Talk:Submissions/Presentation clinic
Original proposal
- Country of origin
- USA
- Affiliation
- E-mail address
- psayers
ucdavis.edu
- Personal homepage or blog
- Abstract
- Detailed proposal
please feel free to edit here or on the talk page
This is a proposal for a pre-conference workshop, NOT a formal talk. It should not appear in the conference proceedings.
I am proposing an informal, hands-on presentation clinic at Wikimania 2013, where experienced presenters can review slides and coach presenters in their delivery. Presenting well is a difficult and learned skill, and it is doubly challenging when you present in a second or third language rather than your mother tongue.
Proposed format: We will have an interactive panel + audience discussion of between 20-30 minutes, focusing on the basics of presenting, including: stage presence; breath and voice control; using slides and slide design; and how to leave enough time for questions. I will lead the discussion and will gather some experienced presenters to offer their insights on best practices and tips. The remainder of the time will be spent on one-on-one (or maybe many-to-many?) coaching -- we can take a look at your slides, and will invite presenters to give the first few minutes of their talk and give feedback on delivery (bring your slides or talk!). If there is interest we may also discuss best practices for Wikimedia-specific presentations. I am also hoping that even experienced presenters will be able to learn tips from each other.
NOTE: This idea is not fully formed! I am submitting it now to gather community feedback, to see if there is interest in this kind of informal workshop, and gather suggestions (for instance: is there more interest in individual coaching or in round-table style discussion? What's the best format for coaching sessions? etc.) Please comment on the talk page or below if this seems like a good idea, and if you have suggestions. Also, if you'd be interested in participating as a coach or participant, please indicate that!
- Track
- WikiCulture and Community
- Length of presentation/talk
- 1-2 hours+, depending on attendance
- Language of presentation/talk
- English
- Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
- of course :)
- Slides or further information (optional)
- My qualifications: I've given ~20+ talks on Wikipedia over the years; I teach classes regularly as a part of my job, and I am a confident and practiced presenter. I will also draw on my conference-organizer and university contacts to gather best practices -- this type of session is common at large technical conferences, and I will borrow format and content advice from those venues.
- Special requests
- pre-conference (Wednesday). Lunch break or evenings OK. I will work with you on scheduling if this is accepted as I am not yet sure of the meeting schedule.
Exercise ideas
(n.b.: notes for myself) -- Phoebe (talk) 05:42, 20 April 2013 (UTC)
- introductions as delivery practice: "I'm here to talk about"
- reading a slide vs. audience reading time (in a couple languages?)
- breath exercises -- singing v standing
- voice as megaphone: directionality
- table (e.g. stats) vs graph (e.g. report card)
- slides as prompts - a middle ground between Lessig and the rest of us
- how to be classy reading notecards
comments
This session will only be useful if people want it to happen: would love your feedback.
Practice
The hugest difference, for me, is the difference between practicing a presentation 0 times and practicing it at least once. It's infinity difference. So pairing people up to practice their presentations at least other is, to me, an essential part of this session. I'm happy to help. Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 16:26, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
- Practicing answering questions is another good exercise. I like to ask presenters: "what questions do you think the audience will have?" and then get them to practice answering that question a couple of times. This also sometimes leads them to just include that information in their presentations! Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 16:38, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
- Yes, this is great. I agree about the practice. I'm going to start working on a schedule.
Medium, message, and audience
One useful tip: think about audience, message (what are you trying to get across?) and medium -- sometimes if the speaker is unsure about one of them ("what should I try to tell them about [idea or experience]?" or "should I use slides or just tell a story?") then remembering the other two aspects helps. Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 16:33, 8 May 2013 (UTC) Diagramming some good talks along those lines might help. Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 16:33, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
Timing and what to skip
Here's something novice presenters often have trouble with -- when their presentation is running long, how to appropriately skip or summarize the rest of the presentation? Is it okay to just skip the question-and-answer session? Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 16:37, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
"whiteboard clinic"
http://www.mattringel.com/2013/05/05/whiteboard-introduction/ has some interesting ideas. Sharihareswara (WMF) (talk) 18:43, 10 May 2013 (UTC)