Saturday, October 24, 2015

The Big Presentation


So I just finished my presentation at FallCUE. Unfortunately, I'm super disappointed in myself. I forgot my watch to tell time in the car, I didn't cut out enough from the hour and a half session down to the hour session, and noticed I that a lot of people walked out without by best and favorite resources. I was super bummed after my session, but I feel like I learned a lot.

I didn't think I was nervous...that was until my voice cracked and I had absolutely no saliva in my mouth at all. Seriously. At. All. I settled in, but it took me a while. I'm sure some people didn't notice, but if you know me, then you would have totally noticed.
I got good feedback on my energy at the end and someone said it was the best session they went to all day.  However, that person also stayed the entire time and got the whole session. I don't know how people felt that didn't stay the whole time. About half left with 10 minutes left. I totally get it. I did it in other sessions to make sure that I had a seat in one the next session. I just need to remember to have my presentation end early 10 minutes and that allows them to fill out the eval in that time (or leave and fill it out while they wait for the next session they go to).

I simply didn't shorten down my presentation enough and am really bummed out because I expect more from myself and know that I can do better. If I would have deleted the Google Forms and Flubaroo section from my presentation. That way I would have been able to really touch more on the games, we would have had an opportunity to play some of the games (only 2 people played one game in front of everyone), and there would have been time to fill out the evaluation, hand out resources, and I think it would have gone better overall.

I am pretty bummed out, but I need to remember that this is my second time presenting. I will get better. I know that. It's just kinda hard walking away disappointed in yourself.

This isn't going to make me stop presenting. However, I just need to make sure that I really get down the amount of material down correctly and maybe I will even reformat the layout and switch the order. Once again, I just have to remember that I am learning and growing as a speaker, it's just really hard to remember that at the moment.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Getting Jazzed!


Who is presenting at Fall Cue? 
This girl!
Who's ready to rock the house?
This girl!
Who is super excited?
You guessed it...
This girl!


Presenting, Networking, Learning, Growing!  I can't wait!
Fall Cue...HERE I COME!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Marketing

How does one go about marketing their presentation so that people come to their session at the conference over going to others?

Here are my ideas:
  • Tweet like crazy the day before and that day using the conference hashtag
  • Make a movie trailer-like short clip for my session...if there is time (I highly doubt there will be at this point, but would really like to!) "In a world, where students hate math....imagine games, apps, and tools to not only make it fun, but educational and at their own learning level..."
  • Put up a few signs at the conference (It that appropriate? It is frowned upon?) 

  • Network (that's a given though)
  • Provide a fire breather outside my session? Nah, Nevermind....I'd have to pay them

  • Just hope for the best?
What ideas might you have?



Revise, Edit, and Repeat

Alright, so I have been doing quite a bit of reflecting on the last presentation. I have looked at what worked, what I need to cut because this presentation is 30 minutes shorter, and how to make it better. I have updated my website to try to make it look more professional...



I have also combined one of the forms I have them fill out and plan to skim over one area that I didn't speak about so eloquently last time. I need to be more specific on that area, but can speak less about it. My presentation is on Saturday and I am pretty nervous for this one since I haven't had much time to practice since my last presentation a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

First Presentation Down!



My first conference presentation is done and I left feeling pretty good. I got positive feedback as people were leaving which made me feel pretty good.  This picture (and the others) came from people who attended my session and tweeted about it. 














It started off with a pretty good turnout apparently, based on what one of the members of the board told me (about 15-20 people).

I think the candy on the tables for them set the mood. I mean, who doesn't love chocolate, right?







Luckily, I was able to borrow some mini-iPads from my school to use and so they got to actually play the games together. I also brought my iPad and two people volunteered to play a math fact game against each other. It was pretty awesome! After they volunteered, they sat down in the hot seats and that's when I told them winner gets a Starbucks card. Talk about "Game on!" My phone projector app wasn't working so we crowded around to see.




