always learning

Waaay back in September, I read the book Presentation Zen, thanks to Jeff (who insisted I read it before designing my presentations for Learning 2.008). Since then I’ve created and delivered six presentations.

After each one, I received compliments about the style and lots of questions about how I found the right pictures. So, I thought I’d share my steps here (apologies to Garr Reynolds for any misinterpretation of his work – this is only meant to be a reflection of how I’ve used his ideas).

Finding Great Pictures: Kim’s Secrets

OK, here’s the deal. It’s not really a secret. I spend a long time looking for pictures.

First, I flesh out my presentation ideas on paper, following Garr’s suggestions. I start with the big picture, then break it down into 3 sections, then each section gets broken down into individual slides that tell a story.

Each image needs to represent an important aspect of this story. So I start thinking about exactly what type (or types) of images will creatively represent each idea and leave a lasting memory for the audience. Something that might resonate with a bigger concept and not just directly represent the words on the screen. Usually I have a few ideas to fall back on if I can’t find one that works within a reasonable amount of time.

Once I have my picture ideas (one for each slide, I seem to usually have around 40 slides), I head to Creative Commons Search to find pictures that have been licensed for sharing (there are tons of other options for searching CC photos, but I like this one the best). If you haven’t heard of Creative Commons, check this out!

On the search bar, I always make sure to check off “Search for works I can modify, adapt or build upon” to ensure that I’m following the licensing for the images I use.

Next, I click on the Flickr tab, and once the pictures have loaded, I click on the “most interesting” link under the number of results found. This will find me the pictures that have been favorited by flickr viewers the most.

And, that’s when the fun begins. I almost always have to look through several pages. I’m looking for images that:

• represent my idea clearly and interestingly
• are creatively shot
• fill the shot so the image can fill the slide
• are properly in or out of focus, depending on what I’m looking for
• provide enough space to write the words I’m planning to show on screen (usually this means a solid background or appropriate depth of field)
• are unique

Once I find the picture I like, I head straight over to that Flickr image page, download the photo and copy and paste the source URL for proper citation at the end of my presentation.

A Few Little Extras

Along with finding the right pictures, I have also found a few other extras that have improved my presentations:

I almost always include at least one video, usually two. Videos are great conversation starters and can give the presentation relevance in the wider world. They’re also a great way to get background information across without having to cover everything yourself. Feel free to check out my video bookmarks too!

I try to provide ample amount for participants to talk to each other. I add a little stop sign image at the bottom of the screen when I plan to ask participants to “turn and talk” so I don’t forget. I always start with one of these talking breaks at the begining of my presentation, usually inspired by an image or short video. I hope this is helping the audience engage with the content instead of just passively watching.

I always provide a wiki with the full presentation, all resources I used to create the presentation, and recommended resources for the teachers to utilize the information presented. I make sure to share this at the very begining of each presentation so that no one feels like they must take notes. I would much rather have people engaged in a dialogue than writing down what I’m saying.

Thanks to (I think) Scott McLeod Dean Shareski (thanks for the correction, Scott), I’ve started using quotes from the Flickr pool: Great Quotes About Learning and Change. What an amazing and powerful resource – talk about inspiring conversation starters!

Update: Thanks to Andrew Churches, I have just discovered another excellent pool of thought provoking images in Will Lion’s photostream on Flickr. Definitely one to bookmark!

And that’s about it! What other strategies or advice do you have for creating eye-popping presentations?

I love conferences. I love spending day after day talking and thinking about learning with people who are as engaged and energized by the time to reflect as I am. I love sharing a common experience that can build momentum to re-think and re-evaluate our daily practice of teaching and learning when we get back to our “day jobs”. Mostly I just love the conversation.

This is what is so special about Learning 2.008 for me. All the unscheduled time set aside for unconference sessions, quiet reflection, or side conversations, allows us to take the time to process what we’re learning right there, in the moment, surround by those we’re learning with. It was an amazing experience last year, and continued to be my favorite part of the conference this year.

And what fabulous conversations we had…

Having the chance to sit, together, face to face, with Julie Lindsay, Jenny Luca, Jess McCollough, Anne Mirschin, Brian Lockwood, Brian Crosby, Alan Levine, Clarence Fischer, Simon May, Susan Sedro, Jabiz Raisdana, Tod Baker, Jeff Plaman, David Jakes, Ann Krembs, Mike Romard, Dave Navis, Chris Smith, David Warlick, Paul MacMahon, Amanda DeCardy, Simon Power, Andy Torres, and of course my partners in crime at ISB: Chrissy Hellyer, Tara Ethridge, Dennis Harter, Chad Bates, and Jeff Utecht, was certainly a recipe for rich and engaging conversations.

Plus, of course, the chance to see my “conference buddies” – those people you always run into at conferences, but may not keep in touch with over the course of the year (because, sadly, they’re not Twittering or blogging or Ninging).

And then there are my favorite people, the people I am meeting for the very first time, but who have been reading my blog or attended one of my sessions and took the time to come up and say hello. It is constantly amazing to me that anything I say here is helpful in any way to anyone else and I just want to say thank you to those of you who read, and who make time to share your thoughts with me.

The conversations started with the first Shanghai Edubloggercon the day before the conference. This was my first edubloggercon ever and I just love the idea of bringing together a small group of engaged learners in a loosely structured environment to talk about their common issues, and to share what’s working well in their schools.

With the conference kick-off that evening, the group of attending edubloggers and twitters continued to grow, and the “formal” presentations and unconference sessions provided excellent fodder for discussion.

