Sunday, April 01, 2007

Re: AgileScotland mini-conference - The naked Agilist

Hi everyone,
 
1.  I've just discovered that we can only cope with a limited number of participants on a SkypeCast for the mini-conference, so if you want to participate (lurking or participating) then I'm going to have to ask you to register with me first.  I'm sorry about this, but I'll have to do it on a first-come-first-served basis.  Please email me at Agile.Scotland@gmail.com to request an invite.
 
2.  A few people have said to me that they love the idea, but they're (understandably) a little nervous of presenting or leading a brief discussion over the phone - especially with the extremely brutal "I'll stop your microphone" time-boxing.  I gotta say that if you feel the same, I don't blame you.  I've done a couple of long distance presenations recently and it is hard, when you can't see the whites of your audiences eyes.  You have to adapt your style to suit the occassion and find different ways of communicating and seeking feedback.  If your customer is in a different building / city / country or continent, then you'll find this a very useful exercise in communicating long distance.   You also get to do it in the nude ...
 
Oh, and if you're worried about fitting in within the time-box you nominate, then never fear: Newspapers have been doing this for years.  Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid  - many of the ideas may sound very familiar.  Agilists have been doing them for years too ...
 
Clarke

 
On 3/28/07, agile scotland <agile.scotland@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Everyone,

This month's meeting will be a little different - a mini-agile-conference or is it an agile-mini-conference.  And even better, you can attend in the nude.  Read on ...

On the day - Monday the 16th of April: We will use Skype's skypecast facility to have a large scale conference call.  We'll all dial into the call at 7:25pm for 7:30pm start.  We will then have a series of "mini presentations" or discussions - each lasting from 1 minute to 15 minutes max.  We will end at 9:00pm.  Someone will chair the meeting and have the power to turn peoples mics off and on.

Before the conference:
1.  Someone (Volunteers?) will setup a wiki or an online spreadsheet.  If you want to run/give a session then add a title to the wiki, and 1-4 sentences to describe the session and a duration from 1 to 15 minutes - note that on the day the chairperson will kill your microphone exactly on the time you've nominated, i.e they're time-boxed. 
2.  Three days before the session - Friday the 13th - we will vote for the sessions we prefer and they will be delivered in priority order.  Someone will need to decide voting rules.  Remember that each session has a higher "cost" in terms of your time, so vote carefully.
 
So, who wants to volunteer to chair the conference?  And someone to help the chair?  And someone will need to test the technology works SOON so that we have time to adapt?
 
And for no other reason than it would reduce my stress-levels can you send me a note if you are interested in joining the conference.
 
Thanks,

--
Clarke Ching
www.clarkeching.com
+44(0)7920114893