Handouts anyone?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 05:47AM Truthfully, I throw every handout they give me--what's the point? If you were listening, and the presenter was interesting, it's just a waste of paper...
was the comment left to my blog post about designing presentation slides a couple days ago. I am not so sure I agree with the comment, but conference presentation handouts are something worth taking a hard look at given the ease with which information can be placed online and readily updated.
I am pretty sure I once created a handout for a day-long workshop that must have run better than 40 pages. Supporting the northern Minnesota paper-mills, ya know. One of the primary purposes of a good presentation or workshop is to stir sufficient interest that the participants are motivated to pursue additional information about the topic after the workshop is over. So my handouts usually contained:
- a rough summary of the content of the presentation
- "activity" sheets for participants to complete during the session
- articles and other information for people to read after the conference
- a bibliography of additional resources
But I was too often disheartened to see lots of handouts winding up in the trash - right outside the session room door. Obviously these people did not know that all my writing as been approved by the FDA as a non-addictive sleep aid and those handouts might well have come in handy if they ever suffered a bout of insomnia.
Let me say that simple printouts of the PPT slides are the worst! Either the PPT is too wordy or the handouts are worthless. Mary, who also left a comment, suggests typing the narrative in the notes field and then printing both slides and notes for handouts. I guess that's better than just the slides, but it still wouldn't be my choice.
Here is my plan:
A move from everything in print, to a single page where a many-paged handout can be found, to a single page with activities and a link to a wiki that contains links to many individual sources that can be easily updated. These sources can be read online or individually printed and used as relevant. Am I green or what? (And I acknowledge that many presenters already do some version of this, I'm sure. And my conversion from handouts to wiki-based resources is just beginning.)
At the last two workshops where I presented, I estimate that 50-75% of participants had laptops and were connecting wirelessly. How long before we can dispense with paper completely and perhaps just print web/wiki links in the conference program?
As a conference attendee, do you still value paper handouts? What content makes them valuable? Or should they be regarded as a modern day buggy-whip?
Is there no small degree of irony in creating paper handouts for sessions about Web 2.0?
Is there a lesson to be learned here about "handouts" in K-12 classrooms?
Reader Comments (17)
I don't particularly care for paper handouts. Most conferences/workshops(like NECC) I have to travel to and stay overnight in a hotel. The last thing I want to have to do is lug 4 or 5 reams of handout paper onto an airplane. I appreciate when the presenter has a website where I can print out what ever I need or even gives me a cd with all of the information I need on it. I almost always bring my laptop and prefer to follow along with the presenter and they speak. Paper handouts are a waste and we shouldn't use them in classrooms anymore for anybody above grade 3.
I spoke at Texas Library Association this year, and they've instituted a no-handouts policy: Speakers are encouraged to mount their info either on their own site or on TxLA's site, and the conference website links to the various sites. This strikes me as eminently sensible--I almost never take handouts away from a conference either.
I stopped using handouts in my rare speeches a long time ago, partly because I could see that people were paying more attention to what I was saying when they couldn't "follow along on the printed sheet."
On the other hand, when Special Libraries Association did the same thing this year, I was saddened to read blog posts about people busily printing off the websites so they'd be prepared for talks...although even there, the overall amount of wasted paper will fall considerably.
I haven't supplied a handout for 2 years. I've had conveners raise their eyebrows at me. I've had some remind me that not everyone likes to go to a wiki. But as you said, better to never go to a wiki, than toss papers in the garbage. For one particular presentation I simply printed one URL 50 times on a paper, cut them out and distributed those. That was my printed handout. If it's required, that's what they'll get.
@ Anthony,
Thanks for weighing in. I am sure you speak for many teachers who are more technologically adept. I suppose asking this question of people who are blog readers might give a "skewed" view!
Doug
@ Dean,
Great minds think a like. After getting your comment, I added my "bookmark" handout to the original entry. Good idea.
