Category Archives: presentation delivery

This refers to how the content is delivered including ice breakers, pacing, props, visuals, sound, kinesthetic experiences, video conferencing, large group sessions, small group sessions, Q & A sessions, workshops and residencies.

Watching Authors in Action

Watching other authors in action is a great way to pick up presentation tips. And at the upcoming 58th Annual Breakfast with the Authors event in Santa Barbara on Saturday, I’ll not only experience a keynote talk by Susan Patron, but I’ll see & hear how 11 other authors deliver a 2-minute talk on the topic of “Becoming Lucky: Taking Chances.” (Yes! TWO minutes!) Now this is a speaking challenge indeed – and I’m still working on how I’m going to do this. (Hmmm. I wonder if the organizers will have a hook for long-winded authors?)

Authors Greg Trine, Alexis O'Neill, Mary Ann Fraser and Amy Koss did a showcase together at the Ventura County Reading Association's Book Love event.

Just last weekend, I was at two different events where I saw authors in action. One was at a bookstore signing with five other picture book authors. The other was at a reading association event where four of us, representing picture books through YA, did a showcase. I love observing the different ways my colleagues successfully connect with an audience. Some authors are noisy, others are quiet. Some authors connect though humor, others through interesting anecdotes, still others with compelling back stories about the making of their books. As different as the authors may be personality-wise, they share some significant commonalities: they make eye contact with their audience. They smile. They don’t talk at the audience – they seem to be having a conversation with them. They enjoy being where they are.

Keep your antennae up for author events at your local bookstores and libraries and attend whenever you can. When you tune into how an author connects with you, you’ll have a better idea of how you might connect with your audiences, too.

Props: Make ’em BIG!

A few years ago, author/illustrator Marianne Wallace had an assembly challenge. Like most authors who present in elementary schools, she would usually be placed in a large multipurpose room to do three assemblies for grades K-6. Audience sizes might range from 150 per session in small schools to 250-350 per session in the larger schools.

With nature the subject of her books, Marianne had gathered many life-sized props to illustrate her program. But she soon discovered that the kids in the back of the room could barely see them. So she decided to exaggerate the size of the props to dramatize her points, and suddenly her program popped into place.

Here’s Marianne Wallace herself to tell you (and show you) what she did.

This image shows an actual size tarantula and mega-sized one. In presentations, I show the smaller one against my hand for the actual size of some of the biggest of the real tarantulas and then I use the mega sized one to “illustrate” the rest of my talk.

I illustrated a book about the rock cycle and the large rock is made of painted foam rubber (latex wall paint and foam from an upholstery/ fabric store) and is the exact size of a real rock I got from the Sierra to do the illustrations in the book. But I tell the kids the actual big rock is too heavy to cart around (which it is). The smaller round granite rock is real and represents the rounder rock in the story.

The smaller rubber snake is a garter snake — great actual size, but too thin and small. The fatter, fake rattlesnake always works better and is a bonus since it is also actual size. Normally, I would wear a white or light plain blouse so the props would show up better.

I even have large bugs as props. I mean, an ant? Kinda hard to show one of those in actual size! But even with their large size, I think they’re too small for a cafeteria presentation so I rarely used them. Although I usually wear a white shirt to do presentations so my animal/plant props show up better, I thought I’d send this shot of the bugs against a print shirt. They’re often harder to see but in this case not so much for some reason.

Both are pine cones, although from different species. I use the smaller pine cones for more intimate groups.

Also – I needed a hawk to explain how they swoop down on small prairie dogs. So I got a plastic hawk kite. It rolled up fairly small when not in use and was very lightweight. You can often find butterfly kites for sale, so there might be other animal kites as well that open up into huge props.

The problem with large props is primarily transporting them. I pile 3 plastic bins on a dolly when I do a full presentation. And since weight is a concern with natural objects, I favor plastic and stuffed animals. The plastic animals, which I got over a period of years, came from a variety of places such as Toys R Us, party stores, zoo or museum gift shops and Disneyland.

Thanks Marianne for these creative solutions to finding, making and sharing props with a multipurpose room audience!

