Presentations for librarians: a complete guide to creating effective, learner-centred presentations.
July 23, 2009
The author, Lee Andrew Hilyer, is Coordinator of Interlibrary loan services for the University of Houston libraries and a graduate of the College of Education at the University of Houston in instructional technology. His reason for writing this book is that he felt that the standard of presentations which he had seen showed that some practical help was very necessary to make learner centred presentations more interesting and professional. He was aware that librarians could benefit from these practical skills in giving presentations. The book can either be read right through, as a work on its own or individual chapters consulted as the need arises to seek advice on particular topics. As I and many of us have to do induction involving presentations of this kind, I felt it would be worth reading and finding out if I was doing enough to keep my audience enthralled.
The first part examines the theory behind learning and knowledge with some background information on these terms. He examines how people learn and what aspects of long term memory and cognitive load theory are involved in the learning process. It is very common to try and give far too much information which cannot be absorbed particularly by students new to the subject. One chapter is devoted to the ‘how not to’ presentation, one which will be all too familiar, with the almost comic blunders by the presenter matched by problems with the technology resulting in almost nothing remaining in the memories of the members of the audience. There then follows a chapter on the perfect presentation, with the well organized presenter turning up on time, coping with the technology, engaging with his audience and being ready with the handouts and so on.
Part two contains the practical techniques of good presentation with the 4 stages of presentation laid out clearly, namely prepare, practice, present and review. He goes into these in detail, explaining with diagrams or ‘slides’ in which he includes the PowerPoint layout idea. Along with the content and techniques, he also considers such details as the ambience of the room, and the interaction of the presenter with the audience.
There are very useful appendices on how to use PowerPoint at the end.
This is one of the best books of its kind I have come across, not unnecessarily long or full of jargon and so easy to read and follow. The chapter on learning gives just enough information to give a beginner a good grounding, particularly for librarians approaching it for the first time. It is useful that the author relates the human learning ability to the presentation experience at various stages in the book.
I found particularly useful the section in the second practical part of the book on how to structure the presentation into title slide, agenda slide, key points slide, contents and ending or final slide.. He examines how different fonts and other visual aids can make a difference to the uptake of the information. On the subject of handouts, the author suggests they are given out at the end to stop people reading them while the presenter is speaking, but I felt that it could well be that the handout complements the speaker and uses it to fill in lapses of concentration. I liked the appendices at the end on using PowerPoint; however these may become out of date quickly as new versions of the software become available.
I think the book will be of great use to health or any librarian involved in giving presentations, whether using slides or PowerPoint software or even without supporting technology, and will definitely use it as part of planning next session’s induction sessions.
- Author
- Lee Andrew Hilyer
- ISBN
- 978-1843343035
- Publisher
- Chandos
- Publisher's website
- http://www.chandospublishing.com/