This is one of the first presentations I created by following the simplicity guidelines. I hope to update this one soon with info about iWork '08 and iLife '08 – especially the new version of iMovie.

Documentation with iLife and iWork Slides
PDF, 10.5 MB

Documentation with iLife and iWork Handout
PDF, 13.3 MB

Tags: materials, my talks

In the spirit of continuing to "give it away," here are some slides and a handout for a talk I've given about working with various children in classrooms who are branded with some specific labels. The talk specifically covers autism, ADHD, bullying, and bipolar disorder, but the handout branches out into some broader interventions.

Looking Beyond Labels Slides
PDF, 9.9 MB

Looking Beyond Labels Handout
PDF, 64 kb

Tags: my talks, materials

It's been a long time since I've had any of my own materials up on this site, and I'm going to work on correcting that in the coming weeks. For starters, here are my slides and handout from my Simply Presentation talk.

Simply Presentation Slides
PDF, 14.4 MB

Simply Presentation Handout
PDF, 12.8 MB

Tags: my talks, materials

ICE 2008 is over, and, save the correction I posted yesterday, everything went fairly smoothly. There was some confusion over the room in which I was supposed to present, but the ICE staff was very helpful and friendly in sorting that out!

I needed to have taken a picture of the schedule outside my assigned location. David Pogue was scheduled to give a talk in that same room earlier in the day!

The Talk

Both the delivery and the technology went well yesterday. I was speaking on a raised stage area, so I had to remain conscious of my footing to avoid literally breaking my leg (which a friend of mine had suggested I do idiomatically wishing me luck)! Also, a piano was on the stage with me, so I felt required to play it some before my talk began.

I was tickled by something I said incorrectly during the presentation. Intending to say, "Creating an outline on your slides is fine if you are teaching high school freshmen how to take notes," I accidentally substituted the word "fremen" for "freshmen." In truth, if you find yourself in a room full of high school fremen, I suggest you run before they claim your water for the tribe!

Miscellany

I attended some good presentations – including a couple by David Pogue I might write about later. The exhibitor floor was pretty sparse with Microsoft's booth being the only one that stood out in any way. Apple's booth was virtually nonexistent this year.


points for popcorn!

While in the exhibitors hall, I snagged a copy of Mr. Pogue's Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual, and he autographed it for me! I had a couple more chances to talk to Mr. Pogue throughout the day, and I found him incredibly friendly and approachable. I find it hard to believe that people write disparaging stuff about him on their blogs!


memorabilia! whee!

My friend Mary had a table set up along the back of the hall, documenting a technology success story. She was featuring composer trading cards her children had made using Microsoft Publisher. It was a great idea, and I might end up using it in my classroom later this year! (By the way, Mary's my music teacher hero.)


I'll trade you a Dvořák and a Copeland for a Mozart!

Finally, I will leave you with this odd piece of artwork outside the Indiana Convention Center. I can't find any info about it at the moment, but it looks like two adults dancing atop a pile of money in front of a poor child (not visible in the picture). If you know the story behind the sculpture, let me know!


just rub it in, why don't you?

That's all for this year's trip to ICE. I'll keep you posted if any other interesting opportunities come my way!

Tags: my talks, david pogue

If you were at my session at the ICE conference this Friday, I referenced an article about creativity in response to an audience member's question. As it turns out, I had the title of the article completely wrong! It's a two part article by Garr Reynolds, and you can find both parts by clicking the links below.

Presentation Zen: You are creative (who the %$#@! says you're not?)

Presentation Zen: You are creative (part 2)

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can get back to some regularly scheduled blogging!

Tags: my talks

Just a head's up that I'll be presenting at the Indiana Computer Educators conference again this year. This time around, I'm showcasing the content of this site in a talk titled Simply Presentation. I'll be speaking from 2:00-2:45 in the Wabash Ballroom #2 of the Indiana Convention Center on Friday, January 25.

Here's the description from the ICE booklet:

In a world full of cookie-cutter PowerPoints, bullet-filled slides, and buzzword-laden speeches, you have the potential to find your own voice and shine as a presenter. Come examine an alternate method to preparing traditional presentations that uses simplicity to communicate more deeply. Use the tools you are already comfortable with, and take your talks to the next level. Present Differently. Present Simply.

If you are attending ICE, stop by to see me!

Tags: my talks

So ICE 2007 was this week, and my presentation finished almost two hours ago as I type this. This is my second year in a row being accepted as a speaker at ICE, and I love the experience. Hopefully, next year will make three! This year's talk was very different from last year's. Whereas my ICE 2006 material was very concrete and software-centered, this talk on video games and how they positively reinforce the gamer was much more abstract. It really wasn't a presentation about using technology in the classroom as much as it was a look at how we can apply the principles of motivation and positive reinforcement in our classrooms. I just happened to use technology as the core of how these ideas were presented.

The Good

Presentation Zen: Once more, I have to give a shout-out to this site for being such a great resource. Interestingly, before the talk began, I had the opportunity to converse with a couple of audience members about the approach this site advocates.

Keynote: For the few slides I used, Keynote worked flawlessly, and I'm glad I didn't have to worry about the software-end of the presentaiton. In relation to Keynote, using the Apple Remote was nice for controlling the slides. I seldom had to actually touch my computer during the presentation. The only issue here was that I kept missing the line-of-sight needed for the remote to work correctly, but practice will correct that. (Come on, Apple, make a Bluetooth version of this remote!)