A few things that struck me during the conference:

• I’m surprised at my mixed feelings about having everyone with a laptop. I could see so many people twittering, sharing, researching and reflecting, which is what I expected, but I also saw people playing solitaire during the TED Talk style keynotes, and other people playing games or chatting, and not really focusing on the presentations. I know I couldn’t attend any PD session without my laptop because I can type faster than I can hand-write and I need notes to help me reflect on what I’ve learned. But, what about the others? Are they playing games because the content isn’t engaging? Or are they not engaging with the content? I don’t know, but I surprised myself thinking about it.

• During one of Clarence’s sessions an attendee asked the question: “Isn’t it the nature of teenagers to want to be doing something different than what they’re told? The more we try to do what we think they like, aren’t they going to go further and further underground? Is it unrealistic to expect that we can even tap into their interests, because their intrests might simply be the opposite of what they see us doing?” I don’t think there was an answer in the session, but wow, that really got my attention. As a teenager, if my teacher was trying to do something they thought I thought was cool, it most likely was not very cool at all. Is that what I’m doing? Yikes!

• In that same session of Clarence’s there was a student there to set up the recording, but he ended up staying the whole session (not sure why, but he did). At the end, he asked Clarence: “I’ve sat through your whole session and I still don’t understand how the research project my English teacher just made me do is at all relevant to the world I’m going to face when I leave high school. Why do I have to do assignments like this?” Bam! It hit me, here we are talking about them, trying to make our teaching more engaging and relevant for them, trying to help them connect, collaborate and create, but do we ever take the time to explain to them what we’re doing and why? Do we ever ask them if this is what they want? Do we take the time to make our goals transparent to them? Do we ask for their feedback in a meaningful way?

• I happened to mention this to Jabiz just after Clarence’s session was over and he had been having the same thoughts, so he was able to coordinate an unconference session where we could hear from some of the Geek Squad students that were working at the conference. Unfortunately, I had already signed up to lead a session on Presentation Zen, so I missed the face to face interaction, but I’m looking forward to learning what what was said. And I’m going to make a conscious effort to involve them in my planning process from now on. What a wake-up call. I’m not sure how to do it, but I’m not so sure how I can’t after that…

• I was very surprised to see the lack of female presence in the conference. There were no women involved in the organization of the conference (that I could see during the three days there, or during the final closing thank-yous), even the student-run Geek Squad only had one girl, and there were no female keynote presenters (if only Sheryl had been able to make it, but still, that’s a 1:5 ratio). I remember Wes’ post about a year and a half ago about the need for open conversation and diversity (and a list of excellent female bloggers), it was relevant then and continues to be now.

• I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to realize that although there were 6 keynote presenters, they were all on at the same time, during only 3 sessions – so either you had to split each session in half to see each keynote speaker or you were just out of luck and could only see 3 of the 6 fantastic speakers that were brought all the way to the other side of the world to speak with us. (Although I was seriously thankful that my sessions weren’t on at the same time as, say, David Warlick). Of course there are still the unconference sessions, but those weren’t announced until someone thought one up, so if you’re like me and you wanted to actually plan in advance to see all 6 keynoters, it was pretty much impossible.

• I haven’t had a chance to go back through the Ning in detail yet, but I absolutely love how there is one central place to find all of the conference resources. Not only is it incredibly powerful to be able to learn from sessions that I didn’t attend, but I also love being able to see the notes that people took at my presentations. To realize what came across as my main points and to see, first-hand, the ideas that struck a chord with the attendees. Sometimes you don’t realize what the most powerful pieces of your presentation are until you see what others have to say. I will certainly be watching all of Sheryl’s uStreamed sessions, and listening to the many podcasts that were created for about 70% of the sessions.

• Once again, I was struck by the power of the unconference format. Last year I ran two unconference sessions and I remember being concerned that no one would want to come to a session on those topics, and then being so shocked at how many people had the same questions, ideas or inspirations that I did. This year was no exception. For the first time, I used the Presentation Zen approach to design my presentations and was surprised by the number of people that asked for an unconference session about the topic after seeing my slides. Being able to coordinate a session on a topic I know very little about, but then learn from the group is so empowering and authentic. And now, having all those notes on the Ning to go back and read through gives me the opportunity to deepen my understanding whenever I have time – and this session never would have happened if the conference didn’t include these kinds of unscheduled sessions.

David Warlick Podcast Interview with Dear Librarian by CogDogBlog
Learning 2.008 by Julie Lindsay

Woo hoo! Only one week to go before I head out to Shanghai with Chrissy and Tara for the amazing Learning 2.008 conference! Check out the fantastic line-up of presenters:

I’ve basically been looking forward to this conference since the day I left Shanghai last year, so I’m a little bit over excited. I love getting to meet and see my virtual friends face to face, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a long weekend than talking with them (and all the new friends I’m sure I’ll make) about learning in the 21st century.

Plus, I get the added bonus of presenting three sessions (along with my amazing international school colleagues Julie Lindsay, Tod Baker, and of course, Jeff Utecht)!

Thankfully, my presentations are (finally) pretty much finished and ready to go, but I would love to get some feedback. I’ve made an effort to create them with a presentation zen attitude, so they will not be as meaningful without my narration (I definitely need to learn how to create a slidecast next). I can’t believe how different and how much more engaging my slides look with less text and pictures that bleed off the edge – a huge thanks to Jeff for loaning me the book!

Please take a look and let me know what you think:

What do you think? Am I missing anything?