Session 4 was held from 2:00pm - 2:45pm.
Five concurrent events were held during Session 4.
1. Seven Types of Presentations: A Demo, and PowerPoint Visual Vocabulary Demo: Don Campbell
3. PowerPoint is Tyranny: Monoblog --> Dialog. Jay Cross
4. Hub, Spoke, Web Presentations: How Can We Get There? Heyward Robinson
Problem: Current presentation tools are limiting. They only provide a linear presentation structure. We are forced to make difficult choices about the level of detail/complexity of a presentation. Much of this un-conference is focused on this tension. I see this as a false choice. Browsers solved this problem long ago. We all use html everyday to navigate through a mix of high level and detailed information. Why can we not have this available in our presentations?
The current presentation tools include html elements, but they are inadequate. The most glaring deficiency is the lack of a true "back" or undo function. Powerpoint has a back key, but repeated clicking puts you into an infinite loop instead of taking you back down your path. The back key is the most important feature of a browser. It is what allows us to explore without fear that we will somehow become lost. Its a security blanket. Can we get someone to build a presentation tool with a real back function?
I wonder how a hub and spoke format could change presentations? Would our presentations become "cleaner" and "higher level" because we we can link to the details when necessary but do not have to clutter up the main slides? Will presentations become "free-form", more like demos than traditional presentations, allowing the presenter to be more interactive with the audience and to mold the presentation to the feedback he or she receives? Would this tool allow us to quickly organize our information (instead of having to create a set of web pages)? Could we create one presentation that we could use for multiple audiences with varying levels of sophistication?
5. Biz on Facebook, LinkedIn: What's the Protocol?
6. Improv and Theatre Games with Frank... from The Henderson Group
Vocalization games as warm up: "Red Leather Yellow Leather" repeat continuously, slowly, with as much exaggerated articulation in the mouth muscles as possible, then accelerating. (We learned another funny sequence to repeat but I forgot it...) This is a good warm up to do just before having to make a presentation. Gets face muscles loosened and warmed up, as well as vocal chords, and your own personal comfort in hearing your voice being projected.
Played improv games that give you practice in thinking on your feet, trusting your instincts, shortening your reaction time, helping you to feel comfortable to move through space, using your full body to express your ideas, not just words. We played 1) a mirrored-gesture-vocalization passing game, 2) sentence-building game, 3) give-and-take stoy-building game.
Shared our greatest fears/concerns about performing while presenting, which included not having the right stories to share across generations, facing large audience numbers, fizzled punch-line delivery, or overcoming seemingly uninterested audience members (like at a staff meeting where some people have their noses buried in a laptop).
(Notes by Linda Chang)
