6340: Week 5 Making Connections

Making Connections

Making the abstract concrete

Burmark (2011) discusses two opposing teaching techniques usually known as inductive and deductive reasoning. Depending on the circumstances, either method may apply, but she believes the teacher should always go from the concrete to the abstract when introducing fresh material. I have had a methodology for years that I espouse for teaching the uninitiated audience. My technique is called “Going from the familiar to the unfamiliar” to introduce abstract concepts. We both seem to agree on this point, but use different words to express it.

Building on prior knowledge

The classroom teacher has the advantage of building a knowledge base before moving on. A presenter only has one shot to get their point across. Because of the limited time framework, the presenter has only one chance to get through. They must use activities to engage the audience from the start. Burmark (2011) discusses nebulous images, humor, sequencing events and digital flashcards with opposing words as possibilities. I am an image learner and for years have benefited from the consumption and production of cartoons, sketches, or simple maps to etch the broad overview of a new development into the learner’s mind.

10:2 take a break

In an educational setting time must be allotted for adsorption and processing of new material. Gimmer Elementary School uses a style of cyclical sessions with 10 minutes of teaching, followed by 2 minutes of pause time. It is an overlooked process, even by professional presenters. My favorite examples are the insurance company advertisements that digitally remove all pauses and speed up the word rate. They leave the mind fully scrambled without any pauses, an extreme opposite of the 10:2 procedures.

Compare and contrast

One of her favorite ways of introducing new concepts is by visually comparing and contrasting side-by-side pictures. This idea is a generalization of an earlier concept that she presents using simple flashcards. I have not personally used this technique, but I can see its application in limited circumstances.

Everybody knows your name

Burmark (2011) explores a couple of ways to help retain the names of students in large classes. She mentions photo expansion of name and face and using Wordle to create a character model of the student. While definitely advantageous and courteous in school situations, it also readily lends itself to large venue gatherings, also.

Physical distance

It is indispensable to connect with the audience and nothing is more glaring than the physical distance from the front row to the speaker. I frequently, and jokingly, use a scale like this for measuring meeting success. I have noticed that if a corporate officer is presenting, the room back fills. If a comedian is presenting, the room front fills. You can usually pre-judge the way a speech will turn out by taking an empty row count.

References

Burmark, L. (2011). Making Connections. In They snooze, you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations (pp. 69-92). San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Copyright rev.3

Copyright rev3

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Revision History:
Rev 0.3          02/12/2012
The mention of Howard Marzano made me bump into Tony Buzan and mindmapping graphical tools. I added one mindmap to my presentation in the slide on Copyright choices. I was able to find a CC picture and added it with attribution. I explored Powerpoint a little deeper to graphically enhance my presentation with a Venn diagram and a different bullet style on one slide. Overall, rev 0.3 is more spatial in nature, as that is the learning style that works best for me. So hopefully it will be a better presentation
style for my use, also.

Rev 0.2            02/05/2012
Re-released under a new title name – “Copyright”.
I changed my favorite background, the default blue one, to a lesser used, but equally appealing blue and gray background. I reduced my word count from an average of 36 per slide to 27 per slide by taking out extraneous material. I added the US government copyright seal as a graphic to amplify that copyright is a law. I yellow highlighted nearly one word per line. I think this help focus and retention. I changed the name of the presentation from “Building Creative Expression” to “Copyright”. I left justified the page title headers. They seem to command faster attention as a left to right flow per Burmark.

Finally, I took the liberty of making my Reference citations a larger font size than the standard APA 12 point so the audience can read the citations from the back of the room.

 

Rev 0.1            01/27/2012
First Release. Released as “Building Creative Expression”.

