenter Mentor providing detailed written evaluation of a presentation.
• Co-presenting by pairing a new speaker with a more experienced, each presenting portions of the presentation.
• Group presentations in which multiple new speakers present short segments, reducing the pressure of attempting to deliver a full 2 hour presentation.
• Warm-up presentations, in which a new speaker presents for a 10 - 15 minute time slot.
• Establishing a repository for content, including slides and code, thus providing resources for other speakers to build similar presentations for their region.
  

Next steps include:

• Refiining workable approaches to mentor speakers.
• Defining a set of presentation best practices.
• Defining a format that mentoring meetings can follow. 
• Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 8/20, noon, at Microsoft.

 

This is the proposed agenda for the charter meeting.

1. Define Mission Statement
2. Determine Target Members
3. Select Date, Time and Location of First Meeting

Please add additional items to the comments.

Our charter meeting is going to be held at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, July, 16 at the offices of One Stop Designs:



One Stop Designs
7552 Main Street
The Colony, TX

It is across the street from Colony Car Care and right next to Penzoil Main Oil & Lube. You can park anywhere in the parking lot, except for right in front of the front door – that is handicapped parking. Please come in the front door. The conference room is on the right.

Please feel free to bring your dinner. I will provide some cookies and drinks.