The idea was formulated after he heard a short excerpt on the radio about a pub in England who have been looking at ways to attract more custom doing something a little different, and their idea of presentation karaoke was hatched. In that setting, customers would be asked to come up and speak about a random subject picked by the compere. This made Mark think about the possibilities of how this could work within a Communication class setting. So here is how he sees it being implemented.
Many of our learners are involved in delivering an oral presentation in their classes, whether it be an individual delivery, a group discussion, presenting an agenda item within a meeting situation and such like.
The idea for Mark's latest teaching idea is predominantly for the Oral Presentation Skills Unit, which is aimed at New College Lanarkshire employees. This is why there is a slight onus on the college, working with colleagues as well as some very left field ideas, but any subject could be shoehorned in, to suit a vocational need. That is the beauty of the content, it can be adapted, updated and applied to any given scenario.
Mark often looks at ways for learners to present and think differently. To this end, a series of slides have been put together for the students to try and talk on an unknown subject. Effectively they are asked to step up to the plate and deliver a short 60 seconds pitch where they are invited to give a structured talk mentioning the two words on the screen within their presentation.
The focus of this short exercise is on structure, articulation, projection and timing. The slides are attached below.
Mark also steps up when doing exercises like this, and when the students wish him to deliver, he duly does so. The advantage he has in this case, is that he knows what the subjects are, but like the students, has no notes and is thrust onto the stage, as it were. He notes that he hopes he doesn't get picked for the Love Island topic, as that is not his area of expertise!
Here is the link to the slideshow: Presentation karaoke - gone in 60 seconds
