Preparing a conference talk via adactio

An thoughtful writeup behind how Jeremy prepares for his conference talks. I like this part about how even a plain text file, which seems open-ended, still enforces a certain kind of linear constraint, whereas a blank sheet of paper and a pencil is truly more open-ended:

I used to do this mind-mapping step by opening a text file and dumping my thoughts into it. I told myself that they were in no particular order, but because a text file reads left to right and top to bottom, they are in an order, whether I intended it or not. By using a big sheet of paper, I can genuinely get things down in a disconnected way (and later, I can literally start drawing connections).