Tuesday 29 January 2019

Spotlight and Workshops at Apple Leading Innovation Summit, Singapore 2019

Last week I presented a Spotlight and workshops at the Apple Leading Innovation Summit in Singapore. I was invited to present along with Hugo Indratno. Honestly we were both nervous as we prepared for our Spotlight presentation. As it turned out, that preparation was a rich experience for me personally.

I have presented regularly over the years. In the past I have even worked as an Apple Professional Developer. I have also presented two Spotlights at Apple Institutes previous to this occasion. What I enjoyed the most was getting critical feedback from the Apple people whilst I was on stage practicing for the event. I am always looking for ways to improve my skills. Having detailed feedback on how to present together with Hugo was such a learning experience. I learned to pace my speaking so that Hugo and I could take more natural turns to speak. I learned to look out to the audience to make that important contact with them. I also learned to make sure that all of the pieces of information about the 'how' in my presentation were clearly highlighted.

It can be hard to be self-critical. I am open to feedback as I am used to working with a diverse range of people at my school. As a coach you need to be really aware and sensitive to others around you.
As well as the Spotlight, Hugo and I also presented two hands on workshops. We were much more relaxed in those workshops as this is more of a comfort zone for both of us. We had teachers learning about developing that Maker Mindset through creating something that moves. We even brought with us a mini swimming pool to test out what the participants made. It was fun and our participants were reluctant to pack up at the end of the session.