Presentation Skills - Designer
Audience- Centric Design
As an educator, you are likely familiar with designing for an audience, although the audience in your classroom has probably been students. There are some things, like making learning meaningful and designing for a variety of levels of readiness that doesn’t change whether you are designing for students or adults. However, there are other things, like honoring experience and navigating unlearning that may have to happen with an adult audience in a much different way than with a student audience.
Below are some new learning resources and opportunities to practice this essential presentational skill.
Resources for New Learning | Questions for Reflection | Potential Tasks for Skill Development |
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Introverts vs. Extroverts: Tips for Designing and Facilitating by Global Learning Partners Infographic 2018: Instructional Design and Learning Trends by Danny Brennes Teaching- Centered vs. Learning- Centered Infographic by Global Learning Partners Adult Learning Theories Every Instructional Designer Must Know by Karla Guitierrez |
What are some of the major shifts we need to make when planning for adults vs. planning for students? |
Take a look at your plan for your next presentation. Engage in a Tuning Protocol and revise your presentation plan based upon new learning from this section. |
Engaging the Audience
Depending upon which resource you consult, we have somewhere between 7 and 15 seconds to make a first impression. While that isn’t a long time, it is long enough to apply some of the strategies and tips provided within the resources for new learning below. Essentially, it is how we use those seconds vs. how long they last that needs to be our focus. Being intentional about how we use our time and personalizing the content for our audience are keys to engagement.
Below are some new learning resources and opportunities to practice this essential presentational skill.
Resources for New Learning | Questions for Reflection | Potential Tasks for Skill Development |
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How to Engage an Audience Before, During, and After a Presentation by Ian Altman The Importance of Modeling, blog post by Elena Aguilar via EdWeek Beyond PowerPoint: Presentation Tools by Matt D’Angelo 10 Presentation Tools to Win Over Your Audience by Ashutosh KS |
Which is one you might try? How will you know if it had an impact on your audience’s engagement? What were some of your takeaways from the Inc. article by Ian Altman? How does shifting from thinking about a presentation only as time in front of an audience to the before, during and after impact your approach as a presenter? |
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Impact
In The Rules of Evidence, Thomas Guskey encourages us to begin any professional learning endeavor with outcomes. An extension of outcomes is impact. What will be different in the lives of attendees and those they serve because they attended your presentation? Again, as educators, we have experience planning with the end in mind. How does that translate to adult audiences? How might outcomes and your ability to collect evidence of those outcomes differ with an adult audience you may only see for a day or an hour?
Below are some new learning resources and opportunities to practice this essential presentational skill.
Resources for New Learning |
Questions for Reflection | Potential Tasks for Skill Development |
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Donald Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation. Video for additional context The Rules of Evidence. Article by Thomas Guskey Does it Make a Difference? Evaluating Professional Development, Article by Thomas GuskeyTeacher Professional Development Evaluation Guide. Publication by Learning Forward |
What will be different in the lives of attendees and those they serve because they attended your presentation? How does what you are reading about impact and evaluation translate to the intentions of your presentation? Why does maximizing your impact as a presenter matter? How will you know when you are there? What are concrete things you already do to determine the impact your presentation will have on intended outcomes? |
Take a look at the Critical Levels of Professional Development Evaluation in Guskey’s Does it Make a Difference? article. Reflect on the levels you are currently measuring in your presentations. How might you incorporate additional critical levels to maximize your impact as a presenter? Check out page 15 of Learning Forward’s Teacher Professional Development Evaluation Guide. Though it is written as a timeline, identify what types of activities you might borrow and embed within your presentation to increase its impact and longevity. |