Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Chapter 4--They Snooze, You Lose_Synopsis
Chapter 3--They Snooze, You Lose_Synopsis
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Chapter 2--They Snooze, You Lose_Synopsis
Chapter 2
Creating slides and handouts
You really have very little time to capture your audience's
attention. This should be easy enough by adding comedy and
silliness to your introduction. The problem for educators is how to add
simultaneously a bit of serious information. Dr. Burmark prescribes
that in order to do this you must stay away from the standard
procedure which includes: 1) The presenter creates a series of slides with
bulleted text; 2) The software automatically transforms the slide into
handouts; and 3) The presenter reads the slides to the audience. She states
that essentially these are all 3 slightly version of the same text information.
Dr. Burmark then organizes the chapter by first concentrating on what should
go on the slides. She believes that the best way is to present images on the
slides and to talk about it so that you you deliver the information through both
the visual and the auditory channel. This leaves the handouts to handle black-
and-white text. She endorses giving your audience a black-and-white sheet,
printed on both sides, in which your audience use as a guide to follow you,
and decide what is important to them, but also given them a URL where
they can get more information on the topics and subjects that you are
discussing in your presentation. She also recommends a policy of No
Electronic Devices during your actual presentation, even though there
is evidence that perhaps newer generations are getting better at multi-
tasking; something she seems extremely skeptical of. She finishes the
chapter by stressing the importance that words are meaningless unless
your audience knows what you are referring to. So thus the importance
of images. At this point she also gives her approving opinion towards a
shift towards what the audience gains as opposed to the expertise and
knowledge of the presenter.
I found Chapter 2 to possess new, useful information
for me. I have never even conceived that slides and handouts could
and should be different; not just regurgitating the same information. In
fact, I highly agree with this concept. I just want to remind myself that
these are recommendations that Dr. Burmark puts forward because
in her informed opinion they will work for the majority of audience
members. In other words, there are exceptions, and I suspect that one
will find those students who are very visual and word-driven. Or
what about those that can completely disconnect to the visual cues of a
presentation and actually pay attention to the words coming out of
the presenter's mouth?