Professor Mark (not real name), currently a deputy vice chancellor (DVC) in charge of research and development (R&) in one of the first generation universities in the North Central part of Nigeria (real location) came to the University of xxxxx, Utah, USA to finalize some R& collaborations his university was about establishing with xxxxx university, where I was a postgrad student until recently. Prof Mark was at this university around April of this year. Weeks before his arrival, there was a big buzz in my department that a Nigerian university administrator will be arriving and he will be giving a presentation on University education in Nigeria and options for international development co-operations. My HOD specifically informed me of the visit and passed Prof Mark's CV around, and boy, was it loaded? This man studied at Kansas University in the 70s where he obtained all 3 of his degrees and has a lot of publications to his name. Thus, I was both proud and elated because not frequently do you see academic authorities different from the regular faces you see every day come talk to you about something, more so one from your own country. So I looked forward with a sense of fulfillment and patriotism that it was going to be a rewarding outing. So on the d-day, I went to the seminar room and sat right in front so he could see a face like his. My intention was to talk to him before or after his presentation and let him know I am Nigerian like him. At 9.00 am local time, he walked into the room where his talk had already been loaded and displayed in the projector. He was introduced and received a loud ovation. Then he went on rambling, from the history of Nigeria, its colonization by Britain, to the civil war and to how the educational system was bastardized by the military. For up to 20 minutes he did not touch the computer neither did he use the pointer. And he has an hour to talk to us. He just went on and on, off the cuff and no mention was made of any technology his university has that needs to be improved upon by the proposed collaboration with xxxxx university. So I asked myself what the slides were prepared for if not going to be used in the presentation? As if other members of the audience also noticed that he was not using the slides, the Prof who had introduced him quietly went to him and, as it looked like, requested that he shows what was on the slides. That was when the bubble burst: Prof Mark did not know how to give power point presentations with a projector. He fiddled with everything, dropped the pointer at least twice and pressed the forward key so long and hard that he was at the end of the slides in one fell swoop. There was a cacophony of laughter. He was sweating like hell. Being in front, I was horrified that this was happening with a Nigerian who appeared to command so much respect in absentia. Few questions came to my mind:

1. Who prepared the slides for him back in Nigeria? May be some secretary?
2. Did he read through to see what was in the slides?
3. Did he practice the presentation before the D-day?

The answers to these questions are left to be unraveled. Meanwhile, one of the students present had to go to him and offered to be moving the slide pages for him and taught him how to use the pointer. Still he kept pointing the pointer all over the place and was going to get people blinded with the Laser-like, red light of the pointer  I had had too much and wanted to leave, but because I was right in front, I felt I would be easily noticed and may cause further distraction. So I stayed put until the end. I felt thoroughly ashamed that I did not wait to see him after his talk. Hours later, my HOD wanted me to meet Prof Mark; so we met and after knowing that I was Nigerian, he started feeling like a big man and already treating me like a bloody student (you know, prof-student relationship in naija = master-servant relationship). Whereas I called my Prof by his name, Prof Mark looked surprised when I had to address him by his first name during the course of our discussions. Anyways, we had a beer or two together and I carefully refrained from discussing anything about his disastrous presentation with him. Who knows, he might, warts and all, eventually become one big man in naija government and could take his pound of flesh on me when I go in search of something in Nigeria? Days and weeks later, my colleagues who were present during the shameful incidence kept teasing me about him, but what could I do?

Lesson of this story: the rot in our university system affects not just students, but also lecturers and administrators; no one is spared as I am persuaded that there will be many more Professor Marks administering our universities all over the country. I do not know how many computer students of computer science departments in Nigeria have handled computers for such presentations, let alone students of other departments. God help us.

Funny story . F the shame but i feel your pain.

naijaway:

Funny story . F the shame but i feel your pain.

F the shame? I wish you were there to help share it. It was too much even for my large shoulders.

Eh, lots of old professor types from the 70s aren't good at using powerpoint or giving presentations like this. Even in my own academic department, sadly enough.

Still, he should have been better prepared.

I dunno if this is a disgrace though, should have been better prepared, but stuff like this happens.

Disgraceful, does Prof Mark not own a laptop of his own? How does he prepare his lecture notes? By writing everything by hand? I wont be surprised if that singular lecture was enough to cause his host University reconsider a collaboration with a college where its DVC for R& is a poster child for half-baked scholarship.

^-- Err, what? Who prepares lecture notes on computer? That is way too time consuming. You usually write notes by hand.

Dont blame the poor professor o!
Its d way of the country.
A friend that i met outside the country told me, when he was an undergrad in a very well known university in 9ja,
studying biochemistry,
they were never taught how to use a centrifuge, they were only shown one that was old and rickety!
Now imagine his confusion when he came across one during his graduate practicals.

Kai!!!! ROFLMAO!!

