What activity would convey the Burma railway & Hanoi Hilton POW project?

Upvote:0

One thing you might consider is finding someone's memoirs of their experience in the camp, and presenting a small bit of that.

I say this because the author of Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing was worried his material was too dry and antiseptic given the topic*, and that's roughly how he handled it. Pretty much every chapter starts with a first-hand account from a historical genocide. It does a pretty good job of keeping the book grounded.

* - Good catch too. Its good information, but really really academic.

Upvote:1

Use a slide deck, because the advantages of one far outweigh the disadvantages; but use it differently than your competition.

  • Restrict your verbal slides to between 1/2 to 1/3 of the total

  • If you have friends interested in film or photography, talk to them about the subtleties of visual presentations - such as the inferences made by audiences between left-facing and right-facing graphics. Use black-and-white instead of colour to highlight distinction between good and evil - then throw in a little colour for emphasis.

  • Use half-screens - left; right; top; bottom - to draw your audience with you .

  • Memorize your talk; and never read from the slides. Repeat - never just read from your slides. Use words on your slides as captions that ADD to your verbal presentation, not merely recap it.

Time your conclusion, and practice I until it is the best part of your presentation. Prepare about 5-7 minutes more material than you have time to present; plan your talk so that you can drop the excess material when the buzzer announces time to start your conclusion. Practice this. You will then have visuals for the most obvious questions asked by the panel.

Nothing wows a panel more than ending your talk within seconds of the final buzzer, and having visuals for their questions.

More post

Search Posts

Related post