Women and TLUG - a personal rant

[Digimer]

On 15/01/14 01:52 PM, Myles Braithwaite wrote:
> Digimer wrote:
>> As a multiple-time presenter, the heckling/interruptions were, far and
>> away, the most annoying and rude thing. I've presented numerous other
>> places and largely stopped presenting at TLUG because of this. I had
>> hoped to try presenting again this month, but work got in the way. I
>> still hope to reschedule, and I do hope this is no longer an issue.
>>
>> The problem seems to be a deep seated desire by some to show how
>> intelligent they are by interrupting the presenter to point out
>> perceived flaws. It makes for a very uninviting environment, male or
>> female.
>
> The best thing to do if you don't want to be heckled at your talk is to
> just layout the ground rules of asking questions before the meeting
> <http://gtalug.org/wiki/Guide_to_Presenting_at_GTALUG#Participation>.
>
> But I do agree (as a multiple-time presenter myself and sometimes
> heckler) that when the heckling issue gets to out of hand the organizers
> of GTALUG should be the ones to put a stop to it not the speaker.

When presenting to adults, one should not have to "layout the ground 
rules" of politeness. This is something most people are taught in 
kindergarten.

I've presented at LUGs smaller than TLUG, I've presented before many 
potential clients (where you expect arrows to be flung), I've presented 
at large organizations (LCE '11, for one)... Never outside of TLUG have 
I had problems with people interrupting and heckling.

This said, 90%+ of the TLUG members are awesome and mature. It's time 
though for the other 10%- to grow up if TLUG as a group wants to stay 
relevant.

The Undiplomatic Digimer

-- 
Digimer
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