A technical aside: Presentation summarizer

Having spent the first few days of the week at a conference, I’ve found myself reflecting on talks I’ve seen recently and historically.

There’s been some really excellent talks over the years, but outside of actually attending a conference, it’s hard to set aside time to watch a presentation–so unless I’m there in person, I’m likely to have missed out.

For example, there’s tons of chatter right now about Ed Yong’s talk at the final XOXO festival. As a non-ticket-lottery winner, I wasn’t there, and so risk missing out forever.

But hey, we’ve got LLMs now, right? Sketching and experimenting with disposable code has never been easier. So I spent a bit under an hour half-distracted and brain dead from exhaustion chatting with Claude, and ended up with this Presentation summarizer.

Feed it a Youtube URL, and out comes a structured summary, considerably faster than real time. Here’s one of Yong’s talk:

Summary:

Speaker: The transcript includes a speaker who is an author and journalist. The speaker does not formally introduce themselves, but from the content it can be concluded they recently composed extensive work regarding COVID-19.

Content: The speaker starts the talk outlining their objectives and plan. They go on to recount how their attempts to ignore the start of the COVID-19 pandemic failed when their guilt, a previous piece they wrote on American readiness for a pandemic, and their wife encouraged them to write about the unfolding global crisis. They continued that over the next few years, they wrote long, detailed pieces aimed to provide an expansive view of the impacts of the pandemic. They tried to help readers make sense of the situation, hence they saw their role as providing a synthetic, comprehensive view. They also emphasized the repetitive nature of journalism and the need for diverse sources.

The speaker goes on to speak on how the pandemic affected their personal life while they were writing. They reflect on the strange experiences they had due to the success of their pieces and their nomination for various awards. They also emphasize that they can only achieve so much because of the support of their wife, Liz, editors, and all other team members.

Towards the end, the speaker tells of how they engaged with the public, and set a few personal rules to follow to maintain their mental health while working in such a critical time. They also emphasize the systemic nature of success, refuting the idea of meritocracy, and humbly acknowledge their own influence and reach.

Key Takeaways:

1. The speaker was involved in pandemic reporting and analysis
2. They explored pandemic related topics broadly going beyond just medical aspects.
3. The speaker’s work was recognized and gained a lot of attention.
4. Their work was a team effort with support from various members.
5. They set personal rules for engaging with the audience and handling publicity.
6. They acknowledge the systemic nature of success and used their platform to uplift others.

The transcription is hard to summarize due to language inconsistency and lack of clear context. However, a few points can be highlighted:

• The speaker talks about the importance of people sharing their own stories, especially those dealing with chronic conditions.
• They believe it’s essential for the broader public to understand the toll these conditions take and dismantling the notion of passive patienthood.
• They talk about the potential for the media industry to work to amplify these voices and provide resources for those experiencing these issues.

In terms of web analytics:

• Apparently, there have been changes to the website, with people’s views shifting over time in response to changing circumstances.
• At one point, they mention responses to a pandemic, but it’s unclear how this ties into the overall talk due to the lack of context.

The speaker’s experiences in 2020 and 2021:

• They discuss their decision to take a break in October 2022, taking a six-month sabbatical to rest and regain their abilities.
• They returned to work in April 2023, albeit not at full potential, but chose to stop writing extensive pieces on the pandemic as they felt they had expressed all they wanted to on the subject.

Due to the challenges posed by the language, it’s hard to provide a more detailed or accurate summary. There are several mentions of various topics like empathy, chronic illnesses, pandemic stresses, work-life balance, and mental health, but the specific roles and thematic progression are challenging to decipher.

Summary of the Transcript

Title: A Personal Journey in Journalism, Birding, And Rediscovery

Main Speaker: The speaker was a former journalist for the Atlantic who is now predominantly involved in birding, photography, and book writing.

Key Points of Discussion:

1. Reasons for Leaving Journalism: Declared discontentment with the current state of journalism and decision to quit, citing the publication of poorly argued articles on sensitive topics as one of the factors.

2. Newfound Joy in Birding: Highlighted the mental health benefits of indulging in activities like birding, nature photography, and focusing on the present.

3. Writing Pursuits: Revealed plans to work on a third book about life at different scales, aiming for a more focused scope rather than numerous simultaneous projects.

4. Detachment From Online Presence: Shared a decision to reduce online presence, preferring to post bird pictures occasionally and largely staying offline; emphasized the role of community in real life rather than virtual spaces.

5. Aid to Long COVID Community: Mentioned starting a birding initiative, the Spoonbill Club, aimed at assisting people suffering from Long COVID to engage in easy outdoor activities.

6. Personal Health and Guilt: Admitted wrestling with guilt about not doing enough, but stressed the importance of self-care after professional success led to personal burnout.

Key Takeaways:

• The speaker expressed disappointment and frustration with journalism and its potential, leading to resignation.
• Birding and being outdoors have considerably improved the speaker’s mental health.
• Emphasizing the importance of personal experiences and community over online presence and parasocial relationships.
• The speaker is now focusing on writing projects, specifically a new book exploring life at different scales.
• Demonstrated an effort to contribute to the community through a birding initiative for individuals with long COVID.

Decisions Made/Follow-Up Tasks:

• Focusing on a new book project.
• Continue running the Spoonbill Club, aimed at helping those with Long-COVID engage in safe outdoor activities.
• Maintain the approach of staying mostly offline and focusing on real-life relations and experiences.

The emotional impact is, admittedly, utterly lost. This isn’t a replacement for actually watching a well-presented talk. But it gives a pretty good idea of what content to expect, provides a reference for later, and lets you know if you should invest the time to watch the whole thing.

It should go without saying, but I don’t represent that this is high-quality code. I literally haven’t even read it. But you’re more than welcome to it.