Presentation Week

Last week was presentation week for my class. They had to formally present the term paper they had been working on for the last 6 weeks. I knew they were able public speakers because I had been informally 'testing' them on this concept for weeks and I was amazed at how each of them (even those who are so shy they wouldn't yell if they were on fire) performed the task so competently. I asked if they were taught public speaking in China - and yes, getting up in front of your class starts in grade 1, getting up in front of the school starts in grade 4.
So with this in mind, and the fact that all of these students are applying to the Faculty of Business, I told them my criteria for presenting would be fairly advanced. If you don't know Power Point, then a) you better learn it, and b) it would not be considered as an excuse to not have a visually appealing presentation. They had a SMART class at their disposal, so they could use the internet, utube, project handouts etc. - anything to catch their audience's attention.

Most of you know that I have done a lot of public speaking in my day - both informally, and in front of crowds of over a hundred - so I am not all that easily impressed. I thought I would be in for hours of "um's" and "ah's" as nervous students held sweaty cue cards and looked at the floor. Boy was I wrong. Their presentations kicked ass.

Two come to mind that I wanted to share with you. First was a L. He did his presentation on some of the causes and effects of climate change. Up until now, it had been your run-of-the-mill Power Points with all of the predictable visual effects - swirling text, sound effects, bullet points that screech to a stop - distracting stuff that was once de rigeur. However, L used software from China I am not familar with (he is locating and sending me a link for an English version) that was simply spectacular. He made it snow over his text while talking about inclimate weather. Imagine little piles of snow gently accumulating at the bottom of the screen. During the portion discussing tsunami's, he had a huge wave wash away the text. But it was the rain that was truly breath-taking. Somehow, he managed to give the rain a 3D effect that was so cool - and the thunder and lightning were awesome. I was also impressed that these effects didn't take away from the content of his presentation. His hard work was evident and, best of all, after he finished he told me how much fun he had making and presenting it. I told him he should consider a career in animation.

Following L was J - a girl for whom I have a special fondness. She got up and stood in front of the class and all she had in her hand was a black marker. "Uh oh," I thought. Poor J had to follow L's presentation and the bar was already set fairly high before that. Then, she turned her back to the class (which you should never do in public speaking, that is what PP is for) and started speaking. She gave her presentation in the form of a story (once upon a time and the whole bit), and while she was talking, she was drawing on the board. J's topic was logging practices in BC, and while she spoke she started drawing tiny circles. Soon those circles became rings and then she added lines until it was apparent she was drawing timber. Under the timber, she drew a flat bed truck. Eventually the truck was on a road, hauling the timber down a mountain. I don't know if you have ever seen a competent artist draw before, but the speed and precision with which she drew was incredible. Slowly, a beautiful scene emerged on the board - an impromptu process map of BC's logging industry. It was, without doubt, the best presentation I have ever seen. And coming from GE, that's saying something. Her voice rang clear and confident. She didn't look at her notes, for there were no notes - and her presentation wasn't memorized either. She made the audience gasp and clap with delight as her illustrations came to light. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it. All with a black marker.

My inbox is full of thank you's and comments that I was so patient and so kind and how they will never forget the things I taught them. These things I take with a grain of salt, excellence in teaching is something I have seen a lot of at the U of A - professors who truly care about their subject matter and the role they play in society (which is a pinnacle one, in case you didn't know). But today, as I sit here and write, their marks due in a few short hours, I am truly amazed at how much I am indebted to them.