Comments on: My First Presentation Experience

By: Jeanne Swedo

Jeanne Swedo — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:22:25 +0000

Wow, a rough experience to be sure – especially for your first-time presenting. My first time presenting at a national conference I was prepared — there was no Internet connection – they wanted $1200 for a hardwire. I politely said no thank you. So I used my backup system of pre-downloaded audio and video to go along with my visual preso. It went smoothly enough and we did have a healthy audience – however, no one from my own school attended and that was disappointing.

At another conference, I watched a keynote speaker being skewered on Twitter. I thought that was rude.

At yet another conference, I walked into a session only to find my pic and Twitter account on the Jumbotron. I said to the speaker – whom I did not know – gee, that’s me.

At that same conference, in one session, I was shocked at the rudeness of people walking in and out throughout the discussion. I know that session hopping is considered okay by some — but this room was not set up for that. Glass doors, noisy hallway, so the speakers were constantly bombarded with the traffic.

I have learned from all these experiences and know what I will do and not do in the future. I hope you try presenting again. Best wishes,

Jeanne S
LMS
JSerra Cath HS

By: Laura Pilker

Laura Pilker — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:40:14 +0000

Oh, Chad, what a bummer! I am still shocked that wi-fi is not ubiquitous, especially at an ed tech convention! (I guess my love for tech has me biased!) I’m thinking about starting to present at my state conference… I wonder if a broadband USB connection would save me from this type of headache… Might be something for all presenters to consider…

By: Steve Dembo

Steve Dembo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:15:38 +0000

I think many of us have a similar story. After an issue like that, I started making sure that my cell phone could always be used to tether an internet connection to my computer. That’s one backup. But the other thing I’ve started doing is for many of my presentations, I have screen shot versions. For my top 10 Web 2.0 presentation, it has about 200 slides in it for a one hour presentation. I’ve never had to use it before (thankfully), but in the absolute worst case scenario, I’d be able to drag it out and use it.

Very much a shame, but hopefully it won’t discourage you from giving it another whirl. Just file it under learning experience

By: Gail Potratz

Gail Potratz — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:46:20 +0000

Hey Chad,
Been there, done that. Sorry about your first experience with presenting. This seems to be a common theme in public or private school venues. Yesterday I spoke on Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0 at the Wisconsin Lutheran State Teachers’ conference in Milwaukee. I have to say the gal in charge of the conference,Kris Snyder, did an excellent job of making sure through a series of emails that the internet connection I desperately needed would be available and that an IT person would meet with me in the room at a pre specified time to ensure my MacBook Pro would indeed function within their networking.
Needless to say, the double sectional went off without a hitch and a lot of great social learning occurred. I’m encouraging you not to give up because if you take if the conference is a good one it will deal with these things proactively. I do think the presenter often has to go above and beyond before hand to make things go well. You’ve got a lot to offer fellow educators and I hope next time will be as smooth as silk!

By: Cathy NElson

Cathy NElson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:11:38 +0000

Same thing happened to me when I went to present at our state administrators’ summer leadership conference several years ago. Oh they got me configured alright, and my session went well, but that $4oo bill that came in the mail a week later was a total shock. I went round and round with the conference folks, showing that no where in the paperwork did it indicate connectivity was not understood. Yeah. After many arguments, the conference finally waived my bill, and the next year when calls for proposals came, that sentence was large and clear. While I loved presenting at this conference for the couple of years I did, I decided the cost was not worth it and stopped going. This is sad when there is an audience who needs to see engaged learning with technology from a librarian no less, but I cannot afford to present there. So I do know EXACTLY how you feel. Also, you learned a valuable lesson from this experience–ALWAYS go to presentations with a plan B and maybe even a plan C.