By Adele Alexander, AYM Team writer
 
I didn’t realize that presenting is harder than it looks. It was a new experience for me! I have written (and spoken to others) about what I do with RedWAY BC News plenty of times, but to actually stand up and present at a Youth conference is a different experience!

 

"It was harder than I thought, because knowing something and explaining it are two different things."

We'd created an interactive PowerPoint presentation for our workshops at the Gathering Our Voices Conference, and suddenly I found it difficult to explain the different technical information about publishing our e-zine.  It was harder than I thought because knowing something and explaining it are two different things. I'm going to practice it again and create a narrated version to share in next month's issue - so I hope you'll give me some feedback!
 
Overall though, I think I did a great job.  I had help from the other AYM Team members - our videographer and some writers. They did great job explaining things that I couldn’t word right or forgot in the heat of the spotlight. I am so glad they were there to help, because Kristin co-facilitated our first presentation then left us to do the remaining ones on our own... saying, "I know you guys can do this so just enjoy it and be open to comments from the Youth." 

 

Kristin always asks us to look at different sides of things we do to get a whole picture - so from a personal  'technical' presentation perspective, I can see now that it would be a good idea to project my voice a little more clearly. 

 

And of course, I must learn to breathe better to try not to get so nervous. I also need to practice more with PowerPoint. 

 

From a team perspective, we could rehearse as a group as many times as possible so we do not have to improvise too much - that way we could focus on the participants, not the content so much.

 

And something to note about conferences - I need to wear proper shoes!  We always forget on what it’s like running around interviewing people, networking, getting photos and managing the booth for a 12-hour day.  We need to remember what we do at conferences and comfort is important... so if you're a shoe store or company that wants to create a partnership, give us a call! We'll give you lots of great press!

Overall,  I had fun presenting at the 2009 Gathering Our Voices BCAAFC Youth conference. I thought it was great place to practice - and I sure found out that I need to practice more!  I hope to see you soon - and maybe you can bring us to your next conference to do our "Aboriginal Youth Media" series of workshops!

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Adele Alexander is the Job postings and employment news (JPEN) section editor and the Business and Economic development (BED) section editor. Adele is from Skak’it7 (Seton Portage), BC in the St’at’imc Territory. She was born and raised, she moved to Vancouver to attend school. Adele has been living in Vancouver since July 2007 and working for RedWAY BC News since October 2007. The first contract took place in Kamloops for the CANDO Conference, where Adele learned that economics was something youth to this day still don’t know what economics is, and found it rather interesting. In October 2008 Adele attended the CANDO Conference in Montreal, where she spent her 22^nd Birthday; she signed up for an Aboriginal Community Economic Development class, and has taken on the Business and Economic Development section in RedWAY. Adele still thinks there is a lot to learn about media literacy and enhancing communication skills. She is attending NVIT for upgrading to do business administration next. You can email her at jpen@spiritlinking.com