My audience: My audience was very fun and conversational for the most part (except that one guy who sat with his arms crossed the whole time). They responded well when asked for feedback, and they just genuinely seemed like a neat group. The crowd was smaller this year according to my count of leftover handouts, but they made up for it in personality. There were a couple of ladies off to my left who were especially participatory and enthusiastic. (Here's a big shout-out to coworker Ange who came to see my talk!)

The ICE crew: These guys were extremely helpful and accommodating. I couldn't have asked for better support than they gave!

The presentation itself: Things were fairly glitch-free again (save one projector issue). The video games demoed well on the projector, and now I want that big of a screen for home gaming! Overall, I felt I rolled with the flow well. I only had to consult my notes once, and I really think the majority of my audience related to the points I was driving at. Somehow, a participant comment about how "dumb" a game seemed was even spun into a good point. Pacing flowed pretty well, and the talk concluded exactly on time. (Actually, at the time, I thought we had gotten done early, but I quickly realized my error.)

The Bad

The projector: Right off, we discovered the projector had a bad cord. Fortunately, a couple of support individuals there fixed that quickly. Still, the bulb was not as strong as I'd have liked, and we had to dim the lights. I don't like dimming if it can be avoided. Also, the projected image was too dark, and this made it difficult to effectively demo one of the games I brought. I had thought about borrowing a friend's projector, and, in retrospect, I probably should have. Fortunately, even if the projector had not worked, I felt pretty comfortable presenting naked.

Carrying stuff: I completely wore my arms out lugging equipment around. The speakers alone were quite heavy and awkward. Fortunately again, the ICE crew came through and carted my stuff back to the entrance for me. Regardless, I need to get two things before I do a talk like this again. First, buy a smaller set of good-quality speakers. Second, I need to find or replace the strap to my laptop bag.

Fatigue: I was nowhere near 100% when I gave the talk, and this resulted in a few moments of rambling and repeating myself. I knew how crazy this week was going to be, and I needed to have afforded myself more time upfront so I could have been better rested by today.

Learning Experiences

• I promised more dialog and really didn't deliver on that. Either I need to track my time better or avoid making promises I don't know I can keep.
  
  
• Again, I don't feel I practiced enough, but I'm getting closer.
  
  
• I'm still addicted to reflections on my slides. I think its a condition.
  
  
• I need to remain aware of my position in relation to the computer, so the slides advance when I press the remote.

Conclusion

I hope my audience was enriched by this experience as much as I was. Overall things went very well, and most of those elements that could have been problems were resolved. I'm glad to have been a part of this, and I'm excited about giving this talk again for my colleagues next month. You can check out the slides and handout on the My Presentations section of this site if you would like to.

Tags: my talks

My proposal for ICE 2007 has been accepted! My session is called "Video Games, Positive Reinforcement, and Your Brain." I'll be posting a temporary page here on my site about the session in coming weeks. ICE 2006 was a great experience, and (if you can't tell) I'm pretty excited about this opportunity!

Wish me luck!

Tags: my talks

So ICE 2006 has come and gone. I have to admit that being a presenter this year created for a very different experience than when I would just go as a normal attendee. Overall, the experience was a positive one, and I look forward to participating in similar opportunities in the future.

The Good

Presentation Zen: This site has been a major influence on my presentation style and slide organization. I have to give props to this site for being such a great resource.

iLife and Keynote: These applications have a great following in education and for good reason: they are simple to use and produce great results. The very fact that the word "iLife" was in my session title probably helped bring in a good group.

My Audience: They were attentive, and they asked great questions. A couple of questions encouraged some on-the-spot experimentation, and I ended up learning some new things about iLife and iWork as a result. (For example, did you know you could drop PDF documents into a Keynote slide to have them appear as graphics? Way cool!)

My Coworkers: Though none attended my session, other staff members and the administration at my school were very supportive and encouraging.

The Presentation Itself: There were no unexpected glitches during the session (save a CD that wouldn't import into iTunes because it was badly scratched). Keynote ran beautifully, and the demonstration was free of unexpected errors.

The Bad

The Apple Store Keystone: Yes, they came through in the end, but they were rude and aloof toward my wife. Apple, if you want new customers, your retail staff has to provide a better shopping experience for average people, not a similar experience to other computer stores.

Laptop Woes: I was ironing out technology kinks up to the day before the presentation. Way too stressful.

Learning Experiences

• Out of 39 slides, I had only 4 with any bullets. That was still too many. By the fourth iApp bullet list, things were getting way redundant.
  
  
• I needed to gab less and demo more. The demo felt like a slight afterthought. I also needed to have practiced the demonstration portion more.
  
  
• I am currently addicted to reflections. I'm sure I'l get over it eventually.
  
  
• An interactive QuickTime movie did not work well in sharing this project on the web. There was no progress indicator, and Firefox didn't seem to like it at all.

Conclusion

Again, things went well overall, and I'm looking forward to presenting again in the future. I have a lot to learn in improving my presentation skills, but this experience made for a good step in the right direction. Hopefully, more experiences will crop up in the near future.

Tags: my talks