PRESENTING

I am submitting a presentation from my Project Management and Instructional Design course as evidence that I can deliver presentations that effectively engage audiences and communicate ideas. For this class, I spoke with a Product Manager and recorded a presentation on Canva to summarize our interview. This artifact affirms that I can deliver a professional presentation that is clear, concise, and visually appealing, a foundational skill in the realm of learning design and technology. 

Whether virtually or in person, presenting in front of an audience is an unavoidable task as an instructional designer. Visual aids paired and clear public speaking is at the heart of training. Effective instruction depends on the coherent delivery of information that is also engaging and professional in appearance. My artifact allowed me to practice these skills to better prepare for this professional demand. The Project Management and Instructional Design elective requires students to investigate a project management topic of their choice. My focus was on the difference between product and project management. I spoke with a Product Management Director at Autograph.io, an NFT Platform, who helped explain the differences between project and product managers, two roles often confused. In my presentation, I used a simple yet modern design template with attractive transitions and animations that added to the visual and professional appearance. I balanced the slides with visual aids and text to ensure the information was easily digestible for my audience. I included a corner video of myself presenting to establish a human presence and connect more authentically with my peers.

Every day, I teach in front of the classroom and rely heavily on my Google Slide to convey information to my students. I have honed my skills in creating visual aids to help effectively deliver information to my students throughout my career. Furthermore, I have taught students these same delivery techniques when teaching them how to create presentations on Google Slides. It was my first time using Canva, however. I appreciated how the animations and transitions are already embedded into the templates, making it easy to enhance the presentation’s execution. It is a tool that I have recently used and will continue to encourage my colleagues and students to incorporate for their future assignments. 

My interview presentation for my Project Management investigation is proof that I can create successful presentations that are clear, professional, and visually engaging. I have become an avid user of Canva, so I would like to challenge myself to use different presentation tools to expand my skill set. The first step in learning new tools is watching tutorials and working with friends and family who are fluent in these programs. I would also like to embed more interactive components, such as audiovisual films or collaborative boards, when making presentations for adult learners. I have often used these features for my young students but have not explored them in a training presentation. This presentation was the first of many in this LDT program and professional contexts, and I look forward to experimenting with different tools.