Monday, December 5, 2016

Presenters at Professional Meetings Must Have Good Public Speaking Skills

Over the course of my career I have been to many professional meetings and heard numerous presentations on topics from A to Z in chemistry or library science.  Speakers likely know their topic very well, but must communicate properly to their audience.  Last Friday I attended the New York Chapter of the ACRL’s annual meeting at Baruch College.  The theme was money and power in relation to libraries.  Several speakers were terrible as they read their talks and spoke very rapidly.  It was impossible to absorb much of what they said. 


The organizers of this symposium asked for feedback and I mentioned this.  My suggestion is that large professional societies offer workshops on public speaking.

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