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Presentation Tips
Five Tips for Getting the Word Out
Aug 17th
It seems like just yesterday that school and academic librarians were wrapping up and reflecting on the academic year. Today, schools and colleges are gearing up for the fall semester. With the start of a new year comes a need to get out there and meet the new teachers and faculty members to share the services you can offer, as well as teach a whole new batch of students.
And as tempting as it is to try and get your entire message out there, it’s sometimes easy to give so much information that the audience has a hard time remembering what exactly it was that you were saying. So here are a few tips for maximizing your message:
1. Know your audience
- Knowing your audience means you’re more likely to tell them something that they’ll want to know. Are you talking to freshmen in high school who have never done a research paper before? Perhaps you want to introduce them to a library that’s there to support research needs. Are you teaching college freshmen who have never seen an academic library before? New faculty who completed graduate school at another institution? In each of these cases you’ll want to clarify the roles of your specific library. Likewise, if you’re doing a refresher for returning students or faculty, it makes more sense to focus on new services they might not be aware of and existing services that haven’t traditionally been well marketed.
2. Give them something to do
The academic year kicks off with lots of listening for many people. There are orientation sessions, committee meetings, classes, and countless hours of the day are spent listening to others talk. When you know your audience has been on the receiving end of a lot of informational sessions, it’s nice to give them something to do. If you have access to clickers, even that small level of activity engages the audience and can even be used as a platform for discussion. If you don’t have clickers, you can replicate the interaction with colored sheets of paper or having people stand up or sit down based on their answers. I’ve had great luck using worksheets to guide student note taking. Even the act of reading the worksheet to know what we’ll cover, waiting for the pieces of information to fill in the blanks, and participating in small group activities to complete the worksheet has meant library instruction sessions having a higher level of engagement.
3. Give them something
Even if you pay attention to the characteristics and information needs of your audience, and even if you use good active learning techniques in your presentation, your information can still be lost. When flooded with a lot of new concepts, information, and facts it’s hard to keep everything straight. Giving out your business card or a handout means your audience will have a way to get back in touch with you. Later, when they’re going through all the things they’ve accumulated in these early days of the academic year, seeing the handout or card will trigger their memory to remind them that someone from the library came to tell them something. And sometimes that trigger is enough to get them back through the door (or into the email inbox).
4. Be virtual
Something good to put on that handout (or on your business card… think a sticker with extra information on the back of it) is a URL pointing to more information. If you have a lot for people to learn but you doubt they’ll remember it after they leave the room, giving them a place to find it later can be a good way to make sure they’ll have the information at a point of need. Creating subject guides about library services, in addition to subjects, can be a quick and easy way to put information out there where people can access it later. Make a quick web-based video introducing yourself, and you’ll help them put a face to a name. (And show them how friendly you are in the process!)
5. What’s your number one goal for them to remember?
Any my personal number-one-technique is to have one major point that I want the audience to remember. Most of the time it’s that they can always contact me for further information on the topic, whether that’s how to do women’s studies research, implement a new technology in their teaching, or think about the future of publishing. One of the first things I say in a session is that I’ll be going over a lot, so it’s okay if they forget. The one thing to focus on remembering is how to get in touch with me. When I introduce topics and can see that some people are struggling to keep it all straight in their heads, I say it again. Typically by the end of the session I’ve said it at least a dozen times. Sometimes I hear from people sometimes I don’t, but by the end of a session when I get them chanting “get in touch with you” when I ask “what should you do if you forget what I’m showing you?” I know they are remembering the one piece of information I’ve identified as most useful, and it’ll probably stick around in their heads for a while.
Do you have any tips for getting the word out?
Image Credits:
Free School Child’s Hands Choosing Colored Pencils by Pink Sherbet Photography
A Wedding Present by lechampiondumonde.com
Ghetomundial Youngfolk by d_runk
Lauren Pressley is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. She also blogs at Lauren’s Library Blogs and spends a fair amount of time on Twitter, too.
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Battledecks at ALA: Try this at your next Staff Day!
Jul 1st
The Learning Round Table co-sponsored (along with ALA) a Battledecks competition at ALA, and (perhaps I’m understating this) a good time was had by all. Below is the video to prove it!
Battledecks is a fun improv exercise that challenges contestants to deliver a presentation on the fly using an unknown slidedeck containing random (and often hilarious) slides. The contestants are judged on their ability to create a coherent presentation that incorporates the slide content smoothly. Laughs and getting through all of the slides on time are a plus.
