tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post8302483164016662556..comments2024-03-14T01:32:43.610-06:00Comments on The Geomblog: SODA review I: Talks, talks and more talks.Suresh Venkatasubramanianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-890754875953915112012-01-19T16:57:46.005-07:002012-01-19T16:57:46.005-07:00See the next post :)See the next post :)Suresh Venkatasubramanianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-50231192828660312042012-01-19T16:44:25.540-07:002012-01-19T16:44:25.540-07:00Hawaii is far away, though not necessarily with ve...Hawaii is far away, though not necessarily with very expensive hotels.<br /><br />SODA'12 has around 300+ participants, a very respected number. Notice that this is with almost no Chinese participants because of the Chinese New Year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-31628270727510639912012-01-19T11:42:08.058-07:002012-01-19T11:42:08.058-07:00What were the actual attendance numbers? What wer...What were the actual attendance numbers? What were the numbers for SODA 2011 for comparison?<br /><br />Is it true that SODA 2014 will be in Honolulu? It seems that we are not choosing location to maximize attendance (i.e. try to find an affordable venue for max number of people) but to maximize the vacation for people with lots of grant money.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-78387067804149563452012-01-19T07:59:10.144-07:002012-01-19T07:59:10.144-07:00I was surprised to see again a discussion if paper...I was surprised to see again a discussion if papers from ALENEX and ALENECO should be now counted as SODA publications or not. I thought this proposal has been rejected last time, but it's been mentioned again, though I'm not sure if this will go through or not. To me, it's OK to have ALENEX and ALENECO and possible other conferences collocated with SODA, but I don't see why papers from these workshops should count as SODA papers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-66874024974010787172012-01-19T07:56:01.876-07:002012-01-19T07:56:01.876-07:00Any comments about the fact the conference took pl...Any comments about the fact the conference took place in Japan, that is, outside N America?<br />Number of participants was very good, 1/3 from N America, 1/3 from Europe, and 1/3 from Asia, which seems to me like a great success.<br />Unfortunately, many names typically coming to SODA didn't attend it this time, most likely because of the distance from the US, or the costs.<br />Still, I found it very successful.<br />And the organization was very good. Thanks to Kazuo Iwama.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-77959704963604665162012-01-19T07:09:30.587-07:002012-01-19T07:09:30.587-07:00In my earlier comment, I forgot to mention John Ba...In my earlier comment, I forgot to mention <a href="http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/advice.html" rel="nofollow">John Baez's advice on giving good talks</a>. It mentions Gian-Carlo Rota's <a href="http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~nevai/MYMATH/rota_ams_notices_01_97.html" rel="nofollow">Ten Lessons I Wish Had Been Taught</a>, which is one of the sources I recommend to my students. <br /><br />Enjoy.Luca Acetohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01092671728833265127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-68720249206703685342012-01-19T02:58:12.422-07:002012-01-19T02:58:12.422-07:00To follow up on Luca's comment, I think people...To follow up on Luca's comment, I think people coming to big theory conferences still feel like they're giving a talk to a group of people that knows everything in theory, whereas this hasn't been true for a long time. <br /><br />It's time that we accepted that our field is too big for detailed talks, and that either you give a talk for your five colleagues, or direct a broader talk at a general audience that is mathematically sophisticated but possibly ignorant of your subfield.Suresh Venkatasubramanianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-1731338087463676742012-01-19T02:56:08.845-07:002012-01-19T02:56:08.845-07:00(I accidentally deleted Luca Aceto's comment: ...(I accidentally deleted Luca Aceto's comment: here it is)<br /><br /><i>but if you are preparing your talk, you might consider trying to build a clear concise take-away message into your talk so that people like me with finite attention spans can remember something precise out of it.<br /></i><br />This is a very good piece of advice, regardless of the attention span of the audience.<br /><br />IHMO, having a take-home message is a must for every talk. I encourage all my students to think about the message they want to convey with their presentation and make it clear in the talk at least on one slide.<br /><br />If you have a clear message and deliver a clear presentation, people will remember it and will be more inclined to read the paper for the details, if they are interested in them. And if they do not, they will not think of listening to your talk as a waste of their brain cycles/time.Suresh Venkatasubramanianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.com