mrkitchin.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • History
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014/2015
  • About
  • Home
  • Blog
  • History
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2014/2015
  • About

"I know you probably can't see this at the back" - why most presentations you see in school are terrible...

20/5/2017

0 Comments

 
...and 5 things you can do about it - if it's you delivering the next one!

I would be willing to bet you have been to a staff meeting, INSET or some other form of training where the hapless presenter has uttered the immortal words 'I know you probably can't see this at the back', or similar. Indeed I have more than likely been that hapless presenter myself, in the past. But it doesn't have to be that way.  Because remember if you're using PowerPoint or Slides, you're giving a presentation, you're not giving a document.  We can also teach our children this as well - then maybe that phrase "sorry you won't be able to see this, but..." will die out...?!

Here are my 5 tips to follow, whatever presentation method you're using:
Picture
Aim for say, 15 words on a slide. This will be one point you are making.  Providing 6 or 7 bullet points means the audience is just going to read the entire slide ahead of you, as you're still talking about your first point.  This way you can also avoid those transitions, which often only serve to distract from what you're saying anyway.
Picture
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous tip.  Be brave and make those (up to) fifteen words fill the slide.  Are people going to complain that the text is too big? Probably - you're in a school(!) - but that's better than not seeing it at the back, surely?  Also remember they called it PowerPOINT  for a reason - not Powerparagraph! 
Picture
Rather than another sentence or bullet point, put up an image that relates to your point. As mentioned, you're giving a presentation, not a document, so your audience is more likely to listen to you as the image will be there to just support what you're saying. 
Picture
Instead of just putting up a graph from Excel/Sheets etc and muttering the immortal phrase from this blog post's title, do some number crunching and pick out the headlines - why are you showing the graph? A few slides of the important key facts will keep your audience interested and alert.  Have the graph up there initially if you must, but move on to your next slides with your main points as soon as you can. 
Picture
As well as being a useful aide-memoire for yourself (what do I say when the picture of the panda comes up...?!) having speaker notes will be useful for anyone who needs to access your presentation who couldn't make your meeting or training.  A presentation, unlike a document, is exactly that, a tool to augment what you're saying, so it's going to stand to sense it might not make the most sense than if you gave them the old-fashioned document-style presentation.

If you're interested in the finer points of PowerPoint/Slides design, check out 'You Suck at PowerPoint' - an irreverent guide to this subject. It's pretty old now (2010) but the points are still relevant today.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @jpkitchin

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    October 2020
    May 2020
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    Add-ons
    Animation
    Behaviour
    Chrome
    Classroom Management
    Coding
    Digital Leaders
    Extensions
    Gafe
    Google
    Google Calendar
    Google Docs
    Gsuite
    Hopscotch
    Ipad
    IWB Tips
    Keyboarding Skills
    Mozilla
    Online Portfolios
    Online Safety
    Online Tools
    Password
    Presentations
    Primary
    Shortcuts
    Typing Skills
    Video
    Youtube

    RSS Feed


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.