Ideas for Holding a Public Presentation or Open House

• When your group has completed its research, you may want to share your work with the community in the form of a public presentation or an open house.
• A public presentation is an event that happens at a specific time; for example you might plan a presentation for Saturday afternoon, 2:00 to 4:00 pm. For an open house you might set up displays which could be open to the public for one, two or more days; your group would be available to explain your work to people. You might do some short demonstrations or performances throughout the open house.
• Decide on a time and place to hold the presentation or open house.
• Discuss with the group different ways of presenting the information. Brainstorm all the possible ideas and then the group members can try to reach a consensus about the methods they like best. Depending on the form your research took, you will have different options for your presentation:
  • Visual displays on large presentation boards with pictures and text.
  • A video screening.
  • An oral presentation with demonstrations, objects, photographs, slides.
  • A cultural performance with singing, drumming, dancing.
  • An interactive display in which the audience can participate in activities.
  • A PowerPoint presentation on the computer.
  • A combination of the forms mentioned above.
• Plan your presentation – you may decide to break into groups with each group working on a section of the presentation. Groups can look at each other’s work as it progresses and give feedback.
• The facilitator teaches mini-lessons on the writing process, syllabic keyboarding, grammar and any other topics as they come up.
• Hold at least one practice session so everyone has a chance to see how the parts of the presentation it together and to feel comfortable with their roles.
• Advertise the presentation on the local radio, through posters and invitations.