Writing About Writing, Again

On Monday, I gave a talk at Davidson College about games and education. It was a really great day. the campus is beautiful, and it was lovely to talk with Anelise, about her work in digital media (old texts + new technology is so awesome), about mutual acquaintance, about Jersey girls in the south.

I did have a couple odd moments in the coffeeshop office hours on campus when (male) students explained things to me. I’m not sure if it was youth or mansplaining or what exactly, but I was thrown a bit when I was informed that the patriarchy affects career choice, or that the games industry regularly lays off talented employees. It wasn’t hostile, just… surprising. There’s a lot for me to unpack there, actually, there’s so much for me to think over from all the questions and comments from undergraduates. Anyway, I just read Matt’s post-mortum on his eduWeb talk, and decided to process my talk the same way.

Things I Was Awesome At

Slides with topic headings and supporting quotes! Next time I will add more images, too. I also used Prezi to draw actual lines between connected topics.

Talking slowly and making eye contact with audience members. I talk too quickly for the south and I don’t really enjoy eye contact any way. So this should have stars and glitter and confetti around it.

Used my full allotted time. Didn’t go over. Didn’t have time to kill. I guess 6 years (!!!) of classroom teaching has taught me some things.

Not too much reading. I read my intro and conclusion directly from my iPad but besides that, I was glancing at my notes and facing my audience as much as possible.

Things That Could Have Been Better

More practice. I could hear myself saying Oh, yeah, and another cool thing about that, but I was powerless to stop it. Ugh.

Better topic organization. See above. I waffled between trying to say ALL the THINGS and trying to make one point clearly and well, so my end result didn’t really do either.

Stand up and walk around. It’s more charismatic and inviting to stand up and move around, in fact, I secretly judge speakers who just plunk down and don’t move, but managing my Prezi, notes and nerves was enough.

Post-Lecture Manic Phase I compartmentalized to do a good talk, and got pretty jittery and manic after presenting. This is preferable to freaking out before or during the talk, so progress! But still not exactly best practice.

Post-Mania Crashing Having a body is hard. Having feelings is hard.

Take a photo of me speaking. Actually, take more photos in general. It was a good day and I wish I had remembered to take more pictures of it! I often hear laments about selfies or cries to put down your phone! Be present! But for me, I usually wish I had my phone out more to take more photos of my experiences.