Chapter 4 - Rising CHIMES2

They snooze, you lose: Chapter 4 – Rising CHIMES²

In today’s modern information flow, speed of presentation is one of the key factors in engaging the audience. Your ideas must be presented efficiently to maintain the audience’s attention and make the presentation stick. The form of the presenter’s dress is important, which is ironically one of Job’s tips from chapter three. An effective presentation will usually have a hook included to hold interest. The hook may be in the form of music, humor, images, emotion or stories. Susan Boyle’s hook was the juxtaposition between her appearance and the quality of her singing. It caught the world off guard and immediately garnished a lot of attention for her. Perhaps the most important element of an excellent presentation is to make a connection with the audience. Even if the presentation is efficient and has the right hook, it must still be presented with a smile and good dose of enthusiasm.

References

Burmark, L. (2011). Rising CHIMES². In They snooze, you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations (pp. 61-68). San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Newell, L, (2012). Week 4 - Diiging and Flick-r-ing. Retrieved from: http://butleratutb.pbworks.com/w/page/50572376/Week%204%20-%20Diiging%20and%20Flick-r-ing%20%28Sp2012%29

Chapter 3 - Celebrating Presenters

They snooze, you lose: Chapter 3 – Celebrating Presenters

In chapter three, Burmark (2011) focuses on successful presentation delivery. She discusses major styles like the lecturer, the entertainer and the motivational speaker. Taking the best concepts from all three styles and combining them, results in a fourth category called the educator. Steve Jobs has ten tips in relation to educational speaking which include fine tuning the physical nature of the presentation. The presentation can be customized to the audience’s learning style by utilizing Howard Gardner’s eight multiple intelligence measures.

Burmark (2011) successfully advances styles of presentation. She generally draws upon lucid examples from the film and entertainment industry, which helps to bring her points to light. Ferris Bueller’s teacher is an outstanding representation of a mind numbing lecturer. Billy Graham, on the other hand was able execute the lecturer style to great success by engaging his audience with short entertaining sermons.

The entertainer’s style is not so much to engage the audience as it is to disengage them from their normal awareness and put them in a dangling state of mind. From my standpoint, the most popular and profitable entertainers are very good at presentations in this style.

The companies I have worked in the past have all brought in paid motivational speakers to cover topics such as time management and innovation. Generally, I have been considerably mesmerized by the power of these presenters. The better ones quickly induce a state of deep reflection that prevails even after the presentation is over. As a learner, this style is highly successful with me.

Burmark (2011) brought Steve Job’s ten presentations tips to my mind and while they all make sense after hearing them, not all of them are widely used in everyday presentations. The one that caught my attention the most was – pause for effect. It’s a minute, but underused strategy. Jobs talent is referred to as the educator category, a style that is grounded in helping the audience retain information.

A good presenter, regardless of style, will continually be tapping into multiple intelligences in their presentations. Howard Gardner explains the multiple intelligences by acknowledging that students learn in many different ways. I fall into a mix of linguistic and spatial intelligences. I think and learn well from images, but don’t do very well with videos, preferring instead to read.

References

Burmark, L. (2011). Celebrating presenters. In They snooze, you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations (pp. 43-57). San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Newell, L, (2012). Week 4 - Diiging and Flick-r-ing. Retrieved from: http://butleratutb.pbworks.com/w/page/50572376/Week%204%20-%20Diiging%20and%20Flick-r-ing%20%28Sp2012%29

They snooze, you lose, Ch.2

They snooze, you lose: Chapter 2 - Creating slides and handouts

In chapter two, Burmark (2011) elaborates on the usability of Web presentations, handouts and slides. Typical scenarios of creating a presentation with slides, handouts, then a narration is ineffective and boring. The three elements of the scenario are not the root of the problem. The problem lies in making all three elements identical and therefore redundant. Instead, the three elements should be interconnected and complementary. The purpose of slides is to present what is not available in handouts – full color. The best way to further knowledge is to include text and pictures in the slides. The handout, a different medium, has to complement the slide. It is a necessary written document and should be handed out. It should not be introduced as a link on the Web. To prevent the audience from taking needless comprehensive notes, the handouts contain all references to books, websites and other resources mentioned in the talk. Accompanying the references, the handout needs words for each picture shown in the presentation slides. Linking a picture with some words solidifies learning. The picture quickly becomes prior knowledge and proceeds to transform the unknown words into the comprehensible.

