[nabs-l] Presentation Techniques

Marc Workman mworkman.lists at gmail.com
Mon Apr 9 04:08:22 UTC 2012 

Hi Arielle,

I haven't used Powerpoint very much. Instead, in situations where something like that was useful, I simply created a handout containing key points and quotes. My discipline is philosophy, though, so Powerpoint isn't quite as common.

I can't think of a way that you could display the slides while reading your notes on a single machine. You'd need a second device, either another laptop or some kind of portable device like an iDevice.

I do think reading it word for word is perfectly fine when it's written and read in a particular way, just as you describe. I often do this as well and for the same reasons as you. What I was criticizing is the all too common practice at conferences of academics standing at the front and reading their papers, papers that are written for journals. I'm sure you've seen that, and I don't know about you, but it almost always forces me to fight to stay awake.

Cheers,

Marc
On 2012-04-07, at 11:11 AM, Arielle Silverman wrote:

> Hi Marc,
> I'm curious to know how you access your presentation notes/prompts on
> your laptop while also displaying the PowerPoint slides at the same
> time? Do you have to toggle continuously between the notes pane and
> the slide show or is there a way to read your notes with JAWS while
> simultaneously displaying the slides on the projector?
> While Braille has historically worked best for me, I am open to
> learning new methods especially if I end up in a situation where I
> don't have the time or resources to transcribe my notes in advance.
> What I have started doing recently is to prepare my PowerPoint
> presentation and then write out what I will be saying. I do read word
> for word from this transcript, but I write it in colloquial language
> (literally as if I were speaking out loud) and then when I read it, it
> doesn't sound like I'm reading from a book or handout. I originally
> tried doing my presentations more free-form just using prompts, but I
> found that often the delivery was awkward or I would forget key
> points, especially if the presentation was in front of important
> people evaluating my work (professors etc.) which would make me
> nervous. If I can prepare exactly what I am going to say in advance
> and then just rely on the transcript in the moment when everyone is
> watching, the delivery tends to go much better and the audience can
> stay on my train of thought. However that is just my personal style.
> Best,
> Arielle
> 
> On 4/7/12, Niall Gallagher <niall.j.gallagher.91 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Marc,
>> 
>> Your contribution is very helpful and I greatly appreciate it.
>> I have contacted the Hadley School for the Blind in order to obtain
>> materials to investigate the practice of learning and reading brail.
>> I have used my iPhone to learn my presentation, but I have yet to include it
>> in my actual presentation.
>> Keeping sentences short is the key, it has often happened me in rehearsals
>> that I have had to stop mid-point and start again.
>> 
>> I couldn't agree more that poer point slides should only be a supplement to
>> the overall presentation.
>> I am by no stretch of the imagination am experienced presenter, but it is so
>> frustrating when someone begins their presentation by saying " and today
>> I'll be reading this handout ".
>> 
>> Again, I really appreciate your contribution and on this occasion I think
>> technology will represent my presentation aid.
>> 
>> Kindest regards,
>> 
>> Niall.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Apr 7, 2012, at 12:15 AM, Marc Workman <mworkman.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> 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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>>>>> 
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