Engaging Lectures

2. Engaging Lectures This doesn’t have to be an oxymoron!

3. Basic Presentation Skills This advice can apply to ANY type of presentation, including business presentations, conference papers, or university lectures….it’s all show biz.

4. Before You Begin Class Allow some time immediately before class to review, prepare, and chill Make sure that you have prepared roughly twice as much material (doesn’t have to be lecture) and activities as you need for the time available Prepare notes, prompts, etc. as required, but do not EVER plan to READ ANYTHING VERBATIM (this includes PowerPoint Slides)

5. If You Are Nervous During the First Class And you SHOULD be nervous….. Memorize the first couple of sentences…. Find a friendly face to start off with…. Start out speaking louder than is comfortable

6. Dry Mouth/Tight Throat? Don’t drink cold water right before a big speech, it constricts your throat muscles (warm tea/coffee/water) If no liquid is available, chew lightly on your tongue or run your tongue across the back of your teeth.

7. Eye Contact Everyone knows they should do it, few know how Avoid “scanning” Don’t talk to the back wall Begin with a friendly face 5 SECOND RULE (not much longer) Maintain until the end of a phrase or thought Extended eye contact feels awkward, but… It works for rock stars Ask a friend to help practice

8. Where & How To Stand Podiums are EVIL. Talking heads are just plain boring. Use the podium to hold your notes, but get out from behind it. Without a podium, you are exposed from head to toe (check your zipper BEFORE class) Mirrors before class can save major embarrassment

9. Your feet should be shoulder width apart (keeps you from falling). • Don’t lock your knees you might fall over. • Think about annoying body habits of others: • Don’t rock • Don’t pace, but change position as often as is possible • Finger churching and other affectations can be distracting if overdone (eensy weensy spider?) • Hands in pockets is generally not good. • If you tend to play with change in your pockets get rid of it—lose ANYTHING you play with.

10. Ladies, lose the jangly bracelets and earrings, etc. (men too). • If you will tend to play with it, don’t wear it. • Don’t play with yourself…. • Cher hair • Twirly hair • Ear mining • Hand wringing • Fingernail Olympics

11. Vocal Affectations Be conscious of your speech We all use filler words. Be aware of yours. Slow down often… Pauses make you look intelligent, not stupid Checking your notes is normal This does not hold for PowerPoint

12. When Disaster Strikes • Fix the problem immediately. Leave the room if you must. • Laugh at yourself and they will laugh WITH you. This goes for slips of the lip as well. • Ignore it and you will end up with the “giggling in church” syndrome. • At some point in a long lecturing career, you probably WILL fall, be happy it’s over • A little forethought and prevention goes a long way… • Check your zipper • Don’t wear button-up blouses or dangerous heels

13. Question And Answer Time Give 5-10 minutes’ warning the question period is about to begin. No one wants to be first. Put up your hand and wait for an uncomfortable period of time (10 seconds) Have a previous question ready. Repeat the questions, but don’t “twist” them. Share the love (don’t keep answering the “discussion hog”).

14. Hints Specific To Lectures You can never prepare too far in advance Students never tire of personal and professional anecdotes Be organized and help them avoid excessive note-taking (but don’t do all of the work for them) Lecture the material that is appropriate (yes, there really is some). You are the salesperson, not the delivery person

15. Be yourself, they will like you!

16. How NOT to use Powerpoint A reality check on the Power in the Point….

17. What PowerPoint SHOULD NEVER be… Your teaching notes in detail, as you have prepared your lecture…. This is good stuff, but not for projected slides.

18. PowerPoint in the Classroom • Try not to be too cliché • Don’t use PowerPoint to replace your own spontaneous conversation

19. Regarding cilp art • Students get used to seeing the same clip art over and over. • It loses its impact • Watch typoos

20. STRESS AND PERFORMANCE Best when stimulus in mid-range Effective when calm Effective under pressure Negative stress Too much and you'll burn out. Low Performance High Stress can be good or bad. Energizing “Eustress” Dr. Penfield Low Stress level High

21. Sometimes slides can be too busy • You don’t want them more focused on the slide than on what you are saying

22. Too many slides will sabotage your lecture & blow up on you • Don’t use really bad puns

23. Don’t allow the use of PPT to make your presentation style too linear. • i.e. wait, I’ll get to that in a couple of slides.

24. Customize each presentation • Remember that a presentation designed for another purpose may not be appropriate for this target audience

25. Other Issues • NEVER dim the lights • Don’t put too much/too detailed information on your slides. Your verbal presentation should NEVER be reading your slides. • Don’t put a lot of reading on a slide and wait for students to read it. • Slides with no words are great • If your whole presentation is on your power point slides, in full detail, and you post them on the web, and you don’t add anything, why would students come to class? • No more than one slide every two to three minutes (I prefer every 5) • Walk completely away from the screen and the presentation once in awhile, to assure that the focus is on you. • NEVER run the presentation automatically. • Learn how to design your own template. Students are really tired of the old ones. • Make your slides outlines, and hand out copies of them ahead to gain full attention, but don’t have enough on them that they can take them away and go to the bar. • Personally, I find detailed table of contents slides annoying and time consuming (but this is more in presentations than classes, I think). • Most importantly, think about what bores and what engages you!!

26. Eye Contact Rules • Don’t spend your time looking, with amazement, at the screen, or with confusion at the computer • Look at the students

27. Be absolutely prepared to give your whole lecture without PPT

28. Powerpoint is not the only tool! • You can always use Visualisers (document cameras to display all kinds of things that you don’t have digitized for Powerpoint • Your students don’t expect your presentation to be slick and seamless! Genuine and human always works well.