Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?

I’m doing it again, but this time for our staff. My last presentation was given to a group of pre-service teachers about the value of lecturing in today’s classroom.

Next up is a professional development for some current teachers in my building. This one won’t focus so generally on the practice of “lecturing,” rather it will more specifically address how to use (or, more appropriately, not use) slides. I’m going to include some tidbits on design and on using images to communicate your message. In my daily perusal of 43Folders I stumbled upon a wonderful blog post by Darren Barefoot that touches on the intersection of theater class and presentation skills. Darren gives some excellent advice about the most critical part of a presentation:

Slides are Your Costumes, Lighting and Set, Not Your Speech. Your slides exist to reinforce the things you’re saying, not the other way around. Like your clothes, they provide context and framing for your message. As such, I almost always eschew bullet points for a single word or phrase per slide, accompanied by lots of photos. An overly complicated set will distract an audience, and so will overly busy slides.

Good stuff. I wasn’t a thespian in high school, but I think Mr. Barefoot makes some excellent points. With so much focus on slide design, it’s important to remember that what you’re saying and how you’re saying it bear serious consideration as well.