Re: handouts at GWA talks

**E* Z* <e*@acmeplant.com>**

I wasn't going to weigh in either, but here goes.  (And I'm SURE this will be a subject of debate at the January board meeting.)

Yes, Kirk, people who print out their PPT presentations belong in a special circle of hell.  It's wasteful not only because of the amount of paper used but also because the size and quality of the screen shots usually makes them illegible and therefore unusable.  BUT (and that's a BIG but), in all my years of GWA symposiums (10+) I've never once received a handout that was a PPT printout!  Maybe I've been lucky and chosen to attend presentations by speakers who are particularly pithy.  Or maybe our group, as communicators and stewards of the environment, is slightly more aware of the ludicrousness of printing out our PPT presentations.

I think the idea of restricting speakers (and this does not include workshop instructors who obviously have a greater and more immediate need for paper) to one, double-sided handout.  Okay, two if you twist my arm, but personally, I never use more than two sides for my own presentations.  Keeping the information manageable is part of our job; we need to edit and streamline; anyone who wants to print out their PPT can pay for it themselves.  But you can pry my plant list from my cold, dead hand.  

LN

On Jan 3, 2012, at 11:30 AM, Kirk R. Brown wrote:

> I was not going to weigh in on this issue.  But it has continued.
> 
> I am an unabashed curmudgeon.  And it is with some pressure from me that GWA
> has tried (up 'til now unsuccessfully!) to navigate the rocky shoals of
> lecture handouts.
> 
> The "NEW" policy was drawn up based on the migraine-inducing trend at
> national conferences for many speakers to expect the venue/hosts to
> reproduce 20 double-sided pages of bulleted power point slides spit out by
> their presentation.  There is no editing involved and there is definitely no
> obvious use for the wasted materials.  I also resent any presenter that
> telegraphs his/her presentation by reproducing all of the lecture slides as
> a handout.  But that hasn't stopped them.  Nothing seems to be stopping
> them--and the numbers are growing exponentially as this winter conference
> season approaches.  
> 
> Everyone who has spoken to the need for handouts is not remembering the
> number of handouts received that have gone straight to the land fill.  It's
> the wastefulness of the concept that is the issue GWA is trying to address.
> If you could limit any one speaker to only one page of content-driven,
> edited, pithy copy, we would not be having this debate.
> 
> As much as I hate to say it, Powerpoint slide presentations have made this
> an ugly situation.  There is no sense to the wasted reams of handouts I've
> seen at conferences because it was easy for the speaker to push the
> "Handout" button and easier yet for the promoters to reproduce it.  No one
> is exercising sustainable practices in the thought process leading up to the
> product.
> 
> If you can help me overcome my mental image of thousands of throw-away
> pages, then we can continue to refine the process.
> 
> Kirk
> 
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