INCORPORATING 10 ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES IN YOUR POWERPOINT!

INTRO: To get back on track and to refresh this blog series that began circa 1959, here again are my TOP 10 BREAK-THE–MOLD POWERPOINT TECHNIQUES:

10. Color
9. Slide Movement
8. Letter and Word Movement
7. Simple Visuals
6. Complex Visuals
5. Sound Effects
4. Music Clips
3. Video Clips
2. Engagement Activities
And the Number 1 Technique
1. Humor

If you missed any of these topics, go back to my previous blogs. Yesterday, I finished up #3 on Video Clips, but I’d like to refer you to 1 more excellent video reference by a colleague, Michael Miller, at University of Texas, San Antonio:

Miller, M. V. (2009). Integrating online multimedia into college course and classroom: With applications to the social sciences. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 5(2), 395–423. (http://jolt.merlot.org/vol5no2/miller_0609.pdf)

Now we move onto #2 in the list:

2. ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
How do you incorporate engagement in a PowerPoint presentation? If you don't engage them, they'll be comatose in no time. It’s a MUST in presentations and in teaching to keep your audience involved in learning what you have to deliver. The work here is creating meaningful exercises for your audience. Everyone should have a handout of ALL of your content slides so they are not scrambling to write down what you are saying; they can jot down additional points you make.

Below are 10 suggestions and the PowerPoint solution:

1. Classic Fill-in-the-Blank Trick—Leave blanks for REEEAALLY IMPORTANT words on a few key slides the audience will be required to complete. (REMEMBER: The blanks are in the handout; the PowerPoint slide reveals the words for those blanks.) Don’t overdo it. I typically have blanks on 5 slides out of 100.
2. Questions to Be Answered by Hand-Raises—Ask your audience questions throughout your presentation to check if they’re still alive.
3. Survey with a Rating Scale or Checklist—Include 1 or 2 surveys in the handout for the audience to complete related to the topic--1 at the beginning and another later in the presentation. The scale may or may not be on the screen while they are completing it. I have the name of the scale on the screen and then play the Jeopardy! theme as they’re answering the items. That produces laughter every time.
4. Audience Reads Content on Slides—On particular slides, let the audience read some of the lines instead of reading to them.
5. Exercise on the Slide—Describe an exercise on the slide for a think-pair-share or other small group activity. Tell them how much time they have. Give them a 1 minute warning before drawing them back.
6. Audience Provides Answers—After an individual or group activity, ask the audience to shout out answers (if a mike isn’t available). Slide info may prompt answers.
7. Open Q & A—Have an open discussion with the audience at any time you deem it appropriate. Use a black slide so audience focuses on you.
8. Skit or Demonstration—Request members of your audience to participate in a skit to illustrate a concept, to stimulate an individual or group activity, or elicit responses to a problem. Parodies of TV programs, popular movies, and Broadway shows can be unforgettable. Prep the participants in advance. You may have content on the slide or a black slide.
9. Music or Video Clip Reaction—After a clip, ask the audience to circle their answers to multiple-choice questions in the handout or write their answers. They can also discuss answers with others.
10. Answers with Clickers—If your audience has clickers, design questions throughout the presentation and a multiple-choice quiz summary at the end to elicit their reactions and responses. They can see their summary responses in graphic form instantaneously.

There has to be at least 1 of the above techniques you can include in your next PowerPoint. Just Do It. Your audience will love it.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

HOW TO ADD MUSIC CLIPS TO YOUR POWERPOINT! Part I

4. MUSIC CLIPS

BACKGROUND: Using music as a tool for presentations and teaching across all disciplines is not new. However, the technology has made it so easy to execute that music has become a powerful add-on to increase the impact of PowerPoints.

I started including music clips in the form of cassette tapes (Remember them?) before PowerPoint in my statistics courses 20 years. They were used to accompany classroom demonstrations, parodies and skits, and introductions to new topics.

In 2005 I converted over to PowerPoint, but the trip was painful. No one in my academic circle knew how to extract a clip, convert it to wav format, and insert it into PowerPoint. Neither PowerPoint instructors nor IT experts knew the mechanics of that process. Certainly, there was no faculty demand for music, so IT support didn’t bother to address it.

After many hours of trial and error as a nontechy, I finally learned to do the conversion in spring 2006 with 1 piece of software. Almost 4 years later, music has become an integral part and, in fact, trademark of every PowerPoint presentation I make on every “serious” topic. It contributes an emotional dimension to each presentation that sets the tone throughout and engages my audience. I have conducted numerous workshops in the past 2 years to faculty audiences at conferences and institutions on the mechanics because they too don’t receive the support they need.

To start the musical ball rolling, I would like to identify a few key sources on music below. My future blogs will list the (1) types of music you could use, (2) generic techniques for infusing music into any presentation, and (3) available software for importing music into your PowerPoint.

BERK SOURCES: I recommend you download my most recent article on music from my Website (http://www.ronberk.com/; see link in right margin) which reviews the research and describes the techniques in depth with loads of examples (click Publications, then Articles):

Berk, R. A. (2008c). Music and music technology in college teaching: Classical to hip hop across the curriculum. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 4(1), 45–67.

That article extends the work in a previous article:

Berk, R. A. (2001b).Using music with demonstrations to trigger laughter and facilitate learning in multiple intelligences. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 12(1), 97–107.

and chapter in my Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator book (Stylus link in right margin).

If you are interested in using music to create parodies of TV programs, movies, and Broadway shows, parody scripts for Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and many others are in the Defib chapter. The step-by-step procedures for developing a parody using CSI as an example are presented in the final chapter of my latest 2009 book Top Secret Tips…(see Coventry Press link in margin).

My next blog will cover types of music and a dozen generic techniques. See you then. Let me know if you have experimented with music.

COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC