My goal is to share my knowledge and to always try to be transparent
Back in August, Rob from LearnX reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in speaking at the Conference. Of course I jumped at the chance.
Here’s what I did to prepare myself for my session!
How I chose the topic for my session
Whenever I get the opportunity to talk at a conference and I’m asked for my topic, I reflect on my most recent pieces of work and which ones have been the most successful. Sometimes instead of focusing on a specific piece of work, I’ll focus on a topic that I’m passionate about. I find this works really well as the topic is current and fresh in my mind.
For my LearnX session I was lucky enough to be able to invite an SME to come and present my session with me. Since the project was still in early stages of its launch (3 months) he was still very close to the project and we still had a strong relationship in which we were able to talk unscripted together.
This would ensure the presentation was much more engaging.
What I focused on sharing
When I’m considering what to share in my presentation I always start by thinking about my clients IP.
I don’t need to go into anything confidential when I’m discussing the development of a project. Fellow Learning Designers are more interested in my thought process, not what went inside the course.
What I showed in my session
The first thing I work out when I’m designing a session is to confirm whether my client is happy with me showing part of their course.
In the case of my LearnX session, I explained to the course owners that I would walk through the process, show the start and end of the course and then discuss the findings. They were perfectly happy with this.
If my client wasn’t happy showing the course, I could have used screen captures. I always think that showing a live version of the course is much more interesting.
What I included in my slides
When I’m designing my slides, I try and take my learners on a journey. I use images to deliver my session and use very few instances of text, so I can use engaging narrative throughout.
I also like to have a lot of fun with my presentations, so I brand my slides up specifically for the topic.
How I communicated with my audience
Recently I’ve been using Google Slides to present my sessions at Conferences. It’s allowed me to give the audience a URL so they can ask questions anonymously and I then answer them at the end of the session. It’s been a really great way to receivce questions and get feedback that I might not normally receive.
What I tried not to do
One thing that bugs me at conference are presenters who are just there to flog their services. That’s not what I’m about. My goal is to share my knowledge and to always try to be transparent.
