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It took some persuading for me to agree to give a talk, TED Talk-style, without notes. I was prepared. I did that memory trick of having a journey around the house. I picked seven spaces and had seven themes. This also worked for days of the week.

I practised with mindmaps; if I woke up at night, I would talk my way around the speech until I fell asleep.

It went well.

The talk was on the British West Indies Regiment in the First World War—a bit niche, I know. However, I have always been interested in their experience and that of African Americans in the American Expeditionary Force. The pain and unfair treatment of a person based on the colour of their skin make for interesting history.

My talk came on the day the radio had two big stories: the call for reparations by the ancestors of enslaved people of the British Empire and Israel's strike on Iran, i.e. the Middle East and Palestine. And where does my story reach its climax? An attack over the River Jordan by men from the 1st, then 2nd BWIR in one of their few combat deployments alongside men from New Zealand and West Kent, and a Jewish Battalion while supported by the Punjabi Mounted Artillery. They were led by a New Zealander who, unlike too many of his fellow British Commanders, had no difficulty sending 'coloured men'  into battle.

A year later, and in the process of being demobbed, all the BWIR regiments, those who had had military training, 1,2,3 & 4, and those recruited as labour corps 5 to 11, were encamped in Taranto, Italy, under a vile, racist British Commander whose actions incited riot and mutiny. Court Martialled, 47 men were sentenced to between 5 and 20 years of hard labour, the entire BWIR were stripped of guns, and having been returned to Britain, they were shipped back to the Caribbean, missing the July 1919 Victory Parades in London and Paris.

I started my talk pretty much as stated above. My voice was angry. Many black and Asian faces were listening attentively.

I then doubled back and cherry-picked content as it came to mind from the seven stages of the talk:

The British Empire in the early 20th century

The Caribbean in the British Empire as a colony rather than a dominion.

The British Army and its rules

The Outbreak of War 

Delays in releasing men from the Caribbean, then recruitment, and travel to Europe

Military Training, first in Seaford, then in Egypt (for BWIR 1&2)

The Military Experience of BWIR 1&2, compared to 3&4

The Labour Corps and Duties in France and Flanders 'King George's Steam Engine'

Demob

Southern Britain again (riots in Winchester) 

The Caribbean 1919 to the 1960s with labour movements, political agitation, Pan-Africanism and ultimately, independence

I then took questions. I enjoyed it. I was asked to talk again the next day, asked if I had other local history talks and agreed to give a talk on the billeting of 10,000 men in Lewes in September 1914, and also picking up another subject I have researched and written about ... the winterbourne, its course (and its flora and fauna).

I feel confident that I will prepare in a way that will make many talks possible: nutrition for junior elite athletes, fungi of ancient woodlands, war art and war fiction of the Great War ... cooking with chickpeas! Rewilding your garden, lino cut relief prints, life drawing, coaching age group swimmers. Take your pick. I should be able to talk about teaching online, too. After all, I did an MA in it and have taught online!

Don't be fooled into thinking that when expected to deliver a five minute presentation that it will take less time to write than a ten minute presentation - it won't.

In fact, the harder assignment would be to expect a one minute presentation.

I always thought that it was Jonathan Swift who apologised to a recipient of one of his very long letters that he hadn't had time to write a shorter one. Did he? A Google search gives you Blaise Pascal

Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.

Develop the craft skills of a storyteller.

Use a creative brief from the outset to nail down the topic, coming up with ideas, flesh out a treatment and deliver a script.

Pace and variety are crucial.

The industry standard creative brief that I have used in a career in advertising, corporate communications and training is:

• What is the problem?
• Who are you speaking to?
• What do you want to say?
• How should they respond to this message?
• What else do we need ro know?

Keep this to a single sheet of A4 then hand it to a professional writer/art director team.

Expect back a selection of synopses. Choose one.

Get a treatment from this.

Once approved writing the script is easy.

Only then think of execution.

It pays to have a professional graphics person who can make the platform used sing, or video production, or web design ...

Death by power point is far, far too common.

Be senstive to pace, have variety.

Rehearse and change stuff that doesn't work or is dull.

If in doubt a good presenter should be able to deliver without any AV support as it is the message delivered with conviction, authenticity and enthusiasm that is more important that how slides wipe, or the music track on a piece of video.

There's too much 'death by papermation' out there

Too long, long winded, rambling presentations with the artist trying to keep up and offering nothing at all new other than translating it - about as useful as having someone sign with no one in the audience with a hearing impairment. A literal expression of text is pointless - the imagination does a better job. Rather the images must juxtapose, complement even conflict with what is being said. You are trying afterall to get and retain attention - controversty, irony and inventiveness works.

The software never solves your problem.

Have something worthwhile to say first, then choose from a plethora of delivery mechanisms the one which has the most appropriate fit.

The Smith and Caruso (2010) ‘The ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology, 2010’ is on objective report, a snap shot in time, professionally executed and commented upon objectively.

Kennedy's survey (2006) ‘Questioning the net generation: a collaborative project in Australian higher education’of the same cohort of undergraduate students from three Australian Universities had an objective, a problem to solve i.e. is there any foundation for the idea of a 'Net Generation', or 'Digital Natives'.

The third type of presentation Conole et al. (2008) ‘“Disruptive technologies”, “pedagogical innovation”: What’s new? is an easy read the style is lucid, persuasive and conversational, as you'd expect from a seasoned speaker.

Each is different and ought to be commented upon for what it purports to be.

The insight here is three fold:

1. the different ways information is presented,
2. how all three approaches offer valid course materials or assets
3. and because of their differences will evoke and expect a correspondingly different kind of comment.

You could say that with each of these in turn presentation style, and the skills at the presentation technique increase, while the academic content becomes diluted, more fluid and conversational. When in comes to comment or critique this should be born in mind; Grainne Conole's presentation would not warrant the kind of scrutiny you'd give a report.

The final step would be an eight minute professional video, or covering all three, drawing in further reports and interviews with the experts and students, a documentary.

Though informative, I'd consider the first and second papers to offer the most calories to a student. The choice is down to the academic team: dean, academic expert and learning designer.

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