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ESL forum >
Concerning powerpoints > Presentation Zen?
Presentation Zen?
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SueThom
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Presentation Zen?
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I assume some of you have already read Garr Reynold �s "Presentation Zen". I �d be interested in your thoughts on his ideas in regards to TESOL PowerPoints, handouts, and worksheets, especially.
Do you agree/disagree with his concepts? Have you made any changes to the way you prepare PPTs, etc. for your students? If so, what? If not, why not?
Sue
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11 Jul 2010
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Lindax
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Thank you Sue for bringing up the topic!�I guess Garr Reynold`s Commandments� are worthy of being published here. A lot of teachers would benefit from using them.
1. � � �
1.������
Thou
Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2.������
Thou
Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share
Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3.������
Thou
Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4.������
Thou
Shalt Tell a Story
5.������
Thou
Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Skae of
Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6.������
Thou
Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as
thy Success.
7.������
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.
8.������
Thou
Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9.������
Thou
Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10.��
Thou
Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee
10. � |
11 Jul 2010
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mariamit
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Well, Sue I think he�s both right and wrong. I don �t know if you mean generally, like the ten commandments Inna listed or some of the more specific points he makes. I personally don �t agree with the 1-7-7 rule. INHO, the audience factor plays an important role. Some will need more bullets, for example, some less. What I do agree with is that key points do not need a lot of text. Engaging Presentations should be more visual. For those who haven�t read the book here is a sample
And this is what Reynolds says
�Left The blue slide above was my first attempt to summarize the key points from Dan Pink�s book A Whole New Mind in one slide.
Right The second slide above uses about half the text to summarize the key points in a more engaging, visual way.�
from Garr Reynolds : Presentationzen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. page 123
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11 Jul 2010
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SueThom
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Thank you, Maria and Inna.
Reynolds � "10 Commandments" do seem to make a lot of sense to me (especially as I think about some of the presentations I �ve suffered through over the years as an audience member).
The sample you posted, Maria, probably sums up the key point of his book. (BTW, it �s on page 131 in my copy of the book.) He doesn �t agree with the 1-7-7 rule, either. Just recently in class (I �m working on a master �s in TESOL right now) I was involved in a small group project and listened to the other 3 members of my group give PPT presentations. Each one had multiple lines of text on each slide and I realized that as I was reading them, I wasn �t paying attention to what the presenter was saying at all--I could either read or listen, but not both at the same time. Apparently the research indicates that �s pretty common.
Reynolds proposes that we use more visuals, less text--the presentation is primarily verbal. Then the supporting/detailed info (text, charts, etc.) is given to the audience afterward in the form of a takeaway/handout.
This concept sounds reasonable to me in some ways. However, I �m also a visual learner and making notes during a lecture really helps me remember things. My instructors invariably have tons of text on their PPT slides, so I really like it when they make their PPT available electronically ahead of class. I print it out and then in class I jot down little comments on my hard copy for almost every slide as we work through them. That way I don �t have to write down everything said, just what isn �t already on the slides and seems particularly helpful or pertinent to me.
Some of the PPTs I �ve put up on this website have occasionally had additional info (primarily intended for the teachers) in the notes section of the slides to cut down on the amount of text on the slides themselves. I don �t know if this has proved helpful to others or not.
So, what �s best for ELLs (English Language Learners), I guess, is my main question. What of Reynolds � ideas works in the classroom and what doesn �t? Do these concepts actually help the ELL or not? My teaching experience is minimal and where I did most of my teaching didn �t have PPT capability, so this is a medium with which I �m experimenting and would really appreciate learning from those of you who have been doing it for awhile.
(I LOVE this forum and the capability of hearing from so many of you experts! If we added together all the years of experience of everyone here, can you imagine what that number would be!?!)
Sue
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11 Jul 2010
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