Presentation Zen Approach
Teaching is ultimately about communication. Think back to your own school experiences: in which classrooms did you "suffer" through teacher lectures, and which ones did you enjoy? If you desire to communicate with more clarity, integrity, beauty, and intelligence, then you must move beyond what is considered to be "normal" to something different and far more effective. The principles to be mindful of through every step of the presentation process are restrain, simplicity, and naturalness. Restraint in preparation. Simplicity in design. Naturalness in delivery. All of which, in the end, lead to greater clarity for teachers and their students.
from Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds (2012)
1. Examine one of the following design magazines: Dwell, HOW, iD, Metropolis, Nest, O Magazine, Print, Real Simple. Then, take a look at the 6 principles of graphic design. What are some good design principles?
2. Go to http://storycorps.org/ and listen to some of the stories on the site. How do the good ones seem to connect with you on an emotional level? What makes for a good story?
3. Go to http://www.iusedtobelieve.com/ and check out modern digital storytelling for a fascinating collection of childhood beliefs. How do humor, nostalgia, and wit enable the speaker to connect with the audience?
4. Examine the use of negative space at http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/ss/negativespace.htm How does this represent the part of the big picture that we overlook?
5. Take the 20-10 Test. Look at your lives, in particular, your work, and ask yourself if you would still do what you are doing now if you had $20 million in the bank or knew that had no more than ten years to live. For instance, if you inherited $20 million, no strings attached, would you spend your days the way you spend them now? If you knew you had at most ten years to live, would you stick with your current employment goal?
6. Play the Cartoon Captions Game. Devise a caption for the following cartoon.
from Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds (2012)
1. Examine one of the following design magazines: Dwell, HOW, iD, Metropolis, Nest, O Magazine, Print, Real Simple. Then, take a look at the 6 principles of graphic design. What are some good design principles?
2. Go to http://storycorps.org/ and listen to some of the stories on the site. How do the good ones seem to connect with you on an emotional level? What makes for a good story?
3. Go to http://www.iusedtobelieve.com/ and check out modern digital storytelling for a fascinating collection of childhood beliefs. How do humor, nostalgia, and wit enable the speaker to connect with the audience?
4. Examine the use of negative space at http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/ss/negativespace.htm How does this represent the part of the big picture that we overlook?
5. Take the 20-10 Test. Look at your lives, in particular, your work, and ask yourself if you would still do what you are doing now if you had $20 million in the bank or knew that had no more than ten years to live. For instance, if you inherited $20 million, no strings attached, would you spend your days the way you spend them now? If you knew you had at most ten years to live, would you stick with your current employment goal?
6. Play the Cartoon Captions Game. Devise a caption for the following cartoon.
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha is a new style of presenting that has specific rules. These rules are designed to foster your creativity by establishing clear parameters for the presentation. Lots of examples of Pecha Kucha exist online, and are a useful resource for those folks seeking to break out of the horrible cycle of mind dulling Powerpoints. While you will probably need to read further to explore and understand this new creative style of presenting, we will follow the guidelines below:
20 slides....20 seconds each. 6 minutes, 40 seconds total.
There are some Do's and Don'ts when it comes to Pecha Kucha. This information comes from the blog, Remixing the Humanities, by Richard Edwards:
Don’t use too much text
- Avoid bullet points
- Avoid reading directly from the slides
- Avoid images that don’t advance your topic or contribute meaningful visual information
- Avoid text-images relations that would take more than 20 seconds to digest (i.e. overly crowded slides will be a blur in a Pecha Kucha, unless you want to intentionally create a sense of “blur”)
- While a consistent slide design is good, avoid most PowerPoint templates. Neutral backgrounds and easy to read sans serif fonts are best.
Here's what you should consider in a good Pecha Kucha:
- Consider your 20 slides as 20 panels in a graphic storyline. How do your 20 “panels” flow together to create a cohesive statement or a consistent through-line.
- Consider the impact of text on your audience – Is there a single word or a short phrase that captures the essence of what you are saying in that 20 second time span? Frequently, a single word can be used metonymically — to “stand in” for your entire 20 seconds of information.
- Consider your images very carefully. In a Pecha Kucha, images are frequently the only information on the entire slide. Yes, visual data is just as valuable as textual data. A well-chosen picture is likely worth a thousand words. Why did you select that image? Did you manipulate an image you found to make it even more compelling and precise? Would it be better if you cropped the image? Is this image easy to substitute for another image? If so, have you truly considered why you selected this image and not the other one? How does this image connect to other images in your slide set?
- Don’t use slide transitions. Use direct cuts from slide to slide. Avoid all dissolves, and clever transitions like “curtains” or “barn doors.”
- Avoid sounds or video clips. There just isn’t time, and these features are just distracting in a Pecha Kucha. Your voice is your sound instrument in this presentation.
- What is your design style? What is connecting these 20 panels? Is there a similar textual strategy? A consistent visual design? Are you playing with or against audience expectations? Have you completely considered the arrangement of these 20 slides? Would your presentation change dramatically if the slide order was reversed, or changed in any way? If so, why did you select the order that you did?
- Rehearse your spoken remarks. 20 seconds is an amazing short period of time. Most students who do not practice end up speed-talking as the slides change over. A good Pecha Kucha is not about talking faster or talking over the wrong slide. Timing is of the essence of a good Pecha Kucha. Practice really helps. You will set the slideshow on automatic advance, so the slide will change in 20 seconds even if you don’t finish your remarks. Think about how your slides and your spoken remarks match up. They are two parts of a whole, and a successful Pecha Kucha is both well designed and well spoken. In many ways, you should consider yourself a performer, and you are attempting to deliver a compelling performance.
To find out more about Pecha Kucha, you'll want to start by exploring the following sites:
http://www.pechakucha.org/
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/challenging-the-presentation-paradigm-in-6-minutes-40-seconds-pecha-kucha/22807
http://remixhumanities.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/pecha-kucha-in-the-classroom-tips-and-strategies-for-better-presentations/
http://avoision.com/pechakucha/guide-to-making-a-pecha-kucha-presentation-slide-design