Good Workshop Presenters vs Not-so-good Workshop Presenters

I spent the first two days of this week at a workshop for librarians and library technicians hosted by our library software company. The best outcome of the two days is that it has inspired me reflect on good workshop presenters vs. not-so-good workshop presenters and has given me the necessary push I needed to start a professional blog.

As a PYP teacher, I have attended several IBO PYP workshops over the last few years and I now appreciate even more the workshop leadership training that the teachers who lead those workshops take part in. I have also been to other workshops of varying lengths presented by various individuals and organizations but the most have been only a day or shorter.

Registration took place in a library where there was room to mingle and then everyone sat down at the round tables. We did a quick share of who we are, our school and our position and then we moved to a computer lab. Had this been a PYP workshop, I suspect we would have had some sort of activity to get us moving and mingling prior to changing rooms – perhaps sorting ourselves along a continuum based on library experience, or how far we traveled to come to the workshop. As it was, once we were installed in the computer lab, people interacted with the people closest to them – often the ones from their school (and if me and my colleagues were typical, others online). Working with a group when everyone is behind a computer and connected to the Internet comes with its own benefits and challenges.

One element of every PYP workshop I have attended (as well as some other workshops) has been a way of recording the participants’ “burning questions/issues”. (I have seen this done primarily with chart paper and Post-it® notes but why not set up an online bulletin board at wallwisher or stixy?) The presenters review the questions posted by participants during breaks or at the end of the day and address them when the group gathers again. Presenters need not claim to have all the answers but they should answer what they can and hunt for the answers they don’t have. The later is sometimes as easy as polling the room for another participant who can share their knowledge or experience.

In our classrooms, we encourage active listening, co-construction of knowledge and plenty of time for sharing. Teachers are often a difficult audience for presenters – they frequently prefer to talk instead of listening. Opportunities to share in partners or small group or whole group can release some of the side conversations that take place. Presenters do well to have many tricks up their sleeve as good teachers – simply asking if anyone has any questions rarely elicits much reaction. Unfortunately one of our workshop presenters became argumentative (his word) when questioned about the software he was presenting. Another wished to demonstrate new and improved features of the latest version but clicked along too quickly with very little commentary and so we were unable to follow along our own library catalogs. A series of annotated screenshots and/or screencasts with voice-over might have made this easier.

One of the presenters took a stab at using web 2.0 tools and started our second day by creating an Etherpad. Unfortunately the buzz petered out when only 16 people in the room could access it at one time and not many people added to it (even the presenters had to be reminded to add links at times). I have been to workshops where the presenters have created wikis for the session but personally after the workshop, I have rarely visited them. I have also used a Google doc with a group, but we had problems with delays in changes showing up. What collaborative tools have you used successfully?

At one point, we had a PowerPoint presentation on weeding library books. This would have been a great place to introduce the Awful Library books blog for some fantastic examples and visuals. Instead we were treated to monochromatic slides of bulleted lists that the presenter read to us. I found myself falling into the horrible trap of madly trying to copy down the information and failing to get it all before the slide had changed which interfered with my listening. At the end she mentioned the URL for the PDF where much of her information had been gathered so all my mad copying was for naught anyway. (If you haven’t seen the humorous video, “How Not to Use PowerPoint”, you can watch it here.)

I have been to disappointing IB workshops and not all the good workshops I have been to have been interactive. As an example of an engaging non-participatory workshop, I attended a fabulous workshop on library design presented by Kevin Hennah at ISB in August (Kim Cofino blogged about it here). Kevin showed us hundreds of slides and talked at us for hours but for his presentation the combination of fabulous photos and interesting patter was plenty to keep me engaged. However this was definitely an exception not the rule.

What do you think are the characteristics of a good workshop presenter?

5 thoughts on “Good Workshop Presenters vs Not-so-good Workshop Presenters

  1. Megan,

    Glad you are blogging! I share many of your frustrations with this workshop and feel so selfish with my time spent with a group of my colleagues. We librarians are so often isolated that I want to take full advantage of every minute of PD we have together instead of feeling underwhelmed. Just to let you know–a big group of Shanghai librarians are trying to put together a symposium/workshop for us and by us. I’ll send you the link once I get it. Then we can all offer workshops based on our passions and learn from each other. So much to learn…

  2. Hi Megan

    Always glad to discover other PYP teachers’ blogs! (and make new connections in the PYP world)

    We had one workshop at our school with very uninspiring presenters. Now I’m thinking about one I went to that was really good in order to answer your question … What makes a good workshop presenter? I think passion and enthusiasm are very important. On the whole, with those 2 qualities, the style of presentation matters less!

  3. Welcome to the blogosphere Megan! Off to a great start I see.

    I’m pleased you have had mostly positive experiences with PYP workshops! I am doing a PYP workshop later this month & I have set up a wallwisher already – gotta get them online I say!

    I am hoping to attend http://www.learning2.asia/ which I note has a cohort for the changing role of libraries & schools. It would be great to see you there!

    Good luck with the blogging – I’m looking forward to your next post already 🙂

  4. Pingback: Too much time online?

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