Vindication!

Well, I'm happy to report that despite coming down with a stomach bug overnight (fortunately very mild and symptoms controlled with PeptoBismal), our presentation on early literacy (for early childhood teachers) today went much better than the last one! Not that there isn't always a little room for improvement, overall I was very pleased with it.

We applied the lessons we learned from the last time, and I scrapped the slides from before (which was recycled from someone else's presentation due to time constraints) and started from scratch, greatly reducing the number of slides, the amount of text on each slide and eliminating repetition. I had time to really think about what I was going to say and what examples to show, and we carefully selected which books and items to take so we weren't so overwhelmed. I think it was just about right this time, and while I was still a tad nervous, I was much more relaxed than last time.

It helped that we had an audience that seemed much more engaged than our previous one, and I'm happy to report that no one in the first session went to sleep! In the second session there were a few that were nodding off at times, but I think that had more to do with the fact it was after lunch, very warm in the room, and the attendees had been there since around 8:00 am, than it did our presentation. At least no one decided to just put their heads on the desk and blatantly take a nap like last time! We had more questions and comments than before, and quite a few attendees complimented us and sincerely thanked us for coming. 

Would I do anything differently next time? I don't really think so. I think this time I had the slides just right, and my delivery was much better, so it's just a matter of continuing to get experience and becoming even more comfortable with public speaking. 

In case you're curious, our presentation covered what early literacy is (and isn't!), early literacy skills/components, the five practices (talk, sing, play write, & read), tips for selecting books for preschool read alouds, tips for keeping kids engaged in a read-aloud, how your library can help you, and other resources.

The other cool thing was I got to meet John Archambault, co-author of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! He was the keynote speaker for the event, and was very gracious, posing for pictures and talking to everyone, and he autographed the sign that was on the door of our presentation room.

Let's Try This Again...

Last fall I had the opportunity to challenge myself and give an early literacy presentation for child care workers and preschool teachers, along with my manager. I am always looking for opportunities to expand my repertoire and gain new skills and experiences, so I was glad to do it. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as well as I'd hoped.

To start with, we only had 2 weeks to put it together, and with me being only part-time and my boss being a very busy outreach manager, that amounted to very little time! We did the best we could, but it just really wasn't enough time to prepare adequately. I knew the material well, but I did not have the actual presentation of it down. Plus, I got a little nervous, and when I'm nervous I tend to talk too fast. I forgot to pause and show examples, and realized it was too repetitive, and the slides were way too text heavy. To make matters worse, two of the attendees blatantly put their heads down on their desks and went to sleep! 

Fast forward to this spring, and we were asked to do a similar presentation for another early childhood "summit" by another group, which is this coming Saturday. This time around I hope I have learned from the mistakes the last time. The slide presentation is shorter, much less text, and larger fonts, and is more focused. Also, we fortunately were asked to focus on just preschoolers, whereas last time we covered birth through age 5. We've also had more time, so hopefully I will know the presentation much better. I'm really hoping I'm more relaxed, too! I am not afraid of public speaking, and right now the idea of doing it doesn't make me anxious in the least. But then when the time comes, the nerves start to kick in!

But one really good thing is that my manager is much more accustomed to public speaking and does a great job. The other great thing is that our session is not until 10:15am, versus 8:00 am the last time! So I can get a little more sleep, and get there early enough to have time to set up without feeling rushed, and have a chance to relax. I am just not fully functional at 8:00 in the morning!!

So, anyone have any advice for keeping the nerves at bay and keeping the audience awake? Short of an air horn, that is 😈

When Things Don't Go Quite The Way You Hoped

Don't you hate it when programs don't go quite as well as you envisioned?

I recently had the opportunity to expand my repertoire and help plan and present a program on early literacy and storytime. The local school system was hosting an early education "summit" for area preschool and daycare workers to provide the opportunity for continuing education credits. They asked the library to send someone to present a session, and the task fell to my manager and I offered to help. Developmentally-appropriate educational practices is something I'm passionate about, and I'm always glad for opportunities for professional development.

We had less than two weeks to pull it together, and we both already had full schedules, but we managed. We started with a Power Point from a similar presentation someone else had done a few years ago, and re-purposed it to fit what we were asked to cover with some major revisions and reformatting to make it more aesthetically pleasing, and pulled several books and other materials for show-and-tell. I envisioned presenting it to a group of dedicated preschool teachers interested in hearing the pearls of wisdom we would present and benefiting from our experience and the ways the library could help them, asking questions and being engaged.

It didn't quite go that way. First, I didn't deliver quite as stellar a performance as I would like. I wasn't terrible, but I definitely could've been better. Luckily my boss is a better and more experienced presenter & public speaker! I kept forgetting the examples I meant to show or demonstrate, and accidentally did some of the slides she was supposed to do.  <<Oops!>> I also realized as we were doing it that the material was too repetitive and it needed to be streamlined and organized differently, with more audience participation built in.

But, the really frustrating part is that instead of an audience that was engaged and making an effort to get something out of the presentation, we ended up with an audience that seemed largely disinterested. It seemed most of them were just there because they had to get the CEU's, and really didn't care to learn anything. There were two little groups that kept talking and I was tempted to give my storytime spiel about "...listening ears, eyes up front, and catch a bubble."