@na2day!:

Dont blame the poor professor o!
Its d way of the country.
A friend that i met outside the country told me, when he was an undergrad in a very well known university in 9ja,
studying biochemistry,
they were never taught how to use a centrifuge, they were only shown one that was old and rickety!
Now imagine his confusion when he came across one during his graduate practicals.

i didnt know what a centrifuge was either. I think i saw an atomic spectrophotometer once and that was because some American college sent us a broken one for us to fix. No surprises there.

davidylan:

i didnt know what a centrifuge was either. I think i saw an atomic spectrophotometer once and that was because some American college sent us a broken one for us to fix. No surprises there.

Chai, davidylan u too study biochem?

@na2day!:

Chai, davidylan u too study biochem?

no, i took a few biochem classes in college. I didnt know proteins were so small you could actually isolate them in the lab . . . i always thot of them as something like beans! The state of education is so bad in Nigeria we're just not willing to face it. I can bet Prof "Mark" is just that in name only, if he's done any research in the last 30 yrs i'd be amazed.

@na2day!:

Chai, davidylan u too study biochem? 

Them don ban na2day?

I still think this is overreacting. The best researchers are by no means the best at giving presentations. It is very rare to have someone who is great at both. Obviously he should have been better prepared, but a lot of this might just be miscommunication. Maybe he thought they wanted a general talk on subject X, and they really wanted one on Y. Or he misjudged his audience, etc.

DapoBear:

I still think this is overreacting. The best researchers are by no means the best at giving presentations. It is very rare to have someone who is great at both. Obviously he should have been better prepared, but a lot of this might just be miscommunication. Maybe he thought they wanted a general talk on subject X, and they really wanted one on Y. Or he misjudged his audience, etc.

You don't have to be GREAT at giving presentations. How in the world could he have misjudged his audience in this case?

DapoBear:

I still think this is overreacting. The best researchers are by no means the best at giving presentations. It is very rare to have someone who is great at both. Obviously he should have been better prepared, but a lot of this might just be miscommunication. Maybe he thought they wanted a general talk on subject X, and they really wanted one on Y. Or he misjudged his audience, etc.

Dapo i disagree with you. I know some professors that are not adept at presenting a talk but at least they are very knowledgeable on their subject matter. Its clear Prof Mark's problems were 2-fold - couldnt cope with newer technology and secondly he didnt have any clue what his topic of discussion was all about. Obviously the school was expecting him to give them an idea why they should be collaborating with his own school . . . they want facts, data . . . not history! The only reason they prodded him to use his slides must be because they assumed the info they needed would be there.

jennykadry:

Them don ban na2day?

no comment

davidylan:

Dapo i disagree with you. I know some professors that are not adept at presenting a talk but at least they are very knowledgeable on their subject matter. Its clear Prof Mark's problems were 2-fold - couldnt cope with newer technology and secondly he didnt have any clue what his topic of discussion was all about. Obviously the school was expecting him to give them an idea why they should be collaborating with his own school . . . they want facts, data . . . not history! The only reason they prodded him to use his slides must be because they assumed the info they needed would be there.

Err, when you think you are giving a talk on X, but have to give one on Y, then you'll usually get flustered. Add on his unfamiliarity with the technology, and the result was predictable.

Dunno how this implies that he doesn't know the subject matter, as you allege.

DapoBear:

Err, when you think you are giving a talk on X, but have to give one on Y, then you'll usually get flustered. Add on his unfamiliarity with the technology, and the result was predictable.

Dunno how this implies that he doesn't know the subject matter, as you allege.

Sorry but when was he asked to give a different presentation from the topic he was earlier given?

Besides as a "professor" you're supposed to be ready to speak on a subject matter in your field of study at any given point. We are not talking of a graduate student here. Excusing mediocrity is why we are where we are today.

That is not true at all. Even professors put in enormous amounts of time in preparing talks about stuff their own papers. I have no clue why you think people can just give GOOD talks on the fly without preparation. For an hour long talk, you probably need to put in 3-4 hours+ of preparation if you want to make it run smoothly. You'll give at least 1 or 2 practice talks, time yourself, check to make sure things flow and are coherent, etc.

Look, part of the point of a talk is not only to prove that you know something, but to TEACH it to others. Only trivial things can be taught properly without preparation.

DapoBear:

That is not true at all. Even professors put in enormous amounts of time in preparing talks about stuff their own papers. I have no clue why you think people can just give GOOD talks on the fly without preparation. For an hour long talk, you probably need to put in 3-4 hours+ of preparation if you want to make it run smoothly. You'll give at least 1 or 2 practice talks, time yourself, check to make sure things flow and are coherent, etc.

Look, part of the point of a talk is not only to prove that you know something, but to TEACH it to others. Only trivial things can be taught properly without preparation.

I'm sorry, but i have no idea which professors you know. Most of my grad school professors could and DO GIVE talks on the fly without the use of slides. 95% of preparing for a talk is IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE of your subject matter. What slides are meant for is to help you remember key points you think your audience might need to know, introduce flow, help your audience better understand the points you intend to make and condense your talk into the time alloted. The slides are NOT the talk in itself.

