i’m playing with new wordpress templates so you might see a few changes over the next little while (unless you are just getting the feed from this site, in which case, welcome to same-old, same-old).
lemme know if you love/hate any of the changes.
it’s getting to that time of year when MLIS students are spending more time working on their CVs and cover letters than on their coursework (note: get’er done guys). one aspect of the interview will certainly be a presentation (which can vary in length – i’ve heard of 5 minute quickies to 60 minute instructional sessions). and while some of you may wonder why a librarian would have to be good at presentations, i certainly hope that those of you coming out of LIS schools realize just how often you will have to speak, with persuasion and conviction, in your day-to-day in a library. if you’re not presenting an idea to your committee colleagues, then you are doing an introduction to library resources for new students, or helping PhD students navigate the depths of various databases.
there have recently been a number of good posts on presentation preparation and techniques, so i thought i’d share’em here.
the awesome Ryan Deschamps has a killer post on “doing a 15 presentation in 10 easy steps“. these 10 steps are broken down into 3 categories:
the equally awesome Iris Jastram thinks about how active learning principles have a place in some presentation, while others will need another angle to keep the audience engaged.
Rochelle Mazar (yay Canadialand) pointed me to the video “How to create a great powerpoint – Take 2.0“. i totally agree with Rochelle that the 60 second intro is awesome and i will definitely use it for my next presentation.
and finally, if you really want to work on your presenting skills, why not attend Pres4Lib: A presentation camp for speakers/trainers? they are going to have BATTLE DECKS!!!
the Emerging Tech Interest Group of CLA (which i co-convene with the truly awesome Amanda Etches-Johnson) is hosting a library-camp-style pre-conference at CLA in May (in the best city on earth – Montréal).
Jessamyn West (yes THE Jessamyn West of librarian.net) will kick-off our day with a keynote on emerging technologies, followed by two sessions on using these technologies in your library. The afternoon will be an “unconference”, where participants will share and learn on a variety of topics pre-determined by the group. (Note: this is not a “sage on the stage” afternoon – come armed with a curious nature and a will to participate.)
Speaker: Jessamyn West, librarian.net
Date & Location: Friday, 29 May 2009 @ Palais des congrès
Registration Fee: $100.00
Registration Includes: Two refreshments breaks and lunch
this will be at least nine kinds of fun!
register here and add your session ideas to the camp wiki.
