There are plenty of great examples of bad presentations and this gives comedians plenty of rich material to draw from. The reactions of the audience in this humorous demonstration gives us an indication that they have all had to suffer through many irksome PowerPoint presentations:

What not to do

Because I am needing to create a presentation on Storytelling next week during an in-house staff professional development day, the content of this week’s readings was especially compelling to me. Storytelling is a big part of my life and my teaching experience. A good story can often teach a lesson better than any well-documented explanation ever could. Students gain their deepest learning through stories and experiences that include a strong emotional connection.

So how do I convey this very important information while including instructions to future storytelling teachers? I could tell them some true stories that have shaped my story-centered philosophy of teaching. I could enhance those stories with visual aids that would make the stories about storytelling even more memorable. I could add music and stage directions. Apart from turning my presentation into a full-blown Broadway musical, I need to focus on how to get my message across with clarity and style. How do I make a powerful point and not merely a run-of-the-mill PowerPoint?

Daniel Pink makes a very good point in his book “A Whole New Mind” when he says that the current era belongs to those who can “think different,” (never mind the ungrammatical nature of that statement… its form also represents a deviation from the norm.) Because anyone can now “look it up,” the business world no longer values a mind that can recall facts and figures instantly. The need now is much greater for a mind that can take all of the available data and come up with a creative solution that has never been tried before.

And once a brilliant idea has been pulled out of the seething swamp of creative musings and has taken on a recognizable shape, how do you share it with the world?  Well, you could use the six fundamental aptitudes proposed by Mr. Pink to give your idea the attention it deserves: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. When all six of these elements are woven into a presentation, you have an idea worth listening to.

For me, the most difficult of these six is the first: Design. I know how to tell a story, but it is difficult for me to lay out a poster, drawing or a blueprint. Learning about some of the basic design basics, such as the “Rule of Three” has helped me, but it is still a struggle. I know what looks good to my eye, but I don’t necessarily know how to build it from scratch.

But I have to try. By next week, I will need to be able to explain the importance and structure of storytelling in a memorable and compelling way. For now, I can begin with templates provided by Keynote, but I hope to be able to go beyond that and use the visual as a launchpad of sorts for a more interactive audience experience so that we can “do” storytelling at the same time as we are learning the basics.

March 1, 2012:

Drum Roll…. Finished the Keynote presentation just in time. I will present a 40 minute workshop tomorrow on Storytelling; Traditional and Digital. I tried to keep the text simple and the images compelling. Of course, it is hard to get the complete content just by looking at the Keynote. It is meant to support what I am saying and showing to my audience. Here is a Quicktime of the Keynote to give you a brief idea of the workshop:

(Click the down arrow to advance to the next slide once the presentation loads.)

Storytelling; Traditional and Digital

The outline of the presentation runs something like this:

• Oral and Digital Storytelling Workshop at CAJ; Friday, March 2    1:05 – 1:45

• Storytelling and Education

1. Why is storytelling crucial to education? Storytelling has been at the heart of education for thousands of years. Never meant to be a dry subject. Rich and memorable experience that weaves stories into all subject areas.
2. Motivation; lighting the fire of learning desire
3. “True story”; any time that students heard this phrase, they would truly listen
4. Deep Learning; stories go deep, stay with us longer
5.  Story about courage; Story of terrified MS girl with claustrophobia who was determined to enter the dark tunnel and cave at Yosemite.
6.  Students construct personal meanings w story; engage emotional response for deeper retention and fire up the imagination
7. Learning on the Highest level; creative construction of content
8. Opportunities to create stories and projects that stretch the students limits

• The Storytelling Teacher:   
If you can relate, they can relate; students listen and connect to true stories.
• Find a story that applies to the concept that you are trying to teach.
  Example; Defining courage; Story of terrified MS girl with claustrophobia who was determined to enter the dark tunnel and cave at Yosemite.
  Model good storytelling techniques:
  a. Diction and volume
  b. Character and emotion
  c. Body language
  d. Visuals or music

• 
The Storytelling Student
:  Synthesize a concept and create a story

1. Example; students can practice storytelling and then watch and critique their own performance; results in 5th grade posted in link on library site
2. Students can create original book using one of the tools listed at the end

• Bloom’s Taxonomy
Presentation Empowerment
Learning how to use the tools effectively
• Story-making Tools:

1. Keynote
2. PDF to FlipSnack; http://www.flipsnack.com/
3. iBooks; http://www.apple.com/ca/apps/ibooks/?cid=jm
4. Google Docs

• 
Demonstrations:

1. Keynote; Lady Ramona, Beloved of Beasts (original story formatted for the iPad)
2. FlipSnack;
3. Google Docs books