CELL Blog | Center for Engaged Learning in the Law

Saturday, March 1, 2008, 04:57 PM –
Posted by Gerry Hess

I spent a good part of the last two days as a participant at a symposium. For four hours one day and two hours the next day, I sat in a chair listening and taking notes. ( Hmm, not unlike the way our students spend much of the law school days. ) The symposium was divided into 50 minute sessions – 30 minutes of presentation followed by 20 minutes of audience participation. A ten minute break followed each session. Although the symposium was focused on substantive law, here’s ten lessons I learned about teaching:

1. A presenter’s enthusiasm, passion, and humor go a long way.
2. Unless you have oratory skills akin to Martin Luther King, your 30 minute presentation must be supported by visuals.
3. PowerPoint can work as a visual, especially without animation, bells, and whistles.
4. A handout can work as a visual.
5. The most effective presentation was supported by PowerPoint and a handout.
6. Less is more – the least effective presentations covered the most content.
7. The most important times in the symposium are the breaks.
8. The second most important times in the symposium are audience participation.
9. It is a mistake for any presenter to exceed the presentation time by five minutes.
10. it is Narcissistic and disrespectful to exceed the presentation time by twenty minutes.