So last weekend you may recall that I was in Kelowna, acting as a guest moderator for a panel on vaccines, hosted by the Centre for Inquiry. I had a great time there, and the panel was very informative. It ran loooong though. I’m not sure what it is about having a PhD and/or MD that makes you unable to tell time, but most of the presentations went twice as long as allotted. However, if you were ever looking for authoritative information about vaccines, these videos provide a valuable resource.
The rest of them can be seen here.
I really enjoyed my time in Kelowna, and am looking forward to being invited there again. There’s also the possibility of being invited to the new branch in Nelson – CFI West Kootenays. Nelson is a beautiful place, and I’d love to visit sometime. Let me know how I did in the into and Q&A sections.
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I wonder if these presenters didn’t practice timing themselves beforehand? My mother is a leader in her field, and gives presentations/talks a lot, so she always rehearses her presentation at home a few times with an egg timer to get her timing down right.
You sound different talking than I would have expected from your singing videos- but then, singers always sound different talking!
Might be nice to have a copy of the power points for those of us who like to look at them- a little hard to read in the video. Very interesting talks though- I will definitely be watching the others.
Ian,
Thanks for posting this, very interesting talks.
Overall it sounded solid to me. My only comment (which I hope is constructive, and speaking as someone who has heard your voice loud and clear in a live setting) is that your pace did seem a little fast sometimes. For those of us who, despite our best efforts, find our hearing systems slowly decaying with age, and for those who must resort to recorded audio in which it may be harder to discern some voice detail (the mic picked up the room’s echo), it may help to try to remain andante versus moderato or allegro.
I would say the same for the featured speakers. For example, the first talk about the history of immunology was fascinating and engaging, but at times she was positively allegro, it seemed to me, and the words blurred together.
Of course, that means that the featured speakers need to work on their time management, as even at allegro, some of them ran long.
Overall, though, enjoyable, engaging, and I thought your management was fine. I particularly loved the “Facepalm” moment during the Q&A when the “skanky” comment came up, and also found the questioning and discussion around the framing of immunization as an “individual rights” issue compelling.
Also, just listened (finally, I know; I’ve been rhinovirused since my return and feeling lousy – bleargh, *hack, cough, wheeze, sniffle*) to the EP on the CBC link. I love your string work. Also great “live action” photo of you. It’s not a genre of music I dip into much, but your contribution to the sound is lovely, and also my compliments to your bassist, particularly for the understated but solid and sure work on “The Night Before.”
(I have a particular fondness for the bass, so there’s possibly some bias there. Possibly. I’m sure it’s nothing.)
Unless I miss my guess, you’re the lead vocals on “Gravity,” correct? Fantastic work! Big sound that nestles into the instrumentation and then holds the listener inside the music like a confident dance partner. You all got a nice sound mix on that tune, thumbs up to you and your engineer. That’s my favorite of the four, though I do really love the break and crescendo midway through “My Time.” That mesh of guitar, viola, and vocal harmonies was so good, and the last half of that tune makes me happy.
Cheers for the music!
Still learning,
Robert
The reason why vaccine lectures run over is simple: Vaccines are frikin AWESOME! /vaccine research nerd comment