If you think Battledecks looks like fun, consider a competition at your next Staff Development Day. Between contestants, judges, and slidedeck makers, there’s lots of opportunity for involvement—and as you can see from the video below, the audience is pretty involved too!
Direct link to playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=26F1EA6AD67D14D2
A big thanks to Janie Hermann for coordinating the Battledecks event, and to all of our judges and slidemakers! A special thanks to our good friend John LeMasney of 365sketches.org for designing and sharing (through Creative Commons license) a wonderful Battledecks logo!
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5 Things That Make You Look Like a Noob
Jun 1st
This month marks my third anniversary as Training Manager for Gwinnett County Public Library and my fifth year working in training and development. As I prepare for my annual performance evaluation, I always like to clean up my cubicle as a symbol of receiving a new beginning. While I was tidying up the old hole in the wall, I found a notebook of handouts from a train the trainer session I attended five years ago. Alarm bells rang in my head. If I’d unearthed the notebook from the black hole that is my desk, then the dreaded video of my first recorded presentation was somewhere nearby. Surely enough the mini-DVD labeled “PB&J” (I was recorded demonstrating how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to my fellow trainees) was underneath a small hill of forgotten conference swag. I couldn’t resist playing the DVD for a good laugh, and boy did I get a belly full of laughter from watching it. My awkwardly stiff performance on that video forced me to reflect on my first year or so as a trainer. Inspired by some of my worst moments, I present to you: 5 Things That Make You Look Like a Noob – in no particular order.
1. Reading from your notes: Part of the training exercise for planning for my presentation was to write down the necessary steps on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so that an alien could do it alone. When it was time for me to present, I was so nervous to speak in front of the group that I actually carried my notes with me and even read from them a couple of times. Nothing says uncomfortable and unprepared like reading from your presenter’s notes. This is true for webinars as well.
Nothing screams noob louder than appearing unprepared or uncomfortable.
2. Apologizing: I was stoked the very first time I taught a training class at my library. I was leading a four hour session that teaches new employees how to use the library’s ILS. I’d spent the previous week preparing, so that class would be perfect at show time. Things didn’t work the way I’d planned. Due to unplanned maintenance, I was forced to use a test version of a records database instead of the real one. I learned during my session that the database would often give cryptic error messages when certain steps were performed. I was not expecting this, so when one of these messages appeared, I would apologize to the class (and that was a lot of mea culpas!) I’ve since learned that you undermine your credibility as a presenter when you apologize repeatedly. If you say you’re sorry for an inconvenience, do it once and move on. Constant apologies draw more attention to problem and give the impression that you are not in control.
3. Dressing like the rest: The dress code at my library is business casual, and it is not uncommon to see me in the office wearing pressed slacks, a polo shirt, and sensible shoes. Early in my training career, I would teach class wearing my typical work attire. I’m no Tim Gunn, but I did find it problematic that new employees at the library thought I was a trainee and not the trainer based on my appearance. That only had to happen twice before I realized that as a presenter, I should always dress one step above the audience.
4. A long introduction: Most people don’t care about the history of your topic or how Merriam Webster defines it. Classroom time is invaluable, and blowing ten minutes on an inane intro is not a good use of it. Lead into your presentation with a solid opener – something that gets people moving, talking, and most importantly, thinking about the upcoming presentation.
5. Doing all the talking: It feels good to be the center of attention, and it’s one of the reasons why I enjoy my job. As a trainer, I can be an entertainer, motivator, and teacher – someone that people want to hear (or have to hear, depending on the circumstances). Early in my training career, I reveled in the spotlight and loved nothing more than receiving class evaluations with additional comments like, “Jay is so funny!”, or “This class was entertaining. Thanks for the good times.” The problem, I later realized, is that I was unintentionally making myself part of the subject matter, instead of the focusing solely on the learners. It took me a while to recognize the value in talking less and allowing my learners to have more meaningful interaction. If you’re doing more than 60% of the talking in your classroom, then it’s probably time to zip it.
This is only five of dozens of faux pas I’m guilty of committing. What are some noob mistakes that you’ve been guilty of? What advice would you give fledging trainers to save them some embarrassment along the way?
