Nov 10
6

Presentation Format

11 Comments

Less than a month until my presentation at NHCMTC and I am beginning to toy with some presentation formats.  I have seen Will Richardson present with just a series of webpages and Chris Lehmann use Keynote (or PowerPoint – doesn’t matter really) with full frame images of students and minimal text.  I have seen too many presentations with slides too full of text and watched Larry Lessig’s TED presentation on copyright where he masterfully crafts a talk using single word slides.  I have seen presentations that use a wiki as a backbone with a multitude of media as support and I loved Dean Shareski’s recent presentation at the k-12 online conference.

As I begin to organize my talk for NHCMTC, I’m wondering what your thoughts are.  I would appreciate your thoughts on the following:

1.  What tools do you think are best for formal presentations?  Worst?

2.  Are there particular presentation styles that you think are better than others?

3.  What resources would you share if someone you knew what crafting a presentation from scratch?

4.  What should I avoid?

5.  What other tips might you have for a presenter?

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Posted in personal Presentation by Tony Baldasaro 11 Comments

11 Responses to "Presentation Format"

  • Cybrary Man - Jerry Blumengarten says:
    November 6, 2010 at 10:52 PM
    Reply

    What is the topic of your presentation? Who are you presenting to?

    You can be unique and not use any technology tools. When I gave the Opening Address for #ntcamp I crafted the address in the form of a lesson plan using no technology. The main point of doing that was to show you have to be able to teach first and then you can embed technology where applicable.

    Of course, I am definitely old school as I used to give a lot of presentations before technology was vogue in the 1970′s and 1980′s.

    If your talk is interesting, includes some humor and practical suggestions you can accomplish it without any technology or the minimal use of it.

    Recently I have given several presentations to teachers using Skype and my website. One session turned into an attempt to stump me which was a lot of fun.

    • Tony Baldasaro says:
      November 7, 2010 at 7:54 AM
      Reply

      Hi Jerry,

      My presentation is about the importance of transparency in leadership and my transformation as a school leader. You can read the session description here.

      Your thought about doing a tech-free talk is intriguing. Two thoughts… first, this will be a technology conference, does that mean I have to use technology? People who will be attending will be expecting technology? Second…this will be my first content/tool specific presentation – the first based on my thinking, writing, experience, etc. Can I carry a talk for an hour without technology? I would be worried about that.

  • Heather Durnin says:
    November 7, 2010 at 7:06 AM
    Reply

    Tony,
    While I’m not sure what your presentation topic is, I hope the following suggestions apply to it.
    #3: I’d share any of my resources or examples that someone wanted to use in an education conference.
    #5: Involved the audience. Show real examples of what you’re talking about.
    This past week, Kevin Jarrett made a presentation on using Skype in the classroom. He literally had someone right there come up and create an account. He also had my students skype into his presentation and talk about the value of skype in their learning.
    Have fun!

    • Tony Baldasaro says:
      November 7, 2010 at 7:58 AM
      Reply

      Hi Heather,

      My presentation is about the importance of transparency in leadership and my transformation as a school leader. You can read the session description here. Thanks for your feedback and sharing your experience of Kevin Jarrett’s presentation. I have been a fan of his from afar for sometime. The idea of skyping someone in, or having a member of the audience open their own Twitter account, thus beginning the journey as a transparent leader is really intriguing.

      I appreciate your feedback – you definitely have given me some possibilities to think about.

  • Anita Goodwin says:
    November 7, 2010 at 7:37 AM
    Reply

    I just attended a technology conference and a power point was okay as long as not to much content and is fast moving, lots of photos, and video clips make it interesting.
    The presentation was kept interesting by giving us time to talk every once in a while on how we would use what was mentioned in the classroom. One person had us up and moving with music breaks every so often which was new. I always like stories to keep me engaged and pacing is a big thing for me. If presenters go to slow I get bored with the presentation. I’m sure you know most of these things already. Good luck with your presentation.

    • Tony Baldasaro says:
      November 7, 2010 at 8:01 AM
      Reply

      Anita. First, thank you.

