TIPS FOR PRESENTING AT EDUCATION CONFERENCES

Looking for ways to better engage your audience when invited to speak or present at a teacher’s conference? Here are some easy tips below that can help ensure that your audience walks away not only inspired by what you have to say but also with the ability to implement the changes you speak of at their school or in their classroom!

• Keep the Data to a Minimum: While you may be interested in the background details and statistics surrounding your topic, your audience most likely doesn’t share your same passion. While data can be helpful in driving a point or points home, it’s not always necessary to include all the facts and figures in your presentation or speech. Instead, consider providing your audience with handouts or links to different resources where they can access the data themselves.

• Limit the Sharing of Personal Experiences: As a presenter or speaker, the natural tendency is to share personal stories about successes one may have had at a prior school or school(s); however, as entertaining and uplifting as these stories may be, they tend to leave the audience empty-handed. And what I mean is, simply explaining how one implemented change doesn’t actually address the steps the audience should take themselves, nor does it provide them with the tools to do so.

• Understand the Audience’s Individual Needs: Another common tendency is to assume that everyone in your audience shares the same needs and perspective – they don’t. Your audience is a mix of mainstream teachers, specialists and support staff, some of whom teach split-grade classes or multi-level classes, some of whom are in leadership positions, and all with varying levels of experience in the field of education. Their needs and perspectives are most definitely not all the same. To assist you in coming up with a strategy to prepare a session that not only addresses the individuality of educators in your session, but also helps them to implement changes based on their current teaching situation see: Creating Effective Professional Development for Teachers.
  

• Vary Your Session: If you’ve been asked to present or speak at various conferences on the same topic, it’s a good idea to vary the session you will be sharing based on your audience. For example, educators who work at international schools vs educators who work domestically may have different working environments that affect their access to resources and technology; therefore, when presenting solutions, it’s a good idea to keep these factors in mind and adjust your presentation or speech accordingly. 

• Provide Your Audience with Tools and the Means to Follow-Up: Keep in mind that when your audience attends your session, they expect to walk away with practical tools to implement the change you are speaking of at their school or in their classroom. They also want to know that if they have questions or need additional support, there’s someone they can contact. If neither of these are in place, your session – however inspirational – will have been for naught as educators will simply continue doing what they have always done.

These are just a few tips so the next time you are invited to speak or present at an education conference, you can ensure that you not only connect with your audience but also provide them with the means for implementing your ideas! Have any other tips you would like to share? Let us know, we’d love to hear them!

Other Tips for Educators

How to Run a Conference at a Small School Without an Initial Budget
How to Run a Successful Brainstorming Session
How to Create Brochures for Your School
​How to Create an Educational Website
Publishing as an Educator