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TEDxMelbourne - a great day of learning!

A quick post to review today's excellent TEDx day. For those who don't know of TEDx or TED, a quick explanation. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is an event originally held in the US where notable thinkers spoke in these three areas spoke to other (invited) like-minded people in a spirit of "Ideas worth spreading". In more recent times talks have themselves spread beyond the three original areas to now encompass innovative and important ideas from any area and the talks themselves are now available free to anyone who wishes to watch and listen at TED.com. 

TEDx is related to the original TED but is local and smaller. For example today I attended TEDxMelbourne, an event with a limit of around 100 attendees, at a TEDx day the format is that there are videos of TED talks and live talks, after each talk attendees break into small groups to discuss the ideas brought up by the talk. This format really appeals to me as it really mirrors what I do with this blog and my reading, I like to bring ideas from diverse disciplines together to then exert influence on how I think about what I do, learning and education.

And so to today's event. (with some of my own and others ideas scattered through - it is really what TEDx is all about, it gets you thinking!)

Introduced by Warwick Merry and Rod Sherwin we were told to expect to be "out of our comfort zone" and that whilst we could listen to some of the talks at home the benefit here was that we could then discuss our ideas with others. We were then shown a brief intro to the TEDx concept by Chris Anderson (curator of TED). And so it began....

First up was a video talk by Juan Enriquez. This was filmed in the US at the height of gloom and doom about the credit crisis and the talk begins with a quick review of where things were at in the US (summary not good!) He then used this as a counterpoint to highlight the upside of the future, human's use of science to 'improve' our own biology. That is through our mastery of science we will not just control nature but also control human evolution. My take - yes we are gaining control of a whole lot of new things but in many ways it is just an extension of what human's have done for millennia, agriculture, urbanisation, industrial revolution and so on. For me change is just what happens, I'm an optimist. I'm not meaning that there won't be major challenges and questions to answer about our use of technology, however I believe that human's will work their way trough these issues and then move on again.

The next talk was excellent - Temple Grandin - speaking about how the world needs all kinds of minds. So many good points and a great talk, Temple has autism and as she describes it this means that she has a 'specialist mind', not great at everything but excellent within certain spheres. She describes how she thinks strongly in pictures and how she sees the world in quite a different way to many other people - but she doesn't see this as a problem, but rather as different. In fact the point of here whole talk is that it is the variety in people that provides strength, or as she says, "the world needs all kinds of minds". There is a bit of Ken Robinson in what she says, lamenting the pigeon-holing that occurs in education today. A super talk and well-worth the time to listen to it!

Now we went to the first 'in person' talk of the day - it's good to have a mix of video and live!

Pat Naughtin, who runs a consultancy called Metrication Matters, spoke about the costs and benefits of metrication, or the lack thereof! A one person said afterwards, he didn't imagine that he'd ever be interested in a topic such as this, but the really enjoyed it! A fair point I reckon! Pat is a very good speaker, throwing in a good dose of dry humour along the way. The key point of his talk was that where people don't use metric measurements (mainly the US!) thee are huge financial and other costs associated with this, examples quote included deaths in medical errors, some due to confusion over non-metric measures. The key point I think though is that Pat's talk was about simplicity and communicating this clearly and unambiguously. He showed a slide with 199 words/measures that have been used to describe energy during climate change debates in recent times. How can anyone be expected to really understand science when people trying to explain it use so many different words and measures to try to describe something. It becomes impossible to really understand. Science must use simpler statistics if they hope to clearly understand climate science!

After a very enjoyable Korean lunch with 4 other TEDx attendees the next speaker (again in person) was Mauricio Buchler. Mauricio spoke about education - obviously close to my heart! he demonstrated an online virtual world he's been working on to assist with English language learning (see here). Mauricio also spoke of his frustration with the education system and passionless teachers, a tricky question really. What comes first? Do people enter teaching with no passion or does it disappear later on? My view is more often than not the latter and it is this that needs to be addressed. Mauricio also believes that passion must be an entry marker for prospective teachers (but how to keep the passion).

