Loved the content of your talk, learned a lot. I know this was the first time giving it and you were working against the deficit of having your laptop...and slides stolen.
I enjoyed the fact you tried to make it a story and don't know if the factors above made it more difficult to stay in that "voice" or not. If you're able to maintain the "Story of John and Jane" more consistently though the talk you'll take an "A" well beyond an "A++++++"
One suggestion, if you haven't already thought about it when you get to the point in your talk where you've summed up all the issues faced trying to stay in 3NF but before you start sharing and explaining other solutions maybe do something like this:
"and this would have been the end of John and Jane and their jobs at (forgot the name of the company you were using), but they happened to go to (insert name of conference you're presenting at and put up slide of logo for conference (will make the conference organizers happy and connect you even more to your audience)) and hear a great talk about databases and getting past 3NF given by MANCHUCK (or Chuck Reeves) (at this point put up a slide with a picture of you...pause and say "hey....that's me! or something to that effect)"
Then launch into the second part of your talk.
Finally, wrap it up with something to the effect of John and Jane each taking what they learned back to (name of company) and both becoming heros (may want to put up slide with John and Jane figures in capes or something) in their respective departments.
Again...just a suggestion (which you may have already come upon) on how to keep the Story aspect of your talk alive all the way through.
Again, really enjoyed the talk and saw some examples I'm going to try in a couple of the projects I'm currently working on.
Chuck:
Loved the content of your talk, learned a lot. I know this was the first time giving it and you were working against the deficit of having your laptop...and slides stolen.
I enjoyed the fact you tried to make it a story and don't know if the factors above made it more difficult to stay in that "voice" or not. If you're able to maintain the "Story of John and Jane" more consistently though the talk you'll take an "A" well beyond an "A++++++"
One suggestion, if you haven't already thought about it when you get to the point in your talk where you've summed up all the issues faced trying to stay in 3NF but before you start sharing and explaining other solutions maybe do something like this:
"and this would have been the end of John and Jane and their jobs at (forgot the name of the company you were using), but they happened to go to (insert name of conference you're presenting at and put up slide of logo for conference (will make the conference organizers happy and connect you even more to your audience)) and hear a great talk about databases and getting past 3NF given by MANCHUCK (or Chuck Reeves) (at this point put up a slide with a picture of you...pause and say "hey....that's me! or something to that effect)"
Then launch into the second part of your talk.
Finally, wrap it up with something to the effect of John and Jane each taking what they learned back to (name of company) and both becoming heros (may want to put up slide with John and Jane figures in capes or something) in their respective departments.
Again...just a suggestion (which you may have already come upon) on how to keep the Story aspect of your talk alive all the way through.
Again, really enjoyed the talk and saw some examples I'm going to try in a couple of the projects I'm currently working on.
Thanks!!
Paul