1. The Group Presentation Project

2. No one wants to do them
But working together with others and being able to communicate ideas is an important life and work skill

3. Presenting in Dr. Eckert’s Class
Make sure your presentation gives an opinion or argument on some idea: for example, evaluate the book, or solve a problem in understanding it
A short introduction is fine; but a presentation which only describes the characters is boring
Remember: the audience has already read the book or text

4. Requirements
Everyone needs to participate, but not everyone needs to speak an equal amount (e.g. TED Talk style)
About minutes (allow some time for questions)
I may stop you after 20 minutes (it’s more common for presentations to be too long)
See me about your topic first
Part of your grade will be asking questions of other groups

5. Format Choices TED Talk Live Presentation Video or Audio Podcast
Two people write, one person presents live
Higher speech standards (no scripts!)
Format Choices
Live Presentation
Safe, easier to plan
A little dull
Video or Audio Podcast
Not live on a stage
Requires planning and tech knowledge
Wikipedia Project
New emerging technology
Harder, requires research skills
Blog Discussion Site
Interesting non-linear alternative
800 words not from text minimum

6. 1. Live Presentations Better Presenting: Main Principles
Students often focus too much on what they will say and too little on how they will say it
The audience must hear and see you
Good presentations are two-way; they involve and interact with the audience

7. Evaluation
Content: Have you made an understandable argument supported by evidence?
Communication: Could the audience hear and understand you?
Did you ask questions of other groups?

8. Worst-Case Scenario Result
Students hide behind the podium and read off scripts they downloaded (yes, I can tell)
Result
Audience becomes bored and their
attention wanders; students
suddenly “need”
bathroom breaks

9. Better Non-Verbal Communication
Control the ‘video channel’ of your presentation
Make eye contact; smile
Use notes rather than scripts
Control fidgeting and movement

10. Better Non-Verbal Communication
Do not display hostility to questions with your body language, or by rushing away! The audience can tell!

11. Better Presenting: Stage Fright
Prepare your speech
Use positive visualization
Take advantage of adrenaline!
Learn your body; do you need exercise, rest, food? Coffee/no coffee, alcohol?
Avoid dairy products

12. PowerPoint Tutorial Most of you know how to use PowerPoint
The skill we need to discuss is making good PowerPoints
PowerPoints are optional

13. #1 Typical Problem with PPTs
Students divide tasks and their slides to one editor
Result
Slide sections discuss the same topic
Slide sections have no logical connection
Slide graphics have no consistency

14. Better Group Work
Meet repeatedly, before and after assembling the PowerPoint
Be clear on how tasks will be divided
Be able to explain the reason why tasks are divided as they are, and how they connect to each other

15. Suggestion 1: Less is More
One thing you will notice with Al Gore’s or Steve Jobs’ presentations is that most of the slides have no text on them; they are visuals. There is a mix of photographs, graphs, and added video clips. When they do use a slide with text, there is very little text.

16. Suggestion 2: Tell People the Structure
If your material is complex and covers various sub-subjects, have a table of contents at the beginning of your presentation so that the audience knows what the sequence of topics is, and remind your audience periodically of where you are in the sequence.

17. Suggestion 3: High Contrast
If you want your audience to be able to see what you have on the slide, there needs to be a lot of contrast between the text color and the background color. Most projectors make colors duller than they appear on a screen.

18. Suggestion 4: Use Big Fonts
The most important thing in choosing fonts is readability
Avoid strange fonts which are hard to read
Avoid tiny fonts

19. Suggestion 5: Do Not Put References on the Last Slide!
Don’t show a useless “List of references” slide at the end for one second just to show that you have one. This is bad practice for two reasons: 1) Your audience has no time to read them, and 2) The print will be too small. If you must include references, put them on the same slide as the information they refer to.
Example

20. X Don’t do This! References
Aragay, Mireia. “Inf(l)ecting Pride and Prejudice: Dialogism, Intertextuality, and Adaptation.” Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship, edited by Aragay, Rodopi, 2005, pp
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice Oxford University Press, 1984.
Bach, Susanne. “May I Laugh about Women’s Lib? or: The Difficult Relationship of Humour and Feminism in Margaret Atwood, Caryl Churchill, and Helen Fielding.” Gender and Laughter: Comic Affirmation and Subversion in Traditional and Modern Media, edited by Gaby Pailer, Andreas Böhn, Stefan Horlacher, and Ulrich Schreck, Rodopi, 2009, pp
Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Helene Iswolsky, Indiana University Press, 1984.
Bayless, Martha. Parody in the Middle Ages: The Latin Tradition. University of Michigan Press, 1996.
Bridget Jones’s Diary. Directed by Sharon Maguire, Miramax / Universal Pictures, 2001.
Brown, Alistair. “Communication Technology and Narrative: Letters, Instant Messaging, and Mobile Phones in Three Romantic Novels.” Poetics Today, vol. 26, no. 1-2, 2015, pp
Case, Alison. “Authenticity, Convention, and Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Bridget Jones Online Archive,
Davis-Kahl, Stephanie. “The Case For Chick Lit in Academic Libraries.” Collection Building, vol. 27, no. 1, 2008, pp
Ferriss, Suzanne. “Narrative and Cinematic Doubleness: Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction, edited by Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young, Routledge, 2006, pp
Ferriss, Suzanne. “Working Girls: The Precariat of Chick Lit.” Cupcakes, Pinterest, and Ladyporn: Feminized Popular Culture in the Early Twenty-First Century, edited by Elana Levine, University of Illinois Press, 2015, pp
Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Picador, 1997.
Francus, Marilyn. “Austen Therapy: Pride and Prejudice and Popular Culture.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal Online, vol. 30, no. 2, 2010, X
Don’t do
This!

21. Movie Versions of Shakespeare
Source: “Shakespeare in Film,” Wikipedia

22. Bad slide making 1

23. Bad slide making 2

24. Good slide making 1

25. Good slide making 2

26. Good slide making 3

27. Good slide making 4

28. Good slide making 5

29. Good slide making 6

30. Good slide making 7

31. 2: Video Presentations
Write, produce, and edit a project where you discuss issues in the text
Could be group panel style, or TED-talk style
Typical problem a: Filler video segments (walking around campus, long movie clips). Dude, we know you’re just filling space.
Typical problem b: bad sound quality

32. 2a: Podcast
Create and produce an audio presentation where you discuss the text’s issues (again, round table or other format)
Typical problem a: Filler audio segments (extra long scenes from movie versions)
Typical problem b: bad sound quality
(you can use my microphone)

33. 3: Wikipedia Project
Edit or create a Wikipedia page connected to a text in this course
Challenge 1: There are usually already pages for the texts in this course– you’ll need to add text or create a page for a minor character or issue.
Challenge 2: You need to research links and references to any claims you make. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and doesn’t accept any personal opinions or arguments.

34. 4: Blog Discussion
Create a WordPress or similar web site where you discuss issues related to the text.
You’ll need to create menus and logical/graphic divisions for the parts of the discussion.
You’ll need some web skills for design and
coding of the site.
Minimum 800 words not quoted from
the text.