Mauricio also spoke of how he believes learning should be fun. OK, my view, yes pretty much, but sometimes more than this it needs to engage learners, this mightn't always look like 'fun' but learners are 'loving' the learning (if you understand what I mean?)

The TEDx day finished with a brace of 3 short videos arounf the theme of success.

First was Richard St John with his 8 keys to success - only 3 minutes long, short and to the point. 

Our next video was Derek Sivers - a really interesting talk that shows that there is more than one way of looking at things. What is true and obvious to me is not to another person. I liked his example of how in most Western countries city blocks are the un-named places between streets, whereas in Japan it is reversed, streets are the un-named places that surround blocks. If this confuses you watch the video, t's only 2 minutes long!

The very last video was of Joachim de Posada speaking on really interesting research that links the concept of delayed gratification (in childhood) with later success in life as adults. He shows humourous footage of experiments with children trying to resist the temptation of eating a marshmallow that was put in front of them (they were told not to eat it). I must say that I'd not do well in such a test, now or back when I was a child. Could there seriously be a link between this and later success? Perhaps it has got something to do with the ability to focus. To resist eating the marshmallow a child must keep the thought of not eating it foremost in their mind, they are able to focus their attention. Back in Richard St John's talk he certainly listed focus as a key element of success! (along with persistence)

And so the day ended. I really enjoyed the day. Warwick and Rod were right, I was (happily) "out of my comfort zone" and on top of that I got the chance to meet people in person whom I'd only ever tweeted with, met others for the first time entirely, found many others who read similar books to myself (see my book ideas here) and thought about things I certainly don't normally do on a Saturday. Thanks to all who helped organise the day, I look forward o the next!

PresentationZen Design - Review

Garr Reynolds' new book, PresentationZen Design, is his follow-up to his first book, PresentationZen of 2008. His first book was in many ways a summary of Garr's presentation style, looking at presentation preparation, design and delivery. I suppose it is no surprise that his second book expands on one key area from his first book, slide design - I say it is no surprise because it is Garr's design style that most defines him. If you already have his first book, this new book is really chapters 5, 6 & 7 expanded, however don't take this as a negative, what Garr has done here is to write a whole book about slide design.So what should you expect from a book that's subtitled, 'Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations'?

Design Matters

The title of the first chapter gives you a good idea of the focus of the book - Design Matters. As most people who create slides for learning and presentations are not trained designers, Garr takes us on a journey through his design thinking, drawing heavily on the Zen design traditions of his adopted home, Japan.

It is clear that design matters a lot to Garr....

and quoting the designer Donald Norman,

I mean if it was all about content, why have live presentations and workshops? You may as well just send out pages of text and let people read it themselves! Slide design is Garr's passion, and to be honest, thank heavens it is, because his approach to presentation slide design may just save us all from having to sit through another slideshow chock-a-block full of bullets, complicated charts, corny clipart and flying text!

So what does PresentationZen Design teach us that will improve the design of our slides. The book is divided into three key sections:

  

Components

In this section the book covers the often ignored importance of Typefaces, particularly the choice of type and it's placement on the slide. Next Garr looks at Communicating with Colour. In addition to looking at some expected terms related to colour and it's use, for example hue, value, saturation, colour combinations, emotional connections and colour choices, Garr brings in aspects from the Zen aesthetic through a lesson in Sumi-e. In Using Images and Video to Tell Stories we enter the area that in many ways defines the PresentationZen style, the use of full screen images to complement and strengthen the spoken and written message - I particularly liked this area! Area covered here again include some technical aspects of image creation and editing as well as reviewing 10 things to avoid when using images. Finally in the component section Garr looks at how best to Simplify Data, how charts can communicate and indeed miscommunicate key messages, I know from experience that many presentations use charts that are barely readable, with far too much data, if all presentations followed the advice given here there would be less sleepy and bored learners and audience members!

Principles

So many slides used in presentations and workshops are full of text, bullet points, charts, and data. 

The first part of this section looks at Seeing and Using Space, beginning with a lesson in the Japanese art of flower design, Ikebana. Garr looks at the importance of white space, symmetrical/asymmetrical balance, Gestalt theory and the importance of 'less is more'. 