The worst was 2 girls blatantly *put their heads down on the table and went to sleep!!* I know my part got a little dull and dry in the middle for a bit, but geesh, it wasn't *that* bad! (We did move on to something very interactive that required EVERYONE to stand up and participate.) There were at least a handful that behaved professionally and were really there to learn, engaging and asking questions, and thanking us at the end.

Would I ever do a similar presentation again? Yes, and I hope I get another opportunity. For one, just to prove to myself I can do it better. What would I do differently? 

• Hopefully have more notice and thus time to plan and prepare properly!!!
• Pick a more specific focus and purpose
• Design our own Power Point from scratch rather than try to recycle someone else's that doesn't quite fit our topic or style, with fewer slides
• Streamline it more and better organize so there is not as much overlap & repetition
• Incorporate more interaction with the audience
• Have time to really commit the presentation to memory, so I don't forget to demonstrate, show examples, and do interactive elements when I intend to.
• Don't bring so much stuff.
• Decide in advance how to handle talking/sleeping/otherwise distracting attendees.
• If at all possible, don't have it first thing in the morning (this was out of our control).
• TRY to be more relaxed

It mostly boils to having enough time to properly prepare. I think I did the best I could considering how little time we had to put it together, it was too early in the morning, and that the last time I presented to a group of adults was 25 years ago for my thesis defense! But at least a few people did seem to appreciate it and get something out of it, and I got some valuable practice and experience.

So, if it were you, how would you handle people talking or sleeping through your presentation??

"How-To" Festival Program - "How To Ice A Cupcake"

I got to do something a little different last week. While I normally do preschool literacy outreach, i.e. storytime, this week I did a program geared for adults (but kids were welcome, too).

The library I work at hosted a "How-To" Festival, with informational sessions going on most of the day about all kinds of things: urban chicken farming, jewelry-making, knitting, self-defense, college financial planning, and more. Some were hands-on, most were demonstration. After a presenter from a local bakery backed out, I was asked to fill-in as I used to have a home-based cake business prior to working at the library, and I was happy to do it (I've been dying for the chance to put my cake decorating skills to use in programming).

(Click on photos to see full size images)

The only downside was that I was only slated for a 30 minute time slot, which boils down to about 15 minutes after you allow 5 minutes to quickly set up, 5 minutes of questions, and 5 minutes to clean up. So I had to really pare it down to showing just two of the most basic techniques. I have both step-by-step photos (click on the collages to view them in a larger size), and video segments with verbal instructions and tips (click on the links within each segment, or the complete list at the end).

First, to prep the bag and fill halfway with buttercream icing:

The first technique I call the "Ice Cream Swirl" because it looks like a soft-serve ice cream cone. This is for the icing lover!

Next is the "Rosette", which I prefer. There is a current trend to decorate birthday and wedding cakes by simply covering them with these large rosettes. Looks elegant and fancy, but so easy to do with a little practice! There is also a slow-motion video of this technique so you can really get a feel for the wrist movement and tip angles.

This next one is slightly more challenging, but so impressive! By carefully loading the pastry bag with different colors of icing, you get a rainbow effect! I used three colors here, but beginners should start with two. The rainbow technique works well for both the ice cream swirl and rosette techniques.

I also mentioned several ways to embellish them, with a few examples, such as: colored sugars; rainbow, chocolate, or pearl jimmies, shaped sprinkles, and pre-made icing decorations (these should all be applied as soon as you are finished piping while the surface of the icing is still wet).

And here's a time-lapse video that shows preparing the bag and piping a rosette. I decided not to embed all of the video segments I made, but links to them have been included both in the body of this post and at the end.

I had several families attend, and I think it went pretty well other than being a little rushed and only being a demonstration. I really would have liked to have more time and be able to make it a hands-on activity. I think people would have gotten more out of it that way, but that decision was not up to me. I think I did the best I could in the very limited time I was allowed. I had one little girl come up to me at the end to ask about how to load the different colored icings in the bag for the rainbow technique, and she couldn't have been more than seven, but she was so poised and articulate and sounded so grown up asking her question!

I had expected more questions, but only got a few, and only one person took one of the books I had on display to check-out. I suspect that several people came not so much out of a sincere interest in learning how to decorate cupcakes, but in the hope they would get to eat cupcakes. If that was the case, they were sadly disappointed since our Policies & Procedures prohibits us from giving out homemade food items to the public. So I gave them to my co-workers instead :)

I hope I get an opportunity to do some kind of stand-alone program using my cake decorating skills, but one with more time, hands-on, and marketed a little differently. Some ideas I have are cupcakes, how to ice a cake like a pro, how to reproduce your child's favorite character on a cake, mini-gingerbread houses, or cookie decorating.

**Slight Disclaimer - The photos from my actual program did not turn out very well and missed a lot of steps, so I re-created my demo after the fact in order to get better, step-by-step photos and try to get some video. I decided not to embed all the videos, but links to them are listed below if you'd like to see them and hear the instructions and tips. They are generally about 1-2 minutes in length, and are admittedly pretty amateur.

Videos:
Piping Bag Preparation
Ice Cream Swirl
Rosette & Embellishments
Rainbow Swirl
Rainbow Rosette
Rosette In Slo-Mo
Spiky Cupcake Time Lapse

Here's a video with highlights of the "How-To" Festival so you can see the variety of programs that were offered.