I have really enjoyed the information that is coming from Presentation Zen. Both the video clips and chapters have had some great concepts for making the best presentations that leave a mark. My husband is a guidance counselor at a middle/high school and came home one night this week and during our nightly, "What happened at your school today…" conversation, he told me how his team was going to be giving presentations to the district administrators about what sort of programs they run and set up and what services they provide. I started to share some of the information that we have been learning about in class and how it might be a stronger way to make an impact on the people who, in the end, will have a huge hand in deciding if their work is provides enough value to keep them around. The main points that I shared with him were to reduce the amount of text on their slides so that the audience members listened to them and didn't get stuck reading the slides instead (one of the main points that Garr has been bringing up).
However, as much as I can see this being a really helpful thing for him to apply in his presentations, I am having a hard time seeing how to apply it to the types of "presentations" that I use in my room. When I am making a flipchart to present and practice information, I am thinking about making it as interactive as possible (if that is applicable) and to get straight to the point. It will be an interesting process going through some of my flipcharts to see how to apply some of the things we are learning, but also know that some of them will just have to stay as they are.
I am also really enjoying the Presentation Zen book! I have never really looked at my presentations to make sure they are aesthetically pleasing. I also am trying to make sure I have the right content and that they will keep the kids attention. I agree it is way easier to apply these ideas to a presentation given to adults. I think kids often zone out when adults are talking, but if there is something flashy on the smartboard I might be able to keep their attention.
ReplyDeleteI do think the digital stories will be easy to incorportate in lessons. I am excited to have my kids try them out. I am hoping to do digital stories with their research projects they do on a famous person. Hopefully, it will all go smoothly :-)
Although I work with middle school kids and not elementary, I think these concepts are even more important for those with short attention spans. Students don't want to read a bunch of facts on a board, they are going to be much more interested and engaged if the presentation has these "story telling" qualities. I'm sure that's the way that you deliver the information, so why shouldn't your visuals match the enthusiasm?
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