OK – “Live and Learn” they say. And I did.
In an earlier post I was considering the value of PechaKucha – where you have 20 PowerPoint slides automatically advancing each 20 seconds for your presentation. I didn’t like the idea, thinking that technology was driving us instead of us using technology.
After my PechaKucha presentation at iGBL (the Irish Symposium on Game Based 
Learning), and after reflecting on the many, many presentations at conferences that I have survived, I think I have changed my mind – not entirely, but somewhat. I used PechaKucha for my presentation and heard others as they used this format – all of us in the same room following one another with questions from the listeners after all of us were done.
When done well, the format gets people through the information at a nice pace and provides a complete presentation in a very reasonable amount of time. Of course, “when done well” is a caveat for nearly all presentations or use of technology. But, still, it is a format that should be considered for more conference presentations to keep them moving and on time. And when providing time for questions afterwards, then the details can be filled in and the time spent on things the audience is interested in and wants to know about.
So, my change is from not being a slave to technology, to what it really always was: being a partner with technology to the best possible outcome.
Oh, and my presentation went well! (of course)