My thoughts: Burmark (2011) has several good ideas to perfect a Powerpoint presentation. The most powerful idea is to put in writing all of the important reference data, so the audience isn’t scrambling to jot it down on the sidelines of their handouts. It is also of extreme importance that the oral presentation augment the slide not just repeat it. It’s actually the only way to reduce the number of words on the slide. If done this way, the slide becomes an anchor to bring the listener back to the topic on hand if they get lost in the details of the talking.

References

Burmark, L. (2011). Creating slides and handouts. In They snooze, you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations (pp. 25-41). San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Newell, L, (2012). Week 3 - Blogging and Boxing (Sp2012) Retrieved from: http://butleratutb.pbworks.com/w/page/50304232/Week%203%20-%20Blogging%20and%20Boxing%20%28Sp2012%29

They snooze, you lose, Ch.1

They snooze, you lose: Chapter 1

Chapter one of “They snooze, you lose” is an exposition on the current practices in educational Powerpoint presentations. Due to heavy reuse of templates and overuse of words, many modern Powerpoint presentations reduce influential presentations to the mundane. The problem is not with Powerpoint itself, but with the proper use of the tool. A myriad of adjustments prevail to enhance existing presentations to boost their usefulness as a learning tool. The proper choice of templates defines the overall quality of the presentation and the must complement the content and not conflict with it. We read from left to right in English, so the work must accommodate this flow.

Because color enhances learning and retention, it is essential that the presenter have a grounded understanding of color theory. Yellow, for instance draws attention the fastest and is valuable for overall text and highlighting key points. A background color must not reduce the readability and visual contrast of the material. Generally, blues and greens have a calming effect, and are prime choices for the background color and provide good contrast with white or yellow text.

The writer should carefully consider not going overboard on font types. Two fonts, one serif and one non-serif with widely spaced character kerning are ideal such as Times New Roman and Arial. The presenter must consider a work that has fewer than 40 words per slide and is readable in less than 3 seconds, such as a billboard. Font size dictates legibility at the back of the room and interacts with the number of words available. Using fewer than 40 words allows an adequate font size.

I have been a witness to way too many of these boring presentations. My biggest disagreement is using 12 point font and showing an Excel graph of company progress. My second biggest complaint is having the presenter reading the slide, which I can do just fine myself. I long ago discovered the value of color. It is more than amazing in that in can capture and actually create a mood. Choosing wisely puts the audience in a mood of receptiveness. When I first learned what a font was, I embarked upon a mission of amassing as many as I could. After gathering many hundreds of them, I realized that it looks silly and cartoonish to use many fonts in one work. The idea of making a slide as readable as a billboard is a new concept to me. I find it quite compelling and a challenge to implement.

References

Burmark, L. (2011). Creating slides and handouts. In They snooze, you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations (pp. 25-41). San Francisco, CA: Josey Bass.

Newell, L, (2012). Week 3 - Blogging and Boxing (Sp2012) Retrieved from: http://butleratutb.pbworks.com/w/page/50304232/Week%203%20-%20Blogging%20and%20Boxing%20%28Sp2012%29

Copyright rev2

Copyright Rev.   

View more PowerPoint from richardofaustin


Copyright by Richard Wilson

Revision History:

Rev 0.2            02/05/2012
Re-released under a new title name – “Copyright”.
I changed my favorite background, the default blue one, to a lesser used, but equally appealing blue and gray background. I reduced my word count from an average of 36 per slide to 27 per slide by taking out extraneous material. I added the US government copyright seal as a graphic to amplify that copyright is a law. I yellow highlighted nearly one word per line. I think this help focus and retention. I changed the name of the presentation from “Building Creative Expression” to “Copyright”. I left justified the page title headers. They seem to command faster attention as a left to right flow per Burmark.

Finally, I took the liberty of making my Reference citations a larger font size than the standard APA 12 point so the audience can read the citations from the back of the room.

Rev 0.1            01/27/2012
First Release. Released as “Building Creative Expression”.