In this I agree with you. I have yet to give a talk where the technical content couldn't be better conveyed in text. Different people comprehend information at different rates. Some people like to pause here and there and think about what they've just read. People read faster than they listen to the spoken word. Blog posts can organize content with footnotes and links to allow people to explore.
I can go on and on. A spoken talk does exactly two things a blog post cannot do:
1. I can communicate emotion--like enthusiasm--better in person than on video, and better on video than in teh written word.
2. A bunch of people watching a talk together spill out into the hallway together.
The point of most conferences is the "hallway track." If a talk motivates people to be interested in something (point 1) and to talk to others who are also motivated (point 2) while the iron is hot, then the ideas can become sticky.
All I try to do in talks is convey enough information to let people decide if they want to research the topic on their own. My job is to sell them on how interesting it is, and then the audience can use the hallway track to follow up.
I am NOT trying to teach anything in a conference talk.
I agree with all that. It’s also the reason I think most conference talks should be 30 minutes or so. There are exceptions and people are different but mostly by 30 minutes I’m either meh or I want to take a look at this at my own pace under better conditions.
In this I agree with you. I have yet to give a talk where the technical content couldn't be better conveyed in text. Different people comprehend information at different rates. Some people like to pause here and there and think about what they've just read. People read faster than they listen to the spoken word. Blog posts can organize content with footnotes and links to allow people to explore.
I can go on and on. A spoken talk does exactly two things a blog post cannot do:
1. I can communicate emotion--like enthusiasm--better in person than on video, and better on video than in teh written word.
2. A bunch of people watching a talk together spill out into the hallway together.
The point of most conferences is the "hallway track." If a talk motivates people to be interested in something (point 1) and to talk to others who are also motivated (point 2) while the iron is hot, then the ideas can become sticky.
All I try to do in talks is convey enough information to let people decide if they want to research the topic on their own. My job is to sell them on how interesting it is, and then the audience can use the hallway track to follow up.
I am NOT trying to teach anything in a conference talk.