Speed geeking

Speed geeking is a participation process used to quickly view a number of presentations within a fixed period of time. Speed geeking gets its name from speed dating, since they both employ similar techniques.

Method

A large room is selected as the speed geeking venue. All the presenters are arranged in a large circle along the edge of the room. The remaining members of the audience stand at the center of the room. Ideally there are about 6-7 audience members for each presenter. One person acts as the facilitator.

The facilitator rings a bell to start proceedings. Once proceedings start, the audience splits up into groups and each group goes to one of the presenters. Presenters have a short duration, usually 5 minutes, to give their presentation and answer questions. At the end of the five minutes, the facilitator rings a bell. At this point, each group moves over to the presenter to their right and the timer starts once more. The session ends when every group has attended all the presentations.

Advantages

Speed geeking is a great way to quickly view a number of presentations and demos in a short while. For example, one hour is enough time to view 12 presenters if you spend 5 minutes at each presentation. The 5 minute limit also keeps presentations short and interesting.

Disadvantages

Each presenter has to give their presentation multiple times.

Related Processes

A Lightning Talk is another method of quickly going through a number of presentations in a short period of time.

External links

* [http://facilitation.aspirationtech.org/index.php/Facilitation:SpeedGeeking Speed geeking]
* [http://kaliyasblogs.net/unconference/?p=31 Speed geeking at the Unconference blog]
* [http://blog.whatfettle.com/2007/07/06/speed-geeking/ Using a Wiki and mobile phones for Speed geeking]