Articles: Preparation - 6 views
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Start with the end in mind
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kbelland21 on 09 Jul 14I think this is really important. Looking at what we want our students to learn at the end of a lesson is the beginning of lesson planning. Looking at the end goal is the start of presentation planning.
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Patty Harrell on 14 Jul 14Yes. What is the outcome. Currently, we ask: What do I want students to know? and we also have to ask: How will I know they got it? In other words, what measuring tool will be used. This can indeed impact your story and the number of "big ideas" you choose to include.
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Evan Abbey on 20 Jul 14This makes sense for teachers, since we think this way for educational objectives. But for other speakers, this might be a more novel idea.
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pattyharris123 on 31 Jul 14Even outside of education, Evan, we should be thinking of the end - what are we trying to accomplish or get across? Otherwise, the presentation would just be a mess....LOL
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nettiemarie on 03 Aug 14I think this only makes sense you need to know what you what your students to know in the end and work backwards
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Who is the audience?
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Exactly. I never have the same class from semester to semester. Students with different interests, abilities, and backgrounds.
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Most of the time, my audience members have been teachers. (I have been an elementary principal.) My teachers want to focus more on getting papers graded, "side barring", and working on plans than listening. (Yes, they have been a challenge.) I need to really hit them with something catchy in order to get their attention! Teachers are hard to deal with. :) (Been there, done that. LOL)
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If your audience could remember only three things about your presentation,what would you want it to be?
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whiteboard in my office to sketch out my ideas
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This is another great idea. I am a very visual person. This would help me better prepare myself for the presentation.
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I think sticky notes will work well for me as I like to be able to move things around. I do this with students as a class activity and it works well. I think it will work for the planning stage too.
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audience to remember your content, then find a way to make it more relevant and memorable by strengthening your core message with good, short, stories or examples.
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contrast is one of the most fundamental and important elements to include.
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Do not fall into the trap of thinking that in order for your audience to understand anything, you must tell them everything. Which brings us to the idea of simplicity.
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I know I do this often. It's a balancing act to figure out what the primary point of each lesson and yet also provide enough background for students to know the why. I want them to be able to talk about the evidence-base. It's important to recognize that the why can be done in a simple way.
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I do this as well. Sometimes I need to let the background information come out as I'm talking and adjust if I feel I need to tell more as I find out their understanding. Sometimes I give them way too much information when they would understand better if I kept it simple.
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I draw sample images that I can use to support a particular point, say, a pie chart here, a photo there, perhaps a line graph in this section and so on
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In the past I have planned my words first and the visuals were added later to break up my words. So I wasn't really looking at the presentation as a whole. This is definitely a new and better way of planning!
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This seems like it would be second nature to me, but I need to include more of this. I use lots of visual examples, but this is different...using visuals to make points (rather than lots of bullets of information).
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so what
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In a story, you not only weave a lot of information into the telling but you also arouse your listener’s emotion and energy,” he says.
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udiences tend to forget lists and bullet points, but stories come naturally to us;
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I know stories work when I see students use the stories or examples when they answer essay exam questions! The story makes the concept stick.
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Bullet points only make us think we need to take notes and memorize. We rush to get them all down and don't pay attention to what is being said. Stories help us remember!
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I often find that with bullets, now that most people will send you the outline or hand it to you, that I just start making a to-do list with (look over this later) as one of them!
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Some times I think bullets get a bad rap with Garr. I like them in many situations. But, they tend to be a crutch more than a tool in presentations.
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Kamishibai is a form of visual and participatory storytelling that combines the use of hand-drawn visuals with the engaging narration of a live presenter. K
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Force yourself to use no font smaller than thirty points.
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ten concepts in a meeting—
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a simple sentence on the back of a business card. Try it. Can you crystallize the essence of your presentation content and write it on the back of a business card?
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10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.
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If you can’t really answer that question, then cut that bit of content out of your talk.
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authentic. His stories were from his heart and from his gut, not from a memorized script.
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The biggest element a story has, then, is conflict.
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Humans are predisposed to remembering experiences in the narrative form
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to involve people at the deepest level you need to tell stories
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we do not need to memorize a story that has meaning to us. If it is real, then it is in us.
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ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points
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a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting
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find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That’s your optimal font size.
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The biggest element a story has, then, is conflict. Conflict is dramatic. At its core, story is about a conflict between our expectations
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It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.
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What are their backgrounds? How much background information about your topic can you assume they bring to the presentation?
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I suggest you start your planning in “analog mode.” That is, rather than diving right into PowerPoint (or Keynote), the best presenters often scratch out their ideas and objectives with a pen and paper.
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I don't usually do this but have started on my final presentation in "analog mode" and it seems to be a lot more efficient so far. I'm not very far along though but I do feel in the end I will feel like starting with paper and pencil will have been a great help with planning.
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I never have considered this before, seems like it would be helpful in organizing ideas.
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I can't over- emphasize how important this is for me. It might be just me, but it does help get my thoughts out there and then see how they connect.
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After all, the audience could always just read your book (or article, handout, etc.)
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Why don't students just read the book? Our job in presenting is to answer that specific question. The tough part is figuring out the why for each student.
