What is a Good Presentation?

Tomorrow's deep learning edtech workshop was created, in part, to move away from the "sage on the stage" model of professional presentation and share. So many of us have sat through tiresome presentations and wished we could be elsewhere from time to time. Yet, there have also been times when I've been riveted by an audience and presentation. Just recently at the Teaching and Learning Conference in DC, I was struck by the dynamic presentations. Many took the form of short, targeted panel discussions, and many of the presenters were notable figures in education, film, government, and leadership.

I like the way Educon promotes their presentations as conversations. So tomorrow, when I present, I'll try to meet the following goals:

• Ask questions and elicit conversation, share, discussion, and response.
• Invite multi-tasking. If the presentation is not meeting someone's need or if it leads them to looking up facts, creating, writing, or tweeting--that's alright by me. 
• Work with the participants as a team with the focus on how we can share, synthesize, and revise our knowledge and work together to better teach the children we serve. 

There's always trepidation when it comes to presenting to your peers as you know well that there's always lots of great ideas, expertise, and experience in the audience. The key to deep learning and share is to respond to those you are learning with by encouraging and engaging voice, actively learning together, and reaching share and some synthesis in the end.