This is the twelfth time that the A2Geeks, a local nonprofit group that is “dedicated to enriching Ann Arbor for creative and innovative people to live, work and play,” has sponsored this series of Ignite talks. In the past, I avoided doing one because it seemed so easy to make a fool of oneself. This time, however, I decided to bite the bullet and just go for it.
The result you see above. I didn’t make a total fool of myself, but I could have done better. My first mistake was trying to talk about too much. I probably could have left out a couple of slides and run two or three of them twice, giving me fewer things to talk about.
My next big mistake was not practicing enough. I can babble on talk about pretty much anything amateur radio-related for a half hour to 45 minutes at the drop of a hat. Condensing that to five minutes takes a lot of work, and synchronizing the text with the slides is even more work. You can tell, especially towards the end of the talk, that I got rushed, and my voice sounds nervous.
Having said that, I’m already thinking about doing a talk at Ignite Ann Arbor #13, whenever that is. I’m thinking about tackling Morse Code. WATSA OMs?
I was at Ignite 12 and Dan did Ham radio proud.
Good job, Dan.
I’ve seen some of the Ignite presentations on YouTube and yes, some come across as being more professional (but then those are the ones Ignite has chosen to highlight), but yours has the ring of authenticity. Just some guy who is enthusiastic about his hobby and wants more people to be given a chance to join us.
Keep it up and I’m sure your next attempt will be much better.
73, Gareth – M5KVK
Good job, Dan! No talk is ever perfect, especially in the mind of the talker, but you did fine motoring through. A slide every 15 seconds is tough!
Wow, Dan – I think you did an excellent job of marketing the wide ranging aspects of amateur radio in just 5 minutes. Perhaps it’s my imagination, but it seems like the audience’s attention level actually grew as the presentation progressed, which is always a good thing! Also, nice use of a little humor to keep them engaged. However, a 5 minute talk on Morse Code may require something more akin to a standup comedy routine…just saying!
Fine job, Dan! I speak to groups all the time about ham radio as well as on other subjects I write about. I usually use PowerPoint slides (correctly, I hope) but would have a real time dealing with the pressure of the slide automatically changing every 15 seconds. Kudos for hitting the high points that might appeal to a broad cross section of people. Sometimes we try to over-sell when the goal should be to simply create enough curiosity that those interested will start asking questions and doing research.
73,
Don N4KC
http://www.n4kc.com
http://www.donkeith.com
Don,
Can’t access your site, because is isn’t ‘secure’. I tired accessing it at https://www.n4kc.com, but no soap. Do you need Let’s Encrypt to issue you a certificate?
Current versions of Chrome default to blocking non-secure sites. It’s the way of the Internet, these days.
Dan,
Nice job with the talk.
That is a challenging format for a presentation and you handled it well!
My only feedback would be to show traditional ham radio on the first slide to provide some context. I bet there were people in the audience that had never heard of ham radio.
But good job!
73 Bob
Interesting, Bob. N4KC.com is actually a sub-site for donkeith.com, which has a valid security cert. And I am able to access N4KC.com with Chrome just fine, though it does show as “not secure.” I’m actually updating the security cert next week and will try to see what’s going on.
Thanks for the note. And Dan, apologies for using your bandwidth for housekeeping!
Don N4KC
http://www.donkeith.com
Ooops! I meant, “Interesting, Dave.” And try http://www.n4kc.com/ , not https:// Still not sure why it is showing as “not secure.”
And I’m stomping all over Dan’s blog response again! :-)
HC4Z
Milton
73
Felicidades
Great job Dan. Was great to see you live. Barely noticed any nervousness. You packed a lot of good info into a very tiny window. With your permission, I’d like to link your Youtube video to the WD8IEL Chelsea Amateur Radio Website. Thanks.
73
Larry – KD8MZM
Good job, Dan.
73s
Saulo
PY7EG
All of the talks at this event are now online. My five minutes start at the 1:28:15 mark.