The use of focal points in slide design is illustrated through the Japanese room design feature known as a Tokonoma, in essence this part of the book, Creating Purpose and Focus, is about how to ensure the audience's eyes move see what you want them to see. Too often there is too much clutter on slides overloading the brains ability to focus on what is important, indeed once overloaded it is likely that no information will be retained, so less is actually more. 

Finally the section looks at Achieving Harmony in your slide design. Here Garr looks at the 'rule of thirds' and grids in general when aligning aspects of our slides and working to connect the various elements to create balance and harmony. Garr must adore his food, because he loves a Bento Box, I've seen photos of his lunches uploaded via Twitter on more than one occasion! There is a point however, Garr sees harmony in a Bento Box, a balance of flavours, colours, sizes - doesn't food always taste better when it looks good!

Here's an example from my lunch yesterday!

The Journey

Finally Garr provides pages of examples of great Slide Samples that illustrate the principles outlined throughout the book. It is always good to see examples, as just as the book reminds us, visual messages trump the written word. 

The book concludes with a chapter on Continuous Improvement, a good way to end, reminding readers that improving your slide design is a journey not a destination, that through continually learning from the lessons that are all around you - Billboards, Advertising, TV, brochures, package design - your slide design will continue to improve.

Finally I really liked how the book was scattered with 'guest appearances' from Nancy Duarte, David Rose, Maureen C. Stone, John McWade and Scott Kelby. They add further information and another perspective to the book.

The Conclusion

If you want to design slides that engage your learners/audience this book is the one, it must be on your book shelf!. If you live near me, that is Australia, the book is rather hard to find, (I got my copy via Amazon, click here to get to Amazon), but that's no real drama at least you won't have to drive around looking for it, it's only a few clicks away!

Anchors and Twists - making learning stick

It should come as no surprise to readers of my blog that I'm a fan of the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath - I mean where did I come up with my blog's name!?

Today I was sent a link to a video from a friend in Texas (thank's Sue!) The video features Dan Heath speaking on the subject of 'Selling your Innovation". Unfortunately I'm unable to embed the video in my blog (well I could if I illegally copied it....) however just below is the link to the video. It's quite short, after watching it come back and read what I've got to say about it!

Video link: Dan Heath - "Made to Stick-Selling your Innovation"

Now, as I watched the video I was thinking, "this is similar to how learners process new ideas". Dan's key pont in the video is the importance of using an anchor and a twist.

Anchor = existing knowledge

Twist = old knowledge with a new angle.

This screenshot illustrates an example used in the video. When cars were first invented Dan Heath asks, 'how would you have described what a car was to a person who had never seen a car?' As it turns out the description that stuck was 'a horseless carriage'. Everyone already knew what a carriage was, so this became the Anchor, next a twist was added, Horseless, now people could visualise what a car might be. 

Mirror neurons

Anchor and twist, is a good analogy for how we learn and taps into recent research on a concept known as 'Mirror Neurons' (see an earlier post on this blog) In particular look at the later sections of the post looking at 'Mirror Neurons' and 'How can mirror neurons assist learning'.

Anchors, Twists and Learning

You may understand now why I like the concepts of anchor and twist. The anchor activates the mirror neuron, retrieving existing knowledge. The twist then uses existing context to build a new idea in our mind. I suppose I'm using the idea of 'anchor and twist' as I'm writing this blog post. My anchor is the video and it's take on selling innovation, my twist is to replace the term innovation with learning.

Remember anchor and twist when your designing your next learning program or writing a presentation!

The Powerpoint 12 - the slideshow!

My last post was a list of tips for using Powerpoint/Keynote more effectively - The Powerpoint Dozen! Here is part 2, the slideshow.

The first installment provided the written tips, much like many slide presentations you are subjected to - heavy on text. Now, there's nothing wrong with text, it just doesn't belong in any quantity on Powerpoint or Keynote slides!

