CED0530 Week Three

Reading Chapter Six of Presentation Zen has made me aware of how much design thought is really put into Reynolds' presentations. Nothing is done by accident. I spend some time reflecting on the use of the big four principles within my current presentations.

1. Contrast- I've tried to use contrast between the background color and font color but that's really as far as it went.

2. Repetition - I've used repetition through choosing a background template. I hadn't considered using a unifying element such as the red note and paperclip in the example presentation.

3. Alignment - I've used alignment with text, either centered or right justified. Easy but boring.

4. Proximity - I believe that I've used good proximity, but I definitely wasn't thinking consciencely about it at the time.

My presentations could stand to have a lot of improvement.

CED 0530 Week 2

This week I went to a DPI meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to make us aware of new changes to the Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES) state reporting that is done every year by school districts in Wisconsin. There are four reports and it takes about 2 1/2 months to complete the reporting.

The presenter is an expert in the field and is well known by those who are responsible for this type of reporting. The presenter used Power Point to deliver her presentation. As I observed the presentation I considered all that I'm learning about Presentation Zen.

How could the presentation be more reflective of the principles proposed by the book? I have to admit that I'm skeptical that the presenter could do it anyway other way than she did. Her slides had 4-6 bullet points on each slide and there were certainly more than 6 words per slide on them although she did write her information with an "economy of words" as Ed Begley Jr. has said. The handouts were copies of the slides and there were no graphics. Although I do think that most of my presentations could greatly benefits from the Zen principals, I'm not convinced that these are easily applied to a technical discussion when state statute is sometimes referred to. I certainly cannot image choosing a graphic of an ocean view to enhance a slide about state discipline reporting.

I then turned my attention to the "stickiness" principals. Here is how I've related then to the state reporting presentation:

1. Simplicity - Hard to do when discussing state reporting. If the state required that it be reported on - then it's important.

2. Unexpectedness - My expectations were definitely violated. Always need to adjust to new requirements.

3. Concreteness - Natural speech was used as well as good humor.

4. Credibility - It's DPI therefore it's credible

5. Emotions - Many emotions came through me as I listened - I vacillated between bouts of despair, relief, and even hope.

6. Stories - the presenter did tell stories to accompany her presentation. They helped to give history and meaning to the presentation.

CED0530 Week 1

I could sit and look at the pictures in our Presentation Zen book for hours. I'm tried to pare down a lot of extraneous things in my life right now so this book really fits in well for me. It makes me think of that old adage of"'keep it simple stupid." I'm also rethinking how I put presentations together and the process that I use to create them. Reynolds encourages readers to "plan analog." I admit that I design my presentations right in the slideware. Next time I'll try Reynolds' suggestion and plan it on paper first.

I think many people design their presentations as documents like I do. I recently reviewed a presentation by a well known educational speaker that was more than 140 slides. Right off the bat I was a little put off. While the message was valuable, I'm not sure that that many slides were needed. Many of them were inspirational quotes. They were nice, but I'm not sure that the contributed enough to be vital to the communication.

The article "Research points the finger at PowerPoint" made an impression on me. I am interested in learning more about the cognitive load theory. Is this why people's eyes glaze over during presentations? What are the implications for how information is presented to students? I think it would be interesting to explore.