I felt good leaving, but there were a few hiccups that I think I'll change for my presentation in October. Some things I just need to explain better, but others I might need to reformat. There were definite things that I plan to keep and the duel of the math facts was definitely one of them!
I ended the session with having everyone play each other on some of the apps I presented on with the mini iPads. That was also a definite keep! I'm not sure when the feedback from the CUE Conference comes in, but I'm dying to see it so I know what they thought and what to keep and what to toss. 

It seems like it was kind of collaborative (I'm not sure if people already knew each other or if they were just willing to share more after I had them turn and talk.) It was pretty cool to see though! 


Overall, I felt like it was great experience for me. It was great to hear different ways that I never thought of of how people might use things that I am using in my class. It was also just really fun! First one down in the books! 



Saturday, September 19, 2015

Gaming

So for our homework I first went straight to World of Warcraft. I know this is an exciting and collaborative game. I was excited to try it.
Here's what I got...

Needless to say, I was super bummed! I tried deleting a TON of stuff...but still keep saying there was not enough room to download it.

I wouldn't let that stop me though in the collaborative Gaming World! So, I decided to try Minecraft! I was super jazzed to try it out. I've heard about it from kids and felt pretty excited after the presentation by the Social Innovation Group! So I clicked the download button and crossed my fingers.....


Success! I was ready to go! Now, we are talking! Or...were we? It didn't occur to me that when you get this version...

Yep, the free version, there's nobody to play with.  I, of course, got the free demo version. Tears? Who me? No, not unless I'm cuttin' onions! We'll just try again! I played around for a while before cutting out. Still confused on the wood block chopping (but more on that later). So, I went to my good friend google. Google always knows what to do. So, one of the top collaborate gaming ones that looked like I didn't have to download a large file, was Whyville. I thought, This is perfect!

It even had me go through a full tutorial and quiz before it let me chat. It was really brilliant actually how they did that. They went over what to do if someone says certain things to you- report them, block them, answer them, mute them, etc. It was a cool way to get you started on it! After I earned my chat license, I was ready to go play games with others!

I searched high and low for anyone. Went all throughout that large virtual world. I even played a game by myself. (It was not a fun game and I don't really recommend this website by the way). I was about to give up. Then I remembered Lani talking about Second Life. I knew that it wasn't a "game" but you could create things and there are people there. I mean there was sure to be people there! It's a huge thing. So....I was off! 

I crossed my fingers again for the download. Success! This is great! I'm in. It dropped me on some beach after I picked out my avatar and there were already people near me! 
I was GOING to be successful. I mean I had to be, right? I started off with trying to chat with nearby people nobody responded. Then, I decided to go explore. Maybe these people were just away from their computers? Maybe my avatar wasn't hot enough? Maybe they don't like people? Maybe they could tell I was a newbie? Maybe they don't associate themselves with newbies? Who knows! I sure didn't. What I did know though was I was off and exploring! 
I went to this sweet world....
Nobody but a flying skunk was there and he gave me something. I don't think he was an actual person, just a robot. It was weird. I opened the thing up and it gave me information about this world. I went on my journey and keep exploring new worlds. I decided that maybe I should choose a spot based on where people were. So I went to a new spot where someone told me about prims. Prims was one of the things mentioned on that thing the flying skunk. Apparently, prims are blocks. It seems a little confusing as to what they are for and why one might have a box. I ended up dropping a box later (and I couldn't figure out how to pick it up) but I'm assuming that was a prim. I had a conversations with another person who was explaining Second Life a little more to me. Our conversation started when he told me to stop. Quite literally, he just said, "Stop!"
Can you imagine how confusing that is when you have no idea what you are doing?! I asked, "Stop what?" and got no reply. "I don't know what I did." I then said..."This place is confusing!" After that he started talking back to me and I was asking him all sorts of questions about this place. He explained to me that you make friends here and it is a world like the outside world. I asked him about making worlds and he explained a few things and talked about how you can make stuff and sell it to people. Apparently you need to spend real money though to get their money called, Lindens. There are freebies though. So, I was off to get freebies! I didn't actually end up getting any freebies but explored a new space. I don't think this virtual chat space is really my thing. However, I think I would be totally into a chat if it was towards something competitive or collaborative. The character said that building things in that world was difficult so I didn't try. But maybe building a space there or communicating about a common goal would be cool.

