Conference Time!

conference_time.txt

CONFERENCE TIME

"A Fun Thing You Can Do With Other Fun People"

One pre-appointed person will act as the CHAIR of CONFERENCE TIME. The
CHAIR is responsible for collecting a set of SLIDE DECKS to be used by
the PRESENTERS. SLIDE DECKS may be either randomly generated or 
assembled from pre-existing academic or technical presentations, but
they should be full of impenetrable jargon and graphics, and they
should not be on subjects likely to be familiar to the PRESENTERS.
Each PRESENTER needs his or her own SLIDE DECK. PRESENTERS may not
view their SLIDE DECKS until they are presenting. 

One by one, the CHAIR will call the PRESENTERS to present their
SLIDE DECKS. The PRESENTER must give an off-the-cuff presentation 
based on the slides that he or she has never seen before. The 
PRESENTER may signal to the CHAIR (or an appointee of the CHAIR) to 
advance the slides as necessary. At any point during the presentation,
the other PRESENTERS may ask a brief, probably hostile or
condescending question to the current PRESENTER. The current PRESENTER
must respond adequately to the question, saving face, without having 
his or her presentation entirely derailed. Each PRESENTER is only 
allowed to ask one (1) question per CONFERENCE TIME, so they'd
better choose their question carefully.

Once all the PRESENTERS have presented, somehow (probably by a vote)
the conference attendees decide who wins the BEST PAPER AWARD. The 
AWARDEE is given a CROWN and a TROPHY (or substitute totem), and is
required to act as the CHAIR of the next CONFERENCE TIME.

Dress is business casual. PRESENTERS should favor short-sleeved shirts
with ties and slacks if possible. Elbow patches are encouraged.

Drinks must be served. Snacks are important, too, but if you have to
choose, go for drinks.

CLARIFICATIONS

How SLIDE DECKS are curated is entirely up to the discretion of the 
CHAIR. Individual slides may be taken from real presentations, or they
may be assembled gleefully like a Dada collage. Diagrams or other
images are encouraged.

The following resources are included for aspiring CHAIRS:

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/ 
http://dept.cs.williams.edu/~barath/systems-topic-generator.html 
http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/
http://rubberducky.org/cgi-bin/chomsky.pl
http://www.m3ntalcontraband.com/journal/archives/000844.html
http://www.ruderal.com/bullshit/bullshit.htm