Props: Ears & Noses & Kids

A wonderful way to engage kids in your presentation is by using props. A friend of mine has a collection of plush puppets representing each of the animal characters in her books. These are a terrific way to show kids attributes of the animals and can work well in a small library or classroom setting. But there are two issues when you give puppets to kids to help you act out your story in a larger venue:

1. In a large auditorium, puppets don’t make much of an impact beyond the first three rows

2. When you give puppets to kids, kids are fascinated with the mouths and usually fiddle with them as they try to make them “talk” – to each other or to the audience – and usually with their own improvisations. This is great for drama class, but may not advance the story you’re trying to share!

Even the smallest bit of costume helps kids transform into book characters. Watch for sales around Halloween.

A more meaningful way to get interaction is by inviting the kids to become the animals themselves. Give each kid a bit of costume that represents the animal – ears on a headband, a nose, a tail. When you choose a volunteer, invite him or her to show the audience how that animal walks, what kind of noise it makes. Encourage them to use their whole body as they do this. Once you have your volunteers on stage, you can launch into your story using kids as the main characters.

Watch for costume sales close to Halloween. It’s a great time to pick up all sorts of props that can help you tell your story on stage with a bit of color!

TIP: Use Question Cards for Your Youngest Audience

For Question Cards, you can use plain index cards or your promotional postcards.

Have you ever had this happen? You’re in a room with first graders. You say to the kids, “Do you have any questions?” You call on an enthusiastic hand-raiser who says, “I like your shoes.” The next kid says, “I like your books.” The teacher interrupts with, “Now children, that’s a statement. You need to ask a question.” So, the next kid asks, “What’s your favorite color?” and every question after that begins with “What’s your favorite . . .” The warm fuzziness of the author moment is gone, and you have become the object of a dry language arts lesson.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had some great Q & A sessions with younger kids, especially when they’ve read my books and have seen me in assembly. But things can go off-track fast if you’re not on alert.

Here’s an emergency strategy for doing a Q & A with your younger audiences.

On note cards (or postcards), write questions in advance of your visit – questions that you’d like to answer. Some questions can be serious (“Where do you get your ideas?”), others can be fun (“What pets did you have as a kid?” “What’s the silliest joke you ever heard?”) If you have a hard time coming up with kid-friendly questions, have a brainstorming session with your writers group and make up a batch of 30 together. (Hint: If you print a sheet of questions off on sticky labels, you won’t have to write them each time you do this activity!)

Put the questions in a hat or container. Have kids, in turn, draw a Question Card from the hat. Let each kid stand beside you and share the spotlight as you read the question aloud and give your answer.

You might also consider letting individual kids (or the class) keep the cards that are drawn out, autographing the cards at the end of the session. And if you have each question on your promotional postcard, the Question Cards turn into perfect souvenirs. You can be sure that when the cards go out the door, there’ll be lots for the class to talk about!

4 Tips for the Perfect 15-Minute Luncheon Talk

Let’s say a local service organization has asked you to speak at their luncheon. You have 15 minutes in front of the group. You might ask, “What should I talk about?”

The better question is, “Who is in the audience and what do they want to know?” Think about what you can give to them that can help them with their dream.

Even if you’re talking to a room of high-paid bank executives, these folks are parents and grandparents who have spent many bedtimes reading books to their kids. And probably more than a few of them are harboring a dream of writing their own children’s book (in their spare time) and having it picked up by a publisher.

As you prepare your 15-minute talk, consider these four really helpful tips that the Assistance League of Fullerton (California) gives to presenters for the “Day with Authors” fundraising event that features both children’s and adult authors.

1) Authors who tend to sell the most books tell the best stories, be it about their current book, their body of work, themselves, or getting started in their writing careers. They cover all of these things to one degree or another during their presentation.

2) A key point is that the authors talk to the audience rather than read passages from their books exclusively. Unlike a book tour, our attendees may not be coming to hear you specifically; they are coming to participate in a full-day event featuring many authors. If you choose to read a passage from one of your books, make it brief. Attendees much prefer to hear you speak rather than read.

3) Think of your presentation in the same way you approach a book: plot, character, conflict, dialogue. You do not have to be a standup comedian or even a polished public speaker. It does help tremendously if you have a “story” to tell your audience that includes information about your latest work, your total body of work, your “themes”, the struggles you encountered on your way to becoming a published author. The audience likes to know an appropriate amount about you as a person – past as well as present.

4) A good story, told in a human, genuine way, trumps a polished presentation with the audience. If you make a mistake, point to it, laugh and move on. You are already doing something braver than most people, and that is talking in front of an audience. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be you.

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