After 4 different efforts to play on the online world with others, I am thinking I am going to go play fetch with my dog now and get away from the computer. 

Practice, Practice, Practice


So last week was B-U-S-Y in the presenting world! I presented to both Robyn, a colleague, and John, my Presenting Idol.  I got some great feedback from both of them and some more fabulous tips! I have done a lot of gearing up for this presentation and am really looking forward to next week and seeing how this goes.


Also, I will be presenting the same session again in October at another conference in Napa. It's bigger more notable. So, I'm excited to be able to present this one in Sacramento next weekend, then revise and edit (if I need to) in time for the big one in October. This one will be an hour and a half session and the one in Napa will be an hour. So, it'll be an interesting process seeing what I need to cut.

You can find my resources on my website (which I also made gearing up for the presentation, knowing that I would need somewhere to house my materials.)
Check it out here:
(Click on Math to go the Presentation resources.)
www.jenmartineducation.com


Here's My Favorite Tips that I have learned for Future Presenters:
  • Always bring a clicker
  • Bring extra batteries for your clicker...you never know!
  • Always download your presentation (in case there are internet issues)
  • Always include your information so they can contact you after if they have questions
  • Always allow them to access your resources after your presentation
Off to do the homework now! Wish me luck on WoW! 

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Designing a Presentation



There are so many components to a presentation! It can be a little overwhelming with all of the questions that you have to ask yourself...
What type of style will you present in?
Will it be a sit and get? More collaborative? A demo-style? A Workshop?

Deciding on the resources and how I want to deliver the resources is just as important.
What resources are crucial?
Are there too many resources?
Should I add links within my presentation?
Have my resources on a website?
What if they don't even have a computer to access resources?
Make handouts for them to walk away with instead of just sharing the resource online?
Layout the resources separately from the presentation?

Then there is just the execution of the presentation:
How might you engage your audience?
Should you add humor?
....Can you even pull off humor?  (As I learned: Just because you watch Last Comic Standing...doesn't mean you are a comedian)
Should you ask questions? What type of questions? When are there too many questions? How many questions is too many? Do I just enjoy asking questions? (I think so!)
What do you do if it looks like they aren't engaged? (Song and dance? Interpretive dance?)
When do you throw in a story? (and then what happens when your story turns into a tangent for another story?)

A lot of these questions or points came from my presenter expert that I practiced with. His name is John Eick and he's got to be one of the best presenters that I have ever seen. Truly engaging, funny, and able to relay information in a easily understandable way.  If you want to be the good, you've got to learn from the best, right? Now, I just need to practice, practice, practice. 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

I Present To You...The Plan!

I will be presenting at my first conference in September and then again at a bigger one in October! I am full of nerves just thinking about it! How and I going to do it, you ask?  Good question! I have no idea!
Here's my current plan for the next 8 weeks to learn how to get ready and learn as many tricks as I possibly can for an hour long presentation at a conference with people who I have never met... Dun, dun, duuuuun!

Week 1: Create Slides for Presentation
Week 2: Practice with a "Presenter Expert"
Week 3: Practice with a colleague (like minded professional who can give me feedback as someone who might attend and sit in a similar conference) Also, connect again with Presenter Expert
Week 4: Finalize Presentation and Present! (Take 1...eeeek!) Presentation: September 26th
Week 5: Reflect! Discuss how the presentation went with Presenter Expert and revamp presentation using attendee data to help tailor it better for the next presentation.
Week 6: Practice with a few colleagues and the Expert
Week 7: Finalize Presentation and work on how to advertise so people come to my session (otherwise I'm presenting to an empty room after all that work!)
Week 8: Advertise for Presentation and Present! (Take 2) Presentation: October 24th