As a self-admitted, die hard, Apple fan-boy, it feels a bit strange for me to recommend a talk by the chairman of one of Apple’s biggest rivals. But I respect improvement, and from what I’ve seen of Bill Gates, he is my top pick for Most Improved in the area of presentation skills.

Take a quick look at this image from when he was still running Microsoft:

Bill Gates' presentations used to suffer from poorly designed slides

Not only is that slide horrendous, cluttered, and pretty much incomprehensible, but his delivery was in no way engaging, entertaining, or inspiring. Now take a look at these images from his recent talk at TED 2011 in Monterey, CA.

Bill Gates speaking at TED University 2011

The slides used in this presentation are very well designed, with an attractive and subtle background, one main idea per slide, and no bullet points. Even though the subject of the presentation is about the boring and technical topic of state budgets, the design didn’t suffer the usual fate of dry, stiff presentation.

Not only does he now have great slides, but his delivery was much improved. He appears comfortable on stage, doesn’t fidget or move around unnecessarily, speaks clearly at a comfortable pace, and even uses humor appropriately. Bill Gates has now given 3 talks at TED that I know of, and all of them have been at this caliber. It appears as thought Bill has taken the time to prepare the content of his talks, put forth the effort to design them well (or, more likely, the money to hire someone to design them), and accepted help from a speaking coach.

Slide design and presentation skills aside, this talk is also very relevant to teachers based on it’s content – state budgets and how they affect education. The message is timely and important – we need to pay more attention to state budget and expenditures, because the effect on education is great.

Please take 10 minutes to watch this talk and think about what you can learn from a reformed presenter.

You can watch or download this talk on TED.com

When you have the time, be sure to see the other two TED Talks he has given.

Innovating to Zero

Mosquitos, Malaria, and Education

Today, Prezi announced the winner of its iPad Contest. I am excited by the results, but also slightly concerned.

The contest asked participants to create a Prezi presentation that would answer the question “iPad + Prezi = ?” in an effort to explore the possibilities of using the new Prezi for iPad app. New technology is always exciting and – like many teachers and students – my first thoughts go towards how it can be used in the classroom. I viewed all 7 finalists for the competition and nearly all of them mentioned using Prezi + iPad in some educational setting.

I especially liked Derek Jones’ presentation which explored using Prezi for iPad in various combinations, such as using one iPad to browse various presentations, or using multiple iPads to interact with the teacher’s presentation. Check out this concept from his presentation: While a teacher is lecturing, a question can be shown on the projector screen while the possible answers are shown on the students’ iPad screens. Each student can then respond on their iPad. How awesome is that?!

Concept: Use Prezi + iPad as a quiz & feedback tool in the classroom

While this functionality is not yet possible with Prezi, it is this conceptual thinking that drives technology forward and makes it worthwhile to explore it’s use in the classroom.

The winner, by popular vote, of the Prezi + iPad contest was Will Gibbs, a History teacher in Philadelphia. Will’s presentation also encourages the exploration of using new technologies in the classroom and emphasizes the importance of teachers and private companies in moving forward and revolutionizing the tools available for education. In particular, he mentions the use of tests that haven’t changed in 30 years! While I agree with Will that “there is far too much stagnancy in our educational institutions right now,” his presentation also suggests a viewpoint that I have heard more and more from teachers, that greatly concerns me. Evidently, some people think that using old technology is ridiculous.

I completely disagree that all old technology must die!

There seems to be a fear from some teachers that if they are not using the most current and up to date tools in their classroom that they themselves may become defunct, lose touch with their students, and fail as a teacher. This is not true!

Yes, teachers need to be flexible and willing to try new things as they are available to them, and new technology is one of the greatest ways to get student attention and encourage students to actively participate. But this doesn’t mean that it is ridiculous to use tools such as overheads, chalkboards, and dioramas in the classroom today. Sure, updated versions such as document cameras and whiteboards might be better, and allowing students to create stop-motion film or podcasts are a great alternative. But sometimes paper and pencil are just more effective than handing out 20 iPads for the students to sketch on.

We need to use technology that is proven to be effective, not just technology that is new!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

However, I do have a set of priorities outlined for this blog, one of which is to introduce you to a series of amazing lectures or lecturers that I have come across in my personal experience or that I have found on the web. I hope to show educators that there are alternatives to the monotony of reading PowerPoint slides and that it can be done in the classroom. I will focus on sharing examples of other teachers who have found ways to use slideware or other technology to enhance their teaching and improve their students’ learning.

BYU Professor Lectures on Finance ©2010 BYU Photo

So stay tuned by subscribing to the RSS feed, or visit frequently.

Recently, there has been some discussion among various presentation blogs on the practice of distributing handouts to accompany presentation slides. (Visit Speaking About Presenting or Phil Presents to get caught up and learn some great tips.) This topic goes hand in hand with my own previous posts on slideuments and docuslides, since most presenters create their slides to also serve as a handout (resulting in slideuments), while a few presenters present their documents (resulting in docuslides).

The problem with both slideuments and docuslides is a misunderstanding of how information should be presented. As I have explained before, lectures and presentations primarily utilize oral information with visual supplements. Documents – papers, essays, books, etc. – are primarily textual information. Documents are meant to be information dense, while slides are not.

Let me restate this more transparently:

• If you are presenting a lot of information, non-verbally, create a document.
• If you are presenting orally and want visual aids, create slides.

It really is that simple! If you are e-mailing, mailing, distributing handouts, or otherwise delivering information which will stand on it’s own, it does not make sense to use PowerPoint or other slideware to create the document!

One solution to slideuments is to create both a document and accompanying slides – and it doesn’t take as much work as you might think.

Some time ago I was required to write a final paper and give a presentation on the same topic for my biology class. I chose to research sustainable practices for healthy living. First, I wrote my paper using Apple’s Pages (a word processor similar to Microsoft Word). Once that was complete, I then began to select the important points that I would cover in my presentation. I created a slidedeck using the same titles, images, and order of topics.

Click here to download the full paper: Biology 100 Final Paper

New technologies are always developing that can be useful in the classroom. Over the past couple of years, Prezi started as a small start-up with a unique idea and has developed into a very usable alternative to PowerPoint and Keynote for creating presentations.

Prezi is very different in that, rather than a collection of slides presented in linear fashion, the presenter prepares a canvas that contains all of the material – text, images, even online content – that can be browsed, zoomed, spun, and more. You may be familiar with the idea of mindmapping – starting with a core concept and connecting related ideas in a web-like diagram. Prezi builds on this idea and adds an interactive level.

Where Prezi really shines in the classroom is the ability to show the big picture as well as the finer details.

Recently, the team at Prezi launched a resource called Prezi Explore, a collection of presentations licensed for reuse and adaptation. This is an excellent resource for teachers who can grab a prebuilt presentation on a difficult concept and use it to give a new perspective to their students.

One of the Prezi presentations included in this section explains how Prezi can be used as a teaching tool. Browse through it and see some really great examples of how the tool can be used in the classroom to help students have a better understanding of the topic.

If you like what you see, go ahead and sign up for Prezi – it’s free for the public, plus they offer free upgraded accounts to individuals with a .edu e-mail address.