chris hodgins : tumblz

System z SecondLife event for Manchester Uni

So today I held my first-ever IBM presentation in SecondLife on the IBM mainframe to a group of around 15 very nice under-graduates from Manchester University. 

I was joined by Matt Whitbourne who joined me to discuss IBM career options and to help me host the session. Thanks Matt!

Hosting the presentation in SecondLife was a bit different for me so I thought I would put down a few thoughts regarding how the presentation went.

There were a few technical hiccups as I re-acquainted myself with SecondLife, such as turning around or flying when using the single line chat box.  Switching to the chat history box solved that problem nicely.

It’s quite tricky to get the camera right to show the audience and the presentation.  The chairs in the room allowed the user to hit page up and the camera would look at the presentation.  It would be nice to do something similar with a podium so the speaker has a few views to look around and keep track of the slides while maintaining the option to keep track of the audience. Or maybe change the HUD to show the current foil?

I had my doubts about how well text-based presenting would work (we could have used voice but chose the path of least resistance this time) however I was really surprised about how easy it was to interact with the audience. They felt comfortable asking questions throughout, which while might not suit everybody, helped me feel a bit more connected to the group. One problem I did have was keeping the presentation on-time when questions were asked and time was limited.  However I don’t think that was too big a deal as the questions fielded by the Manchester University group were both relevant and interesting to all in the room.

Presentation wise, we copy-pasted notes straight from powerpoint into SecondLife.  This was a great way of doing things and really helped me to focus on the questions. There is a fine balance between short sentences that take ages to paste on screen and wordy text that is quick to paste but difficult to read all at once.

All in all I felt it was a successful presentation. Thanks to those at Manchester University who came, it was a pleasure chatting with you all. I hope I convinced at least one or two of you that it’s an exciting time to get involved with the mainframe. Maybe we will see a few of you entering the next Mainframe Challenge?