Doug
@ Walt,
I think this may come down to what exactly is on the handouts themselves. Sometime a printout of an activity is really useful during a workshop and a printed link to the wiki itself. Interesting that TLA has such a policy - pretty progressive - for Texas ;-)
Doug
Hand-outs are great. I can jog notes and questions for later as the presenter speaks. Make *** for things I want to research. Doodle if the presenter is boring (not you, Doug!) For many conferences I don't want to carry my laptop - just one more thing to lug around, get stolen or lost. Also, there is a connection from pen to paper - I tend to remember things more if I write them.
Doug, I must say my handouts have evolved in a very similar way. I am also seeing an increase in the number of laptops going to conferences or prof dev opportunities AND the expectation that there will be wireless available. I must say I get almost "angered" if it is not. Yesterday I went to a local teacher workshop (not from my school district), and I took my laptop. I saw VERY few laptops, but surprisingly wireless, though totally unadvertised in any literature about the day's events, was available. I just knew it would be, which is why I took my laptop. Of course, it was Marc Prensky, so I took the laptop on a leap of faith that it would be available, as I could not fathom that they would host a true 21st century presenter (Prensky) who hails the digital native vs digital immigrant and proclaims to be a gamer and game developer, would not make wireless available. After all, WHAT WOULD HE THINK? (Guess what? It was wide open too--YouTube ruled yesterday!) I was rewarded with it, and actually used it to backchannel a small degree in Twitter during his q/a session, asking my friends there if they had any questions they wanted me to seek a response for. My question is WHEN will schools allow students to bring their devices and actually use them to extend their learning. That is why I bring mine. (I know, I know, many allow students to do this, but not in my district, and not in the district where I was i na workshop yesterday...) I certainly hope many here in SC catch up to the 21st century soon. If not sooner than later, maybe I'll come to Minnesota...Mankato to be exact.
I know I'm the voice of dissension here, but there are a couple reasons I like a paper handout.
The first is due to the kind of learner I am ... I find that I retain more of the information if I write notes while the presenter is speaking. The weird thing is that it doesn't work if I word process the notes. The physical action of cursive writing seems to attach the information to my brain.
The second reason is that not everyone has a laptop, and if you're back in your hotel room, it's nice to be able to go over what was talked about that day. Once the majority are wired, it might not be so necessary.
The third reason I like handouts is because twice now I've been burned at conferences (the OLA conference was the most recent example), where the presenter said they would post the information, and I wanted to use it within a week or two of the conference, and the information NEVER got posted. I even emailed the presenter, and still nothing. Now, I know there might be extenuating circumstances, and I truly hope the presenter hasn't taken ill, but if she'd had a handout, I wouldn't have been in the situation I was in. I kind of felt like I was being given one of those "the cheque is in the mail stories.
So... paperless presentations are okay BUT have the notes posted within a few days of your presentation or even better - just before you present!
I attended a presentation by David Warlick in May. He uses a wiki for his presentation materials, but he does has added a twist that I haven't seen anyone else do. I'm not quite sure how it works (you probably do), but in addition to posting the materials he created, he uses RSS feeds to pull in the latest blog posts indexed by Technorati on the topic, Google news feeds, and other information. He also posts the wiki password and encourages the session participants to add their own links, creations and information about the topic. If you want to take a look, his wiki is Warlick's CoLearners.
No handouts? I tried that paperless approach two years ago at an FETC presentation I gave and sensed genuine hostility and even mutiny (no punches were thrown, however). Maybe it was my presentation; one can never be sure. I even provided CDs with all of the content with research links and everything, but the attendees needed something to fondle, to caress, something tangible to take away. I've since compromised and provide (at least) a length-wise half sheet of paper, printed in color, with the web address relevant to my presentation. I've found that the length-wise half sheet (printed on card stock and in color) distinguishes itself from all of the other handouts that are accumulated during these conferences. Plus, it saves paper and eases my conscience (and no more mutiny, which makes for a nicer presentation ambiance). I jumped on the "paperless" bandwagon once for a conference session, and won't try it again for a long while. As Mark Twain once said: a cat that jumps on a hot stove, won't ever jump on a cold stove again either (something like that...).
