Presenting at Conferences:

      [[[[You, no doubt, scopic-reading-literate person that you are, must find these floaters impossible. You might ask, "What is he doing! with these things floating around in front of the text that he must want me to read?!"]]]]

           ... Let me wax-nostalgically: I remember the early days of my professional cccc-subjectivity, preparing for a CCCConference, writing a paper, worrying about it, how it might be received and whether or not it would be pro(fessionally)vocative enough.

           Now in "our" uncanny days, however, I not only--especially for this particular featured presentation--worry about the paper--which I still must write as a backup, perhaps in the form of a script for the media presentation--but I also worry about whether or not I can get the electronic presentation finished by the deadline, whether or not my Apple 2400C Powerbook will work (not freeze), whether or not the LCD projector that I ordered will be available and work, whether or not the special cable for the audio will be compatible with my Powerbook and the speakers that I've ordered, whether or not there will be any tech support, whether or not the whole thing will come together ... whether or not it will all in a single word

                                         W O R K !

           And if not, then, there's my worry of Love's Labor Lost. NOUGHT. I imagine myself, standing t.here--with the monster not working--totally stripped of what dignity I might have as a Presenter! What will I say, if the Powerbook does freeze! How will I deal with the audience! I anticipate the failure of the technology (my powerbook, the LCD, the speakers, etc.), so I've got to prepare a repertoire of appropriate jokes!

           In basic math, I've got three times the previous work I used to have; I've got to--for this presentation, I've had to

    • develop a presentation but a "real" electronic (as we say, multimedia) presentation that would still allow for me to stand here, so to speak, and "present" it to you;

    • write a paper or script in case the presentation cannot be played or refuses to be played;

    • establish a repertoire of defensive jokes, so as not to be the joke, and yet always already the joker in the pack, the dummy in the bridge game.
    •      And then, yet another possibility often presents itself at conferences where I might make an electronic presentation: The director of the conference or some editor of a volume will step up and ask me if I will "rewrite" the presentation for publication in print.

      Thank you very much!

           I don't know about some of you, but I find myself nowadays as an e-subject or emerging agent being drawn and quatered + . I find myself, for each event--perhaps eventless--preparing myself for presenting by ways of

    • electracy, orality, and literacy. All-Ways!
    •      I find myself preparing for all contingencies: multimedia presentation, oral presentation (whether or not the former fails), and publication (if asked, which is the case more often than not). If anyone would like to publish this presentation AS IS, it's yours. Otherwise, Thank you very much!

           Are there alternatives to this situation of our being wrenched and quatered? Yes, of course. Let me give you an account of one such alternative:

           Last year, in Minneapolis, those of us in the session, which I had proposed and presented in, decided unilaterally a few weeks prior to the convention to change the format of our session. It was basically an illegal format! We did not stay with a traditional session as we proposed, nor did we move to a roundtable, or any other format listed on the submission form. We decided instead to experiment.

           We had electronic projects that we wanted to present for the session "My Signature and Our Politics of Locations." But we decided not to present them by way of an LCD projector (what a ridiculous price to have to pay for their rental!) but to clear the space of the room by pushing the theatre-arranged rows of chairs up against the wall, decided to take the two tables off the elevated stand and to place them on the floor with our Laptops and Powerbooks on them. (If one of them were to crash or freeze, the other two would be available.) We announced that we were appropriating the CCCC session space and turning it into "our politics of location," into a gallery-opening space for our three "computer installations." One was in Flash, one was in QuickTime, and one in Hypertext Web format. We invited people to come up to the table and to view our presentations.

           While all of the members of the audience did just this, and with smiles on their faces, we served--as the finest galleries do--the best California Wines, the best German Waters, and the best French Cheeses with crackers. We mixed with the audience and we talked with them about the presentations. We were all together, enjoying ourselves. Learning from each other. People remained until the end of the session. Some remained to help us place the chairs and the table back to their ever-so proper places.

           Given this experiment, we recommend to NCTE and to future Chairs of CCCConferences that they establish a new "TRANSITIONAL" format along these lines. Perhaps we might call this new format "Electronic Installations." We need to start making room for the future, assuming that we want a future!

           So much for the speaking subject standing up in front of the carefully arranged chairs and reading a text in monotone about the coming community of electronic discourse! So much for the paradox of being a disciplinary agent speaking about post-disciplinary emergencies. We need to learn to dance through and with the audiences.

           I, VV, belong, while communicating with you, in a new "politics of location"; you, with me and the rest of the Coming Composing Communities, in that new politics of location. We, together. In the Electronic

                                         chora(us) !

           With this said and undone, yet redone, I want to turn now to the issue of . . .

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