Below you will find the slideshow of my powerpoint tips, The Powerpoint 12! In reality, an actual presentation on this would use these slides with the text from yesterday's post forming much of the basis for what I would be saying. I may, at the end of the session, provide participants with the written version as a reference.

The Powerpoint 12

View more documents from Michael Eury.

So, think of these two posts as two sides of a coin. You can't have a successful presentation without both of them!

The Powerpoint Dozen - the written version

I use Powerpoint in some of the workshops I run, not all, but when it suits the audience, venue and most importantly learning objectives. I have, on the other hand, been a participant where slides have been the 'star'! Slides that contained too much text in colours and sizes that were too hard to read and more bullets than Ned Kelly's last stand! That said, Powerpoint can have its place. So I've put together a list of 10(+1) tips for using Powerpoint more effectively.

1. Plan your workshop.  Ask yourself what is the best way to get the message/learning across.  If the answer is a slide then use one/two/more!  If the answer is something else - activity, discussion, role play, brainstorm, group work .... then use this - don't just use slides because you can!
   
2. Story before slides. When building your slides, start by building your story. Do this away from the computer. I use either a whiteboard or large pieces of paper to map out the 'flow' of the session and how slides will fit in with this. 
   
3. Strictly limit the amount of text you place on each slide (and make what you do use big enough to read). Some people think fewer slides is better but not if that means densely packed text that is too small to read. Each slide is free so why cram it full?  How much text?  Half a dozen words per slide would be about right - really! Provide a separate handout with the details. 
   
4. Avoid bullet points. This is the same rule really as my last point! I just wanted to make sure I got the point across. NEVER, fall for the temptation when in a hurry of simply copying bulleted text from workbooks and pasting it into slides. It will be quick but it won't lead to an interactive and interesting workshop.
   
5. Think like a designer! Consider the font type, colour and size. Is there consistency throughout the slideshow? How are you laying out the slide? Is it visually appealing? Are the colours you're using easy to read? Is the text large enough to read? My suggestion is to look at TV ads! Look how they are laid out, their use of colours (and lack of bullet points).
   
6. Do not use cartoonish clipart, what does it add (distraction). If you need an image to support a point, use real images, you can download many images from Microsoft's clipart page.  Just make sure to only use 'photos'.  These are free, the quality OK but for better images consider sites such as iStockphoto, not free but well-priced and excellent quality.  There are other good sources of images but check whether they allow you to copy them and/or pay royalties. But I don't mean to include photos just for decoration. They are there only to support your message, sometimes the slide should simply be a few words, nothing else!
   
7. Avoid overuse of Powerpoint SmartArt Graphics. Yes, they do make the job of creating diagrams and charts very simple BUT if you're slide deck is full of these they quickly lose their impact.
   
8. Use simple backgrounds. Powerpoint/Keynote provide a range of background themes to choose from. My advice is always to use the simpler themes. Your aim is to communicate your message, not decorate slides with distracting backgrounds.
   
9. Vary the layout of your slides. Powerpoint and Keynote have a default layout. Heading at the top, text below. There is no reason to use this layout for all your slides, in fact you shouldn't! Lay your slides out the way you want, not how powerpoint tells you to!
   
10. Strictly limit the use of animated text.  It doesn't help learning, it distracts from it. I remember once watching a presentation with text zooming onto the slide accompanied by the sound of screeching brakes. Not good (unless it was used just once to a tyre fitting business or auto company, but just once!)
    
11. Use a remote. Don't be tied to your laptop. You should be able to move about during the workshop. If you don't use a remote you will feel tied to the laptop (or find yourself rushing back to change slides). I use a Kensington remote presenter. I like it because it's small, simple to use and only has the buttons you need. 
    
12. Use the 'B' key! I know many people know that if they press the B key on the keyboard during a Powerpoint of Keynote presentation the screen will go black - but I still find people who don't know this! It's important not to leave slides showing after you have used them. Don't just leave them up for no good reason, press the 'B' key (or the 'W' key if you'd rather the screen turn white!)

