What Makes a Good Wildlife Lecture/Talk?

[KeenTeen17]

Originally Posted by eeyore

very slightly - but 742 x 1024 at 72 dpi is optimum for on screen display so you shouldnt loose quality from that alone. You need to experiment as you need to hit an optimum between file size for quality and small file size for easy handling by the computer.

Also bear in mind that projected images are always of a lesser quality than they are on the screen , but this is usually a function of the surface they are being projected onto (for example what appears to be pixelisation may well be the weave of the screen you are projecting on), and if they appear soft this may be from the projector not being foccused exactly right

thanks eeyore. thats great. I thought my images were of bad quality at that members evening

[Acutipuerilis]

I agree with most of the above, especially Eeyore's points. Seriously, honestly, if you try to get through 300 slides it will be an absolute disaster. If all the equipment works, that's the one thing that will go badly wrong. A few slides in rapid succession is fine if you just want to show the pictures and not say anything, but a whole talk like that will drive them mad. How long does it take to simply look at and appreciate a good picture in silence? 20 seconds? 30? And that's without adding the interesting verbage. Use anecdotes, interesting bits of trivia, and above all, don't stick to a repetetive format when you're describing the slides. How many people like reading encyclopedias? You've got to have some over-arching theme and conclusion, even if it's something very simple. Give them a frame of reference to put things into, rather than just a list of things.
I normally have 40-50 slides for a hour's talk, whether it's a public lecture or a conference talk; some I go through briefly, and others will take a good minute or two. For a normal presentation method, I'd say 80 was the absolute max. No matter how tempting it is to put in more, resist! You can always do more talks in future, on more specialist subjects.

Above all, enjoy it - you'll quickly get past the nerves, but if they catch up with you, don't speed up (the normal tendency) - take a deep breath and slow down. I'm sure it'll be brilliant, though!

Joe

[tristanba]

I agree with all thats been said really - for an hour I would have no more than 100 images max and I would definitely resize them to 1024 pixels and copy them to the hard drive. In most laptops you need to press the function key (Fn) and F5 to make the image appear on the projector once the two are connected up - you wouldn't believe the number of times people don't seem to know about this!

[birding dave]

Originally Posted by Tursiops2

Allow at least a minute per slide minimum

That's faaaaaaar too long. Max 45 seconds, but best at about 30 seconds.

[Lancashire Lad]

I used to give regular lectures for my local sub-aqua club, which occasionally included slide presentation "shows" of underwater photographs.

The first time I did such a show, I took 3 x 100 slide carousels, filled with (what I considered) good quality pics.

I never made it to the third carousel, and it took well over two hours to get through the first two - because people asked so many questions and wanted lots of information on what was being shown to them.

Unless your presentation is to be a strictly formal affair, with no ad-hoc question/answer scenario, then I would agree wholeheartedly with other posters who are suggesting about 100 photo's max. for a presentation of 1 -1.5 Hrs.

Once people start asking questions, the time just flies by, and you will either have to cut things out, or rush at the end to get through everything, which is obvously not the best way to finish off a good show.

I would say, use about 100 pics, throw in a few light hearted anecdotes, try to get your audience involved right from the word go, keep good eye contact with your audience throughout, and, (very important) - Start your show with some very good quality pics - but finish it off with your best ones. (because those are the ones that people always remember).

PS - If someone asks you something that you don't know, always admit that you don't know. Never try to bluff people - There's bound to be someone there who does know, and you could end up in an embarrassing situation. People always respect honesty.

Best of luck.
Regards
Mike.

[KeenTeen17]

Im doing it tonight! thanks for all the tips!

[KeenTeen17]

Hey guys it went really well. A total of 78 people turned up! They said it was really good 20 / 10. I even got given a book of orchids as a present /payment I got through 180ish photos in exactly 1hr 40 mins. Perfect timing I'll post the review when the Society's website is updated

[JeffH]

Well done KT - all the prep obviously paid off

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)