Winter Exhibition 2018
Pecha Kucha. Most of you besides my teachers and peers will have no idea what this means. This is the way I presented my learning at the Winter Exhibition 2018! A Pecha Kucha is similar to a keynote or power point, but each slides automatically changes every 20 seconds and there is 20 slides. 20×20! So, that means a 6 minute and 40 second presentation. What did we present about you ask? Well, this unit our driving question in Maker and Humanities was…
WHY DOES IT TAKE A CRAZY PERSON TO CHANGE THE WORLD?
We wrote a essay on the question, presented a mini Pecha Kucha about someone in the “Think Different” apple campaign (link to that blog here), made a short documentary type video on our trip to Seattle on the mission to answer the driving question (blog post link here), and so much more. So, to end off the unit we presented a almost 7 minute Pecha Kucha to 40+ people with NO SCRIPT or NOTES! Oh and we got to focus on anything that we were intrested in that has to do with the driving question! So, let me show you the slides I used and then ill get into what my presentation was about.
The lesson I wanted people to leave with after my presentation was DO WHAT YOU WANT. I focused on Bill Gates, Dale Chihuly, and Paul Allen. Why? Because after Seattle, I sensed a theme through everything to do with those guys. They all did what they wanted. No matter what happened they always followed there instinct and well, it took them down a great path. Gates and Allen have been the richest men on the earth at a point in time, and Chihuly’s art is worldly known. After seeing their life accomplishments like Microsoft, MoPOP, and Chihuly’s Garden and Glass, I knew I wanted to focus on these individuals. I felt it was important to this project that I chose people that I was really interested in. This presentation was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my almost 3 years of PLP because…
- No script or presenter notes meaning I had to remember everything I want to get across!
- Presenting in front a FULL room of family, people I don’t know, and teachers…
- Little prep time and lots of unexpected rule changes!
Looking back, I knew if all went to the worst, and I forgot everything I wanted to say, I knew deep down I’d be okay. Why? As I like to say it, I “overstood” this topic to the point I could fully talk for 7 minutes about why Allen, Chihuly and Gates did what THEY wanted, without a script or even reminders. And well, that’s what happened. I genuinely forgot mostly everything I had planned to say because I was so nervous. And well, it went good. Unlike some of the other presentations, mine didn’t feel scripted. Because it wasn’t… Haha. The scripty sounding ones were really good as they got everything across, but you could tell it was scripted. Some presentations I really enjoyed were Lucas’s and Jamie’s. Both of these guys did a really good job at this task.
Also, our space where we presented was cafe themed! It was very cozy and cute.
Some skills I gained/improved on during this unit were…
1. How to overcome the fear of public presentation. Being thrown into a presentation like this you develop a strength and feeling of “I can do this.” This doesn’t mean other presentations wont be scary, but I’ll know behind the nervousness I’ll be okay.
2. How to relate information to another situation. There are so many projects we did with this driving question so I took information from my essays, mini Pecha Kucha, the Seattle trip, the Seattle video, etc. I used the fact I had done so many projects on this question to my advantage to enhance this presentation.
3. How to move past the anger or stubbornness, as nothing will change if you don’t. I was really against the things we had thrown at us during this project but as the presentation date came closer and closer, I gave up on being stubborn and got to work. Next time something like new rules or new restrictions come up, I’ll make myself think back to this project.
4. Proper presentation skills! From trial and error I learnt how you should never pick one focus point, always smoothly look around the room. Don’t talk too fast and leave appropriate moments of silence to let the audience think.
5. How to use images to there full advantage! Because we had to use our own photos, I dug deep into my Seattle photos (and other photos) to try to find photos that speak what I’m trying to get across without words. This way of using media will be helpful in anything I do as anything I do has photos or videos!
I have learnt so much this term, my brain is filled with the answers I have to the driving question. Seattle and the discussions we had in class truly educated me. While I didn’t enjoy some of the rules of the Pecha Kucha like how it was 20 seconds not us tapping the screen to change the slide, and how we didn’t get presenter notes… I’m happy I did it because it was different and out of my comfort zone. And: I found a strong theme within extremely successful individuals of “DO WHAT YOU WANT.” Which I think will help me stay true to myself for all of my educational career and after educational career. Next tine if I have to do anything like this, I want to have a more open mind towards intimidating projects like this, because that will just make my and my teachers lives easier! Overall, this project was very successful in my mind.