Read Write v Read Only

I am reading a book called Remix at the moment by Lawrence Lessig.  Whilst the books main emphasis is upon how restrictive/outdated copyright laws are inhibiting creativity by preventing me from including an excerpt from a film or TV show on my blog (OK I still might do this! But doing so is criminal according to copyright laws!)

My post today though isn't about copyright however! Lessig uses two terms to describe how people use different media:

Read Only: Lessig uses this term to mean mostly a 'one-way' process. I buy a book, I read the book. I can't really do anything else with it.

Read Write: This term is used to describe how people use the media to absorb the message, then interpret part of the original message in a creative manner to create and build something new. Think of me watching films, TV, various videos, listening to music, reading books and blogs. At the end of me doing all this I have come up with an idea infused from all my sources. I'd now like to include my new idea in a presentation I'm about to run. 

I've got two options:

1. create a written document that explains in words only what my new idea is and how it came to me. (or a really boring powerpoint full of lots of words!)
2. create a multi-media presentation, full of images, video and sound, supported by me speaking and with a written take-away hand-out at the end. 

Option one just wouldn't work, would it? (but it's what we all see all the time!) Option two however would technically be illegal (but it would be engaging, interesting  and people would learn).

Now for how this links in with learning. 

Read Only is how things used to be when it comes to learning, as education for the masses was formalised in the late 1800's education it was a method on transferring knowledge. Today, too often, this is still the case. I just used the word learning, however this type of education was really about teaching. Pupils had their eyes open to receive the knowledge presented to them by the teacher - it was essentially Read Only.

As technology has progressed at a speedy rate, today's learners don't think in Read Only terms. The internet, digital media and cheap, powerful computers have provided people with an option they never had - Read Write. Learners today do not want to sit passively as the 'teacher' provides them with knowledge. They want to interact with the knowledge and ideas to make them their own, to make it meaningful.

The concept of Instructional Design now goes by the wayside, replaced instead by the idea of Learning Design. A small but important shift that puts the learner at the centre of the design process. Learning design then is about building learning experiences that allow the learner to Read Write. 

I'm really enjoying Lawrence Lessig's book. It has helped me to see how many changes in education and learning have been driven by culture and change. It helps to further explain why I (and I reckon everyone else) hates Powerpoint slideshows full of text and bullets with a presenter reading the slides to me. I expect more than that, I need more than that and learners need learning designers to provide them with opportunities to Read Write as they learn.

Finally for anyone who's got to the end of this post and hasn't seen Lawrence Lessig present, here is a TED video for you. Lessig's style is different, LOTS of slides (that's a good thing!), but only a few words per slide and a good use of images. The slides support his presentation, they are not the focus of it! In the presentation Lessig explain the ideas of Read Only and Read Write further, I hope you find it interesting.

Successful workshop delivery - three periods

Delivering a successful workshop is in some ways like a runner competing in a race. What I mean is that the casual observer only sees the performance on the actual day. But, the key to success is what the runner has done prior to the race itself. It is the same with successful workshops - success lies in the preparation. I mention the running analogy because I recently re-read a book by the Australian athletics coach, Percy Cerutty. He broke an athlete's year into three periods, the Conditioning Period, the Race Practice Period and the Race Period. It is the same for successful workshop delivery, where the three periods could be termed:

1. Preparation
2. Practice 
3. Delivery 

Preparation

The most important of these periods is the preparation period. It is here that you are assessing the audiences needs, who they are, what it is that you wish them to learn. The length of this period will vary, but to give you an idea, it should be about as long as the other two periods combined.

Practice

The idea of the Practice Period is to prepare ourselves for the actual delivery. You must become familiar with your content to the point of being an 'expert'. if using slides you must know exactly what is on each slide, when to change slides, when to push the "B" button to blank the screen. You should practice any activities you are including in the workshop. Rope in co-workers, friends or family to help with this, especially if an activity is new to you.

Practice delivering the entire workshop, you need to know how long different sections will take. You can use the timing functions on powerpoint/keynote, however you should practice to the point that you can trust your own inner 'time recorder', you will always appear to be presenting more naturally if you do this.