When i was going through grad school, the golden rule for presentations was - each slide must have MORE SPACE than letters (make your points short, bulleted) and when possible, make use of illustrations.

Back to the issue . . . you still didnt address how you came by the claim that prof Mark's flustering was down to his giving a talk on X when he had to give one on Y. He was given a topic (this must have been done months in advance), he didnt have to come talk to them about Nigeria's history of colonialism. The potential collaborators dont care.

A good off the cuff talk, on say a whiteboard? That is fine and easy, many people feel comfortable doing that. But giving a talk from powerpoint is very, very different (at least imo.)

Powerpoint talk is more like giving an academic lecture-style talk. Both require hours of careful preparation. I see the amount of time my own advisor puts into lectures he gives, the amounts of notes he makes.

An informal off the cuff talk is relatively easy to do, but quite different from a formal presentation.

I bet prof mark wouldnt know the diff.

I just don't think it makes sense to assume he is a dumbass. There is a professor here I know that is literally one of the best in the world at what he does. But he gives absolutely TERRIBLE lectures. Stuttering all over the place, rambling, not putting things together in the appropriate manner or order. But he is a very smart guy. But if you cause him to pause and answer questions about something specific, he will answer them very well, and give you a lot of insight into how his mind things about certain problems.

I've never been to one of his academic talks, but supposedly he does those pretty poorly too. Some people just aren't good at public speaking. It is a flaw to be worked on and honed, but doesn't make one a dumbass.

DapoBear:

A good off the cuff talk, on say a whiteboard? That is fine and easy, many people feel comfortable doing that. But giving a talk from powerpoint is very, very different (at least imo.)

Powerpoint talk is more like giving an academic lecture-style talk. Both require hours of careful preparation. I see the amount of time my own advisor puts into lectures he gives, the amounts of notes he makes.

An informal off the cuff talk is relatively easy to do, but quite different from a formal presentation.

I get the feeling you do not, yourself, know how to use powerpoint. Come on! It does not take hours of research to put together a good powerpoint presentation if you know your subject well. My six year old niece can create a simple powerpoint presentation in no time at all.

I am not saying he is a dumbass but don't blame powerpoint here for the man's inability to give a powerpoint presentation he supposedly prepared himself.

Kobojunkie:

I get the feeling you do not, yourself, know how to use powerpoint. Come on! It does not take hours of research to put together a good powerpoint presentation if you know your subject well. My six year old niece can create a simple powerpoint presentation in no time at all.

I am not saying he is a dumbass but don't blame powerpoint here for the man's inability to give a powerpoint presentation he supposedly prepared himself.

I kept wondering at that too. To be honest, if you know your subject matter well . . . powerpoint slides are just like notes to make you remember your points. A key to a good presentation is to spend as little time staring at the slides!

Not really sure what academic fields you guys are or were in, but in math/statistics/engineering, it takes some time.

DapoBear:

Not really sure what academic fields you guys are or were in, but in math/statistics/engineering, it takes some time.

I understand your point . . . time is relative here and depends on what the presentation is for. To be honest, preparing for a thesis exam . . . you bet i spent at least 2 weeks on that presentation.

Was using a projector part of his ToR? Most professors in their 70s are not bothered about the new technology. The man should have simply told them that he's not going to prepare and slides for his talk and they'll forget the whole projector thing. Na by force?

davidylan:

I understand your point . . . time is relative here and depends on what the presentation is for. To be honest, preparing for a thesis exam . . . you bet i spent at least 2 weeks on that presentation.

Yeah. I have such an exam coming up, and will be spending the better part of the next month preparing. It isn't just about knowing stuff, it is about organizing it properly so that others can understand it, understand its value and implications.

Would be nice if you could just copy and paste your papers into a slide, but unfortunately doing that usually leads to sh1tty talks.

DapoBear:

Yeah. I have such an exam coming up, and will be spending the better part of the next month preparing. It isn't just about knowing stuff, it is about organizing it properly so that others can understand it, understand its value and implications.

Would be nice if you could just copy and paste your papers into a slide, but unfortunately doing that usually leads to sh1tty talks.

Dont even try it. I did it once and got bounced, badly!

DapoBear:

Not really sure what academic fields you guys are or were in, but in math/statistics/engineering, it takes some time.

I am actually in one of the above fields and yes, it does take time but it is not hard, at least not as hard as you pretend it is, to put together a decent presentation in no time at all.

But I think in your bid to produce an excuse for the man, you forget that it is not the case that he did not have a prepared presentation for his lecture. No, he did have one prepared, he just had no clue how to present it.  ROFLMAO

Please do not attempt to explain next how pressing 'F5', '--->', '<---' is also hardwork for this your professor. ROFLMAO!

the fellow may be er taking a cue from emegwali - whose 'lectures' are motivational and not scientific