Been a long time. I’ll get back to it. Promise.Did have the thrill of attending Edward Tufte’s last week. I’ll have more about the seminar later, but I snapped this picture in the lobby. I was left wondering what message I should take away from this.
When I went in to the seminar, the table was front and center — and empty. This picture was taken on the way out. Makes one wonder what happened during the seminar that the rules changed (and the table moved). But the flower was a nice touch.It sure felt like what happens when you tell a small child not to do something. The urge is almost too great to resist. All they want to do is what you said not to do. Playing reverse psychology is a slippery slope for a presenter.Rules that don’t make sense, comments that are clearly not backed by anything, and even crazy administrivia all serve to undermine the credibility of the presenter. We have to fight hard to get credibility (and Tufte talked about credibility a lot), so it doesn’t make sense to give it back so easily.
Make all the content matter. Make it consistent. Make it credible. Don’t give a reason for people to not believe.
