[nabs-l] Presentation Techniques

Fri Apr 6 23:15:52 UTC 2012

Braille is useful, provided you have the time and energy to learn it. I've done presentations using Braille in the past. I've also used screen readers on computers and have recently used nothing but my iPhone and bluetooth earpiece. I no longer bother with Braille because I've found other methods less time consuming and more effective. I've lectured at college and university, presented at conferences, and testified at a Parliamentary legislative committee, and all without Braille. I'm not disparaging the use of Braille. If you can learn it and use it, all the power to you, I regret how much I resisted learning it as I was growing up, but you also shouldn't be made to feel that it is necessary in order to give a good presentation. And I realize no one said that it was necessary, but I think it's worth explicitly stating that it isn't.

If you use powerpoint, and it sounds like you will, you shouldn't simply read what's on the screen. Powerpoint is meant to supplement your presentation, not to be your presentation. In fact, you shouldn't read the presentation at all, unless you can read it in such a way that it doesn't actually sound like you're reading it. There is nothing worse than someone standing up at the front reading a paper, and it's unbelievable how often this happens at conferences.

Instead, if you really know the material, you can write down a few words to prompt you and keep you on track during the presentation. This is a little riskier and scarier because you have to form the sentences in your head rather than reading nice, complete, well organized sentences from a document, and you're more likely to jump a head of yourself when you're not simply reading a prepared presentation, but doing it this way sounds more natural and will be more engaging to your audience.

You can listen to these prompting words with jaws on your own laptop and simply use the keyboard or a remote to move from slide to slide on the school's laptop, or you can do the same with Voiceover on your iPhone. just indicate in your notes when to switch to the next slide.

The trick for listening and speaking at the same time is to keep each line of text to only a few words. If you try to listen to a complete line of text and say it back, you'll get half way through and then have to pause and listen again to get the second half of the line. If each line has only four or five words, though, you can keep them in your head while you're saying them, then simply arrow down or flick right to get to the next line and begin speaking what you here.

It can take a bit of practice to get the hang of this, and you'll still want to rehearse the presentation before you deliver it, but this presentation method can allow you to read long passages word for word, or even the entire presentation, without a lot of prep time. It's important to try to break the sentence up at places where you might pause briefly anyway, otherwise, you can have slight pauses that might sound awkward, and this is the part that takes a bit of practice, but it really doesn't take very long to figure out how to break things up in a way that works for you.

Hope that's helpful.

Marc
On 2012-04-05, at 12:57 PM, Niall Gallagher wrote:

> Thank you very much for your suggestion Arielle.
> At present you are in the field of which I hope to become part of. 
> A post graduate degree seems very likely, as I want to further my studies and possibly involve myself in the teaching profession. 
> 
> When I think about it, the activity of learning brail couldn't have come at a better time. 
> My placement  is 4 months long and I will have a considerable amount of free time in the evenings, so I will certainly investigate this avenue further.
> 
> I guess I will arrange something involving the combination of JAWS, headphones, and a remote for changing the slides..... what can go wrong? lol 
> 
> Thank you once again and I wish you the best of luck in your studies.
> 
> Kindest regards,
> 
> Niall.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Apr 5, 2012, at 7:31 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Niall,
>> I am a totally blind grad student and I regularly give research and
>> teaching presentations. In my experience it is very hard to remember
>> what I want to talk about without using Braille. If you plan to teach
>> professionally or go to grad school, I would highly recommend taking a
>> few months to teach yourself to read Braille, even just the alphabet
>> or "Grade 1" Braille can be tremendously helpful. Hadley School for
>> the Blind offers courses and will send you materials in the mail so
>> you can learn the alphabet and practice at home. Even if you don't
>> plan to teach after this semester, it will really help you in any job
>> to know how to read and write Braille. You don't have to be a fast
>> reader to use Braille for presentations; just having the notes there
>> to jog your memory will keep you from getting tongue-tied or
>> forgetting what you want to say.
>> In the meantime while you are learning Braille, you can use JAWS with
>> an earphone to listen to what's on each slide as you present it. I
>> would suggest trying to install your personal copy of JAWS on the
>> school's computer or installing a "demo" version. You shouldn't have a
>> problem installing your licensed copy on both your school and home
>> computers. If you can't do that, then talk to the college about
>> bringing your laptop.
>> Again, this isn't a great solution since you have to stop at the
>> beginning of each slide, listen to JAWS read it to you and then say
>> what you want to say. Braille is much much better. But JAWS can work
>> in the short term.
>> Best,
>> Arielle
>> 
>> On 4/5/12, Niall Gallagher <niall.j.gallagher.91 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thank you for the suggestion of using large print. but my vision is at a
>>> level that I cannot see any written materials.
>>> I use JAWS on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac.
>>> The college use windows and wont have JAWS available.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On Apr 5, 2012, at 7:06 PM, "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> have someone turn slides for you. have a braille or large print copy of
>>>> the slide you typed. when you want to turn slides,  just cue them to turn
>>>> it.
>>>> work from your prepared copy and you'll be fine.
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Niall Gallagher
>>>> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2012 1:47 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Presentation Techniques
>>>> 
>>>> Sorry guys I didn't want to overwhelm with information, but seems I did
>>>> the opposite :)
>>>> I am visually impaired but it is to the extent to which I can't see Power
>>>> Point slides or any presentation aids (flash cards etc).
>>>> I use the screen reading package JAWS to create the initial presentation
>>>> slideshow.
>>>> 
>>>> I expect not to have any screen reading software pre-installed on the
>>>> computer I will be using in class.
>>>> I could always use my own laptop, but that would mean changing the
>>>> configuration of the projector cables the college has setup.
>>>> 
>>>> The presentation is going to be law based, which I studied last year, but
>>>> I am unsure of the topic or any additional information about the
>>>> tutorials.
>>>> 
>>>> I don't know or use brail, I primarily work with technology.
>>>> 
>>>> I guess what I'm thinking of is, when there is a slide on the projector
>>>> screen, that they can see, what could I do in order to prompt or assist
>>>> myself?
>>>> 
>>>> Hope this information helps you understand the situation.
>>>> 
>>>> Kindest regards,
>>>> 
>>>> Niall.
>>>> On 5 Apr 2012, at 18:09, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Do you read Braille? If so, do you have a Braille note taking device?
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Niall Gallagher"
>>>>> <niall.j.gallagher.91 at gmail.com>
>>>>> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2012 9:32 AM
>>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Presentation Techniques
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi Everyone,,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I am a 3rd Year college student in Ireland.
>>>>>> As part of my studies, I must complete a work placement module
>>>>>> A part of this module will involve working with a lecturer.
>>>>>> Now, for my question, does anyone have any techniques that they may use
>>>>>> for presentations?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I have presented in front of a class before, but it has been for a very
>>>>>> brief period of time (no more than 10 minutes).
>>>>>> These upcoming presentations will be tutorials (in excess of 30
>>>>>> minutes).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I would appreciate any suggestions members of this list may have.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Kindest regards,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Niall.
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> 
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