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This is such a solid point! When I go into a class or a presentation, I want to know that I am there getting authentic, tailored-to-fit instruction that I couldn't find elsewhere. This is what keeps the audience interested. I unfortunately know too many college students that would learn how a teacher lectures and from there decide whether or not they would need to show up through the semester in order to pass the class. As a presenter, you should always be indespensible.
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Thomas, I liked the way you framed this. To a certain extent, the information we need to learn is prevalent in this informational age. In a way, teaching = presentation
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Why were you asked to speak?
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The best presenters illustrate their points with the use of stories
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If you must use more than ten slides to explain your business, you probably don’t have a business
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What is the purpose of the event?
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Understanding your purpose for presenting can be very crucial. I was recently at a technology and literacy conference in Chicago. I went to the conference to collect strategies and network with other teachers for ideas. I also knew going into the conference that all of the presenters would inspire and motivate me as a teacher. This is what I was most looking forward to even though it wasn't part of the description for what the conference was about. Knowing how your purpose aligns with your audience's purpose is key.
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always volunteer to go first or last, by the way
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This is interesting. I would love to know what the research is behind this tip. I am guessing it is because those are some of the most memorable presentations. When you get caught in the middle, I imagine the audience's focus isn't as high.
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Haven't seen any research in this regards. From personal experience, these are often the places where the audience is the most attentive (first) or most likely to remember your message (last). It is the same logic we (our family) use when performing for martial arts competitions... the judges remember the first or the last one the best.
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interesting, clear beginnings; provocative, engaging content in the middle; and a clear conclusion
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This is good to remember for what kind of stories we want in presentations. Stories are meant to capture the audience, serve a puropose towards our cause within the middle, and serve as a point while concluding the story.
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I like this too. Stories are not synonymous with "fiction", but rather with "narrative".
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people are not inspired to act on reason alone
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It may be cool, but is it important or help your story in a very important way…or is it fluff?
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There is a fine balance sometimes working with 14-year-olds. Often, "fluff" draws them into the content - it seems that the "fluff" may have a place in what you say but not on the slide itself.
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Heather, this is a good point. I think teachers are much better at this than other public speakers, and Garr is probably talking to non-teachers here. Teachers have quite a bit of expertise at telling a story and connecting it to the relevant point of the lesson. Maybe the only "danger zone" for teachers is spending too much time on the anecdote, but that is not a very often situation.
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Identify the problem. (This could be a problem, for example, that your product solves.) Identify causes of the problem. (Give actual examples of the conflict surrounding the problem.) Show how and why you solved the problem. (This is where you provide resolution to the conflict.)
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and to know how to explain them well
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People prefer to present only the rosy (and boring) picture
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Twenty minutes. You should give your ten slides in twenty minutes.
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I think 20 minutes is appropriate for a pitch, not necessarily for a class period. That said, we wouldn't spend an entire class period on one point.
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True. I think his general audience for this book is sales pitch presenters. Probably the better way of thinking about this is that spend 20 minutes presenting the info in the class, and the other 20 minutes is interspersed q&a with student, checking for understanding, handling classroom management, etc.
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What is the essence of your message? This is the ultimate question you need to ask yourself during the preparation of your presentation.
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too much information into the talk without making the effort to make the information or data applicable to the members of the audience
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EXERCISE
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As I prepare my thoughts for my final presentation (which is what I'm currently working on for beginning of the school year) I think to myself: which three big ideas to I want to convey about Office 365 to all K-12 staff. My initial thoughts are 1) communication and collaboration, 2) access, and 3) simplicity.
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No software to get in my way
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I struggle with where to begin. If the software is easy, and not used for the final presentation -- like evernote or onenote, or a mind mapping program, I like to begin there. I like using my whiteboard, but it limits my access to my thoughts--unless I take a picture I suppose, but I prefer either OneNote in O365, or an engineers notepad to layout and organize--along with some stickies!
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“sell” your message in 30-45 seconds
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Rambling streams of consciousness will not get it done; audiences need to hear (and see) your points illustrated.
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ctually rehearsed with an actual computer and projector
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engage the audience
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It is true that the presentation would have been even better if the slides had been better designed and used properly, but in this particular case, the CEO gave a powerful and memorable presentation in spite of those shortcomings. Trust me, this is very rare in the world of CEO presentations. There are four essential reasons for his success that night: (1) He knew his material inside and out, and he knew what he wanted to say. (2) He stood front and center and spoke in a real, down-to-earth language that was conversational yet passionate. (3) He did not let technical glitches get in his way. When they occurred, he moved forward without missing a beat, never losing his engagement with the audience. (4) He used real, sometimes humorous, anecdotes to illustrate his points, and all his stories were supremely poignant and relevant, supporting his core message.
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What is the real purpose of your talk? Why is it that you were asked to speak? What does the audience expect? In your opinion, what are the most important parts of your topic for the audience to take away from your, say, 50-minute presentation?
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A data dump
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If you took the time in the first step to outline your ideas and set them up in a logical fashion, then your thinking should be very clear.
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The more you are on top of your material the less nervous you will be