The Zen of Kibitzing (Was: Hecklers)

[Scott Sullivan]

As a previous TLUG speaker [1] and a mostly regular attendee of the TLUG 

meetings I feel I need to weigh in on this subject.

This 'heckling' (which is a loaded term to begin with), is not actually 
by definition heckling. It Generally is, to quote Robert Brockway's 
earlier post:

   1) Comments/annecdotes related to the topic that are sometimes amusing
   and sometimes intended to show off knowledge of the subject.

   2) Insightful questions that raise important points.

To cite example of my own Talk, The Horizon of Human Interface, I got a 
lot of Cross talk from the crowd. To put this in perspective, this was 
my first public Talk, ever. I had little experience with sitting in 
front of folks and talking, but I knew my topic. I knew it well and 
because of that I was able to take hard questions and When there were 
things I didn't know, and there is always something a speaker doesn't 
know, the crowd had some answers. I've always found this to be true of 
any TLUG meeting, that the crowd always had something to add or provide 
a different prospective, and this one *ADDS* to the value of a TLUG meeting.

When it comes to actual Heckling it's only in my experience been when 
the present *DIDN'T* know their subject. This begs the Question then why 
did the *Volunteer* to present to TLUG, which is know for being a 
INTERMEDIATE  to EXPERT orientated group.

This is not to say that beginner level talks can't be done, but a 
speaker must be ready to make a full presentation, and any other speaker 
will tell you that KNOWING your topic usually makes the difference 
between a good talk and a bad one that gets heckled.

It is possible and I've seen it happen when an audience members hijacks 
or take a presentation on a tangent, but that only happens when either 
the Presenter doesn't know their topic, or haven't set down ground 
rules. Ground rules set up at the start of the presentation, (Madison is 
know for this, She'll often say that Questions will be taken at the end.)

It is very important to  Remember that the Audiance is there to hear the 
Presenter, they'll quite down if the presenter asks them too, and in the 
extremelly rare event that doesn't happen, the Organizer are there to 
Support the Present.

[1]: http://tlug.ss.org/wiki/Meetings:2008-05

-- 
Scott Sullivan

P.S.
The closest thing to heckling I remember from my own talk was when my 
own Mother stopped the talk part way through to let me know she was 
leaving and would see me later that night. Now if that isn't a show 
stopper, I don't know what is!

--
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