Speaking at the ACCU Conference 2015

2015-04-28 • , , • Comments

This time last week I was on my way to the ACCU 2015 conference in Bristol. The past couple of years I’ve been, but for one day only. This year, as a presenter of a full length (90 minute!) session I got to go to the whole thing.

Being a speaker made all the difference. Having the chance to attend plenty of sessions meant I was more relaxed about choosing which ones to pick — each slot during the day offered 5 options — and less upset if I thought, 10 minutes into a presentation, that I could have picked something else. Perhaps as a consequence of this, I was happy with all my choices. That said, I’d love the whole thing to run again so I could take a second route through the schedule.

I’d run a couple of practice versions of my talk at ACCU local groups in Bristol and then in Oxford, which meant I was comfortable with the material and convinced it would hold an audience’s interest.

Some things to consider for next year:

  • I’m going to submit another talk proposal, and if it’s accepted
  • I’ll practise it twice, at least and
  • I’ll get a remote control.
  • My laptop is too bulky for comfort. Dirk Haun ran his talk from a tablet. Could a phone be used?

My lightning talk ☞ Life A User’s Manual.

Slides for my main talk ☞ Lessons from the OuLiPo.

I would like to thank all the organisers of the conference, everyone who presented, and everyone who attended. Especial mention to Jon Jagger who announced that this would be his last year as conference chair. Let’s hope that in future years the mail bag continues to be inundated with letters! Pete Goodliffe too deserves a special mention for setting up three excellent lightning talk sessions. Controlled anarchy — he’s good at it!