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The TED Commandments
May 13th
The TED Talks promoters send this tablet as a guide for speakers prior to each event. In her TED Talk Amy Tan described the arrival of the TED Commandments as “something that creates a near-death experience; but near-death is good for creativity…”
Used in a broader sense I’m convinced that many of these rules can be applied to almost any talk or presentation, but (of course) would welcome your comments!
Image by Rives, transcribed by Tim Longhurst. Via Garr Reynolds.
- Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
- Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
- Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
- Thou Shalt Tell a Story
- Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
- Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
- Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
- Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
- Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
- Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee
Pressure yourself to keep learning about a topic. I have an Information Overload talk I gave a few years ago, and wouldn’t dream of presenting it again without catching up on the latest theories and contributions to the debate.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with what you’ve already learned. Share not only what you know, but what you’d like it to be. Look at your processes, at what you do every day. If it works for you, it’s quite possible the process is a good one and could be shared, inviting discussion to make it even better.
It’s your topic, your audience. Own them. Your talk may be at a monthly department meeting or national conference, but most likely you’ve got a keen interest in the subject. Show it!
Perhaps you actually are passionate about the topic, even better. Share your excitement as well as your progress.
Involve your audience by giving them someone to empathize with and to make them care. The story might be about yourself or someone else, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s a good tell.
As you catch up, read and get involved on blogs by those you admire within the topic. Commenting on posts is a great way to become engaged with those who care about the same things you do. Also explore dissenting opinions, adding your own if you have them.
No one wants to hear about how wonderful you are because you figured this out, but the different methods you used to get the conclusion. If you’ve learned from your mistakes, someone else will, too.
While I agree that I don’t usually want to hear a sales pitch, I’d take exception to this when appealing for library funding or for my job.
I’ve heard different opinions on humor during talks, but I gave this advice to a staff member just the other day: If you’re going to use humor point it towards yourself. I use self-deprecating humor quite a bit, it seems to somehow relax the audience, especially when teaching technology. Also be careful of humor that may offend someone: I thought about writing this post as if I were Moses and God Himself had delivered the tablets and burning bushes were involved. I reconsidered…probably very wisely.
Worse yet, never turn your back to your audience to read slides. Then again, don’t put so much text on a slide that you’d have to read it at all! Text is for handouts.
Make your talk worthwhile with your passion and your knowledge. Give them one big thing to remember a week later, your chance of retention is better the less you try to put in their heads. Even though some training is repetitive in nature, get them excited, fired up and ready to go use what you’ve taught them!
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9 Reflections on Co-presenting
Apr 27th
I recently had the pleasure of co-presenting a full day preconference with my wife Suzanne. (The workshop, entitled, “What’s Your Style? 9 Paths to Personal and Professional Development” was based on the Enneagram personality System) I’ve co-presented with others many times over the past 15 years and strongly believe that, for a number of reasons, co-presenting can be very beneficial and raise the overall quality of the workshop and the experience of the participants.
For starters, if you are co-developing a workshop as well as co-presenting it (which is common), the quality and organization of the material greatly benefits from a joint perspective. With two brains reviewing the content, errors are reduced and points are clarified. Likewise, the logical sequencing of the content will also be improved. We all know (probably from some amount of bitter experience) that what is crystal clear and logical to us as presenters, is not always so clear to those we present to. The benefits of co-developing a workshop are magnified when presenters have different styles, and if you have a choice I encourage you to find someone most unlike yourself to present with. Be warned that presenting with someone very different can create friction. But you can choose to reframe that friction by reminding yourself often that the differences which cause friction are the same differences which will improve the quality of your presentation.
Based on my very recent experience in co-preparing and co-presenting with someone who had a VERY different style than me, here are nine reflections on co-preparing and co-presenting a full day workshop.
On Preparing
- Play to your strengths: Inevitably, you and your co-presenter will have different strengths. If you don’t know each other well and/or haven’t presented together before, spend some time discussing what each of you does best, and then make an initial plan to divide the duties and tasks based on your strengths.
- Set benchmarks. Assess progress. Reset benchmarks. Working with someone else will generally take more time than working alone. Also, it’s not uncommon for two people to have very different senses about when certain things need to be done. For example, I can be cool as a cucumber even when I haven’t finished writing a talk a day before it’s going to be given. My wife is stressed when she doesn’t have a talk written and practiced two weeks prior. Setting benchmarks for progress and frequently checking in on progress is a useful way to keep everyone’s stress level down, while moving forward on deliverables at an even pace.