@ Keith,
I am guessing it will be a generation before somebody doesn't miss paper handouts. I like you bright colored half sheet idea - a good compromise.
I consider a presentation a success if no sharp objects are thrown.
Have a good one and thanks for the comment. Can we expect any new YouTube tunes anytime soon?
Doug
@ Mary,
Good ideas. David has always led the field in these sorts of innovations. I, too, let anyone edit the wiki, but see little come of it. I'll have to experiment with the feeds. I think some people have a higher tolerance for information overload than I do!
All the best,
Doug
@ Janice,
Well as you can tell by the other comments, you are not the lone voice on this side of the issue.
I remember by doodling - at least that was what I always told my teachers!
All the best,
Doug
@ Cathy,
The downside to my own bringing a laptop to sessions is that I sometimes (often?) get distracted by other things and find I've missed large chunks of presentation. My old single-tasking mind, I guess.
Students will have access to laptops in schools only when parents insist on it. That's what happened with cell phones. I am not sure we are any further on this issue in MN than in SC. Just because the district doesn't ban them, doesn't keep buildings from having their own rules.
Isn't education still debating the value of calculators after 30 years????
All the best and see you SA,
Doug
I prefer the documentation to be on line. I can access it at home or at work. Also I'm dyslexic/dysgraphic and being able to change the font or coloring via computer is a huge help.
I guess I can see both sides of the issue. For myself I don't particularly want hand outs when I am at a presentation and not presenting. I am not really one for taking notes I guess. However I do know that lots of people do like handouts and even like the Power Point printouts. So if I have to present I make a handout for those that like them. However there is a guilt I have with making a ton of handouts or getting them at a presentation, it just seems like a waste of resources to me. I know about the whole, we can recycle paper but that still takes energy and time and resources. So there is the environmental issues I guess you have to consider with handouts. Maybe in a perfect world we can all have lab-tops and we can ignore the fact that they will all go in a landfill in a five years.
I'm a little old fashioned, but am trying my best to get away from putting reams of paper in gigantic binders, never to find again what I'm looking for anyway. I'm just finishing up my library-media endorsement. Over the past 18 months or so, I have learned so much about "what's out there" on the web. Graduating from high school in 1984, and working through college on a typewriter, I really feel like I've missed a great deal of learning regarding technology, but perhaps now catching up a bit thanks to my library classes. No longer do my 11 and 15 year old children have to do my computer work for me! I do appreciate some sort of paperwork though... I like the idea that someone had of a card with web info. on it.
We looked at your site today, and I'm looking forward to checking often! I appreciate your humor. If I'm remembering correctly, you'll also be at the Washington-Oregon library conference in October?
Hi Seri,
I used clay tablets in college. You are far too young to be old fashioned!
Glad to hear you find my website useful. Use whatever you can.
Yes, I am indeed coming to Portland this fall. Hope to see you there. I am taller in person.
All the best and thanks for the comment,
Doug
I definitely like the paper, and doodle even when the speaker is not boring. I just don't like LOTS of paper. The half-sheet or bookmark is fine. Something with the wiki or website on it and speaker contact info to jog my memory later when I get back home after hitting a dozen breakout sessions. The PPT slide copies ARE the worst and of course that's what I get from every single meeting at my school. Our tech folks don't even know what a wiki is. Sigh.
Hi Jim,
I've been polling the 200 or so people who have been in my last 4 workshops and it's running about 75% who want paper and about 25% who think it is a waste.
All the best,
Doug
I guess it's like teaching kids -- some have to have that concrete thing in front of them, and some are fine with the more abstract. Personally, as a very visual learner, I like to have one paper take away, since that's a visual reminder of what I learned to go on my desk, nagging me to go back to a more robust wiki or website, or even online PPT repeat.
On the "save a tree" front, I hope that someday soon, our students (and teachers) will be able to survive without the reams of printout they now find necessary. (My personal favorite is the fill in the blank outline in 12 easy pages of pdf)