      Pacing is an interesting thing and often tricky. Many folks want the pace to be slower, some faster – the only thing that dictates pace is the fact that I have 1 hour to present. So, it will be a matter of me determining how much information I want to get out within that hour.

  • Lyn Hilt says:
    November 7, 2010 at 8:14 AM
    Reply

    Presentations that resonate with me tell stories.
    The visuals are powerful. Lots of images with minimal, but striking (in appearance and meaning) text. Tools? I don’t think visually it makes a difference if you use Keynote, Powerpoint, or a Google docs presentation, although if you use Google docs then your audience could access the presentation, thus leading to….
    ….something else I appreciate is when the resources that are referenced in the presentation are made available in one, easy-to-access location. I can devote my full attention to the speaker when I know beforehand that the video we viewed, links the presenter shared, or book/blog referenced have already been compiled.
    Love Heather’s idea about Skyping someone in or connecting live with someone during the presentation!

  • Kimberly Wagner says:
    November 7, 2010 at 9:27 AM
    Reply

    Background…why I am responding/got engaged in your questions:

    I am facilitating a subject-specific sharing session for English on our Nov 15 PD Day, and it will be my first time leading a session. I have requested to have a computer lab with a proxima as I would like to have the participants register to a wiki I created for sharing English links, files and idea within our board. During the session, I am going to get them to each add a resource to experience/try it. Most (possibly all) do not have a PLN online or use tools like blogs, wikis, or social networks, so I’m hoping to get the participants involved in the wiki over the course of the year. I am still struggling with format and creating an engaging introduction. I only have one hour too.

    I’ve been to two tech conferences since August and the best keynote presentations had slides projected that paired with their speaking points. The slides included numerous images, an occasional short video, and only a little text. I’m thinking of using the same format because the slides shouldn’t be overly text filled. If you need a particular visual that doesn’t exist, ie. chart or graph, use one of those sites where you create your own…you can even create a humorous one if you have an idea. (Take a screen shot, bring into paint, and crop to make an image.)

    Creator choices:
    http://creately.com/
    http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx
    http://graphjam.memebase.com/ (I think this is the one I like the most.)

    Avoid overly text filled slides and “ums” and “ahs” while speaking…I hate listening to it, but I also struggle with doing it myself! :-D

  • Melhutch says:
    November 7, 2010 at 12:40 PM
    Reply

    Enjoyed your post and the comments. Unless you feel like you are a wonderful speaker and can keep the crowd engaged for a whole hour (like Michael Wesch), I would mix it up and plan it like a lesson- break it up into parts and demo different parts of tech at different places. And perhaps have no tech for some of it. I would include:
    powerful images with one or no words
    video- of kids perspective on leadership (educators love listening to kids)
    video- perhaps famous movie clips of bad leadership (break the ice)
    Some slides could have powerful questions for the audience to reflect on or turn and talk about (but no heavy text- if you want the audience to read something hand it out!)
    I shared some tweets from my pln and that went down well
    Giving the audience something to do- self reflection/ assessment/ goal setting
    Adults are like children- they like to be engaged, feel the purpose, and can only listen for a limited time- so activities help!

  • Michelle Baldwin says:
    November 7, 2010 at 10:01 PM
    Reply

    I agree with using photos and minimal text with any type of presentation. In the last several presentations I’ve given, I’ve created a wiki or a Google site to share resources with my audience. I think that’s really important, as I know I often refer back to shared resources from presentations I’ve attended, too.

    Are you expected to do a mostly stand and deliver presentation? If not, I would find as many ways to involve your audience as possible. If yes, a backchannel would be a great idea, especially if you have someone in your audience who could help moderate.

    Can’t wait to hear about this!

  • Rachelle Lamoureux says:
    November 7, 2010 at 10:03 PM
    Reply

    The venue of your presentation (ppt, keynote etc) isn’t terribly significant in my opinion. Presenters who are locked to their slides, who can not move around, who can’t seem to separate themselves from the slides are ineffective. I will listen to the presenter if he/she is dynamic, personable and confident. I also believe it isn’t terribly necessary to include lots of text in your preso. The images that you include should enhance the point you are trying to make but not detract from it at the same time. Humor and engagement are very powerful with or without technology.

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