Delivery

Once you begin your delivery of your workshop all your preparation and practice pay off. This is where the audience thinks it all 'looks effortless'. If you are repeating a workshop a number of times you need to watch out for staleness. Signs of staleness are (1) loss of enthusiasm, (2) a marked disinclination to present the workshop, (3) a feeling of 'here we go again'. The cure for staleness is ideally to take a break from presenting the same workshop for a while, however more realistically it means recharging your enthusiasm for the workshop.

Each of these periods is important. Without sufficient focus on each period the final result will be less than ideal. The question is, will you be satisfied with finishing towards the back of the field. More importantly, what will your learners feelings be?

Presentations, technology and some simple ideas

Following on from my last post on how the film JAWS caused me to re-think technology and storytelling, I came across this blog post in "Fast Company" magazine by the authors of Made to Stick, Dan and Chip Heath.

Whilst I'll let you read the article yourselves by following the link, I'll summarise my key points from it below.

1. "A good idea doesn't need visual drapes". That is don't decorate slides with clipart or stock photos just to make the slide look 'better'. 
2. Limit your points. Don't fill your presentation with so many points that the most important points get lost amongst the rest.
3. Use concrete examples that are meaningful to your audience. Don't talk in abstractions. 
4. "Before your audience will value the information you're giving, they've got to want it". Curiosity comes before content. Think like you're watching a mystery film, don't give away the ending at the start, make the audience curious.

So four points:

Don't decorate your slides

Limit your points

Use concrete examples

Make the audience curious

Spielberg and learning

Last night I watched an interview with Steven Spielberg. It was interesting on many levels:

• his approach to storytelling
• how he 'framed' shots
• the importance of music to the story

What I really liked however was how the filming of JAWS unfolded, and in this there is a lesson for learning, storytelling and the use of technology. Spielberg explained how the mechanical shark broke down before filming had begun and that it would take weeks to fix. Filming couldn't wait so many sequences of the film were shot without the mechanical shark. 

So instead of seeing the shark, it was only suggested. Ripples, the wharf being dragged, swimmers being dragged downward, water churning. Speilberg says that NOT having the mechanical shark MADE the film the success that it was. 

The shark, with all its teeth rearing up out of the water at Roy Scheider, doesn't appear until quite late in the film and when it does launch itself at Scheider it scares the hell out of the audience - something that wouldn't have happened IF the shark had been seen in every scene.

What are the lessons for learning here?

1. Don't get carried away with technology, focus on the story and how you communicate with your audience. Powerpoint/Keynote, computers, elearning etc are NOT central to learning - rather focus on the story, the learning, the message.
2. The power of the unexpected. When the shark was eventually actually seen, it made an impact, audience members jumped out of their seats, popcorn went flying. As "Made to Stick" reminds us, learning sticks when the message is simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional and in the form of a story - a shark eating swimmers certainly contains all of these and Spielberg told the story brilliantly!

Here's the original JAWS trailer, (love the voiceover!) Notice how the actual shark doesn't appear in the trailer either (other than a fin), all adding to the suspense for the film-goer.

  

Inflaters and learning

I was lucky enough a week ago to see the comedian Adam Hills perform.  What does Adam Hills have to do with learning?  Well, after laughing alot on the night, the next morning I started thinking of at least 2 lessons from Adam Hills' performance that were important for learning professionals. Firstly, and probably the most obvious, was his use of stories, he is a brilliant story teller. All the way through a joke he is drawing the audience along with his story until he delivers the ending, nearly always unexpected (if you haven't ready earlier posts on Surprise, look back, here and here). Just listen to a few of his stories and you can learn how he structures and paces his stories for maximum effect.

Here is a youtube clip that shows his story-telling skills!

Finally he finished with another story, a serious one about a friend who had died.  It was serious but also explained how he saw his role as a comedian, he is an inflater. What is an inflater? An inflater is a person who makes those around them stand up a little straighter, taller, cheerier, happier. 

This is my second lesson from the night. Whilst learning professionals don't have to be comedians to be effective, they must still aim to leave learners inflated - more confident, more skilled, standing taller. ready to try new approaches, to take risks.