Thing 20 – Presentations

I really can’t remember the first presentation that I did, but I suspect that it was before some of you were born!  It might seem obvious now, but the technology that was available has changed so much over the years; some of it has been helpful but there has also been a sense that people use technology as the most important part of the presentation, rather than being just a tool.  I suspect that most of us have suffered “death by PowerPoint”, the program is extremely useful and I use it as the basis for most sessions, however, as has been mentioned on Rudai, you do have to be careful about use.  The PowerPoint should just have the bullet points that you can expand on during your presentation.  Another thing that is a bit of a bugbear for me is spelling and punctuation; it really is frustrating to sit and look at a slide where there is a glaring mistake.

Most of my presentations have been part of my work in the School Library Service running sessions for teachers and librarians but I have also undertaken training in the Public Library side of my career.  Perhaps the most scary was a presentation at the British Library about a joint use library project with a colleague from City of Bristol College; an audience made up of Heads of Service can be very daunting.

I have thought about using other methods of presentation and have had a go at Prezi in the past, I just checked and I joined in 2012 but I cannot remember when I last used it.  In fact I just had a look and found just one practice piece, which I am putting up on this blog.  Maybe now is the time to go back and try again.

Well one day later I have had a go at doing another Prezi.  I still need to become familiar with the terminology but I hope that I am getting better.  I think it will show 7 “slides” rather than 6 because there is one which is a sub-slide of another.  Anyway here is my effort.

 

Back from Conference

The past week has been particularly hectic for a large group of school librarians.  First we had the School Library Association conference in Manchester over the weekend and on Monday there was the announcement of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway book awards which had been shadowed by around 5000 groups nationally.  I was extremely lucky and attended both of these events, so I am now trying to catch up with sleep and all my emails etc.

I have a soft spot for Manchester as I spent 2 years there as a library school student in the early 1970s.  The city has changed dramatically, but it is still a hub for libraries and books, as I was reminded as I drove past the  world renownedJohn Rylands Library. There is also the newly refurbished central library, with the great round reading room, and the Cheetham’s Library which is part of the school.  The venue for the weekend was great with quite luxurious rooms (compared with student accommodation from past years) and all the talks, workshops, cake tastings within easy distance on the hotel mezzanine floor.

A comfortable sleep

A comfortable sleep

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We’re going on a Bear Hunt.

 

Whilst meeting authors and illustrators is the icing on the cake, conference is really about updating skills and gaining knowledge.  This is not just from the talks and workshops but also through the networking with colleagues from a range of other school settings.

There were two keynote sessions and both provided a lot of interest. Despite all my years in the profession and all the people I have met, I think this is the first time that I have had the pleasure of hearing Malorie Blackman speak.  She was in discussion with the lovely Wendy Cooling and the topics ranged from her role as the children’s laureate to her love of libraries and how they had been important throughout her life.  She was so full of enthusiasm and a wonderful ambassador when talking to members of the government.2014-06-20 15.06.01The second keynote session was by Niall  McWilliams, the head at Carterton Community School and winner of the School Library design award.  It was great to have a headteacher who was so supportive of the role that school libraries and their librarians have in the achievements of the school.

Workshops were wide ranging, from storytelling to EPQ  and also how librarians can work with publishers.  I particularly enjoyed author Steve Hartley who persuaded about 10 of us to step inside the most enormous pair of knickers that we had ever seen.

Really big knickers

Really big knickers

He also spoke about the importance of humour in connecting children to reading, something that we could all agree on.

It was also great to see the ever cheerful and brilliant Neil Griffiths, who as a headteacher many years ago had come up with the idea of Story-sacks.  He is wonderful at showing how storytelling SHOULD be done, so that the children are truly captivated by the experience.

Finally, I attended a workshop with Alyx Price from Macmillan and Harriet Bayly from Oxford University Press who were discussing how schools can work directly with publishers in a variety of ways.  This can range from reviewing proofs of new books to having author visits.  Publishers can also provide materials such as bookmarks which are always very popular with the pupils.

One of the really great things about a conference is usually the exhibition.  This one covered a wide range of areas for school librarians but it was rather short on publisher stands.  However those that did attend were friendly and very helpful, giving everyone a chance to catch up on what is new out there.  Overall this was a lovely conference which stimulated the mind and provided much needed time to talk to colleagues.