I had an interesting experience the other day. I was listening on my PC to some podcasts from the Spring 2005 NLII Spring Focus Sessions. On the first one I listened to the sound quality wasn’t very good. The levels rose and fell so I had a hard time following the discussion. The next one was very good, interesting but dense, chock full of useful information. I found myself needing to focus all my attention so I wouldn’t miss anything.
In the middle of this, I was browsing around the NLII website and found the “proceedings” of these sessions. They were outlines of notes and powerpoint slides. When I started watching the proceedings while listening to the podcasts, my comprehension increased dramatically–I felt like I was in the session. Two advantages over being there: I could stop and take a break if I needed to without missing anything, and I could listen to the whole thing all over again if I wanted to.
Does this mean I’d skip attending the conference next time? No, primarily because of the networking possibilities, but it does mean I no longer have to “miss” any sessions when there are conflicts for me.
Try it!