- Work separately and together. Schedule Business Meetings. I found great value in coming together with my co-presenter to set goals and deliverables, moving apart to work separately, and then coming back together to review, refine, and integrate each other’s work. Setting regular business meetings, on a calendar, with an agenda of what you would like to accomplish, goes a long way towards creating a high quality, well-sequenced presentation in a way that is manageable, and not overwhelming.
- Have a Full Dress Rehearsal. No matter how good your lesson plan is, you WILL find problems and areas for improvement during a full dress rehearsal. Better to find them during rehearsal then during the actual presentation. ‘Nuff said.
- Mind your version control and coordinate backups. My wife and I used a shared dropbox folder to share all materials. She could see and revise what I was working on and vice-versa. On the off-chance that dropbox disappeared overnight, I also had our home computer backing up to an external hard-drive. When all documents and powerpoints were finalized, I put one complete set of everything on three laptops (two were mine, one was my wife’s) and also put a complete set on two flash drives, one for me and one for her. When we made the inevitable last minute changes, I made sure to update in dropbox and refresh all backup copies accordingly. Being the least detail-oriented person in the world, I’m also the one to overcompensate the most when necessary!
On Presenting
- Set Ground rules with each other. It is possible that you and your co-presenter have different ideas about what is appropriate behavior when one is presenting and the other isn’t. One of the biggest areas of possible conflict involves whether or not it is ok to interject, correct, or otherwise interrupt your partner while they are presenting. One of the great values of co-presenting is that your partner is well-positioned to read the facial expressions and body language of participants and is likely to be more cued in to times when participants are confused, and in need of clarification. For that reason, I encourage everyone that co-presents to open themselves to the interjections of their presenting partners, and allow for a free back-and-forth regardless of who has the floor. Additionally it is good for each presenter to….
- Have complete copies and understanding of each other’s script and materials. Having complete copies of each other’s scripts (and/or outlines, and/or key points) can greatly increase the quality of the presentation for two reasons: 1) It ensures that no highly relevant points are forgotten or glossed over (if they are, your co-presenter can either alert you or interject.) and 2) It frees each presenter up from having to memorize or read excessively directly from notes. It frees us up to make more eye contact, speak more naturally and conversationally, and connect more deeply with the audience, because we know we have a safety net of sorts; our co-presenter won’t let anything important get missed.
- Leave specific timing off of the participant agenda and modify timing/content on the fly. I suppose this could go under “Preparing” too… I highly recommend having a few versions of how the actual presentation can play out–a few different agendas that you share with your co-presenter but not with participants. Additionally, it is good to have additional modules (activities) and content that you don’t necessarily plan to use, but could slot in depending on timing (if you’re running short) or the interest of the participants. When my wife and I recently co-presented, we noted on our private agenda where certain portions could be expanded or moved, and where other modules that we had “in the can” could be inserted. Throughout the day we adjusted our presentation. The participant agenda was worded broadly, and only noted beginning, ending, and lunch times, which allowed us to keep to their agenda while making significant adjustments to ours along the way.
- Restrain yourselves from talking too much. My growth as a presenter over the past few years has been to present less, and facilitate more. When I present, especially when I present on a topic that I’m passionate and knowledgeable about, I want to cram 20 hours of material into 8 hours of workshop. A few years ago Dr. Marie Radford shared some invaluable feedback with me after I guest lectured for her. In a nutshell, she said, “Less is more.” She advised me to cut, cut, cut the material, and spend more time talking with the students and less time talking at them. She suggested I give them the concepts and then invite them to reflect and discuss, and in that way the learning would be grounded in their own experience. So I pass along Marie’s helpful advice, as it becomes doubly tempting with two presenters to, well, present! Be extra mindful to structure your presentation in such a way as to present the key concepts, and then allow the participants to speak, question, reflect, challenge, and discuss — even if that means you don’t cover everything. (That’s what handouts are for! And websites.)
I firmly believe that a co-presented workshop — especially a full-day workshop — has the potential to be better organized, more complete and nuanced, and more engaging than a workshop presented solo. Yes, it’s likely going to be more work for you (if you’re counting the hours and minutes of prep time), but it is also an opportunity for you to learn from someone with a different style, a different knowledge base, and a different viewpoint. Ultimately, preparing and presenting a workshop with another person can be an engaging and rewarding experience for all involved, and I encourage everyone to give it a try!
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