Classroom teaching has one major problem, which is that generally speaking, students only remember a small part of a lecture. This is a familiar problem, for which there is no easy answer. Often it is only 'born' lecturers who have students hanging on their every word. This is in contrast to theatres, where attention in fact increases during shows. This is why, in the Teaching and the Technique of the Theatre workshop delivered by Gijs Meeusen, we attempt to formulate the answer to the question as to how we can use theatre techniques to catch and retain the attention of the audience.

Target group and required prior knowledge
The Art of Presenting workshop is suitable for both starting and advanced teachers. No specific prior knowledge is required.

Objectives/competences
At the end of the workshop the participants will be able to:

1. Gain and retain the attention of the audience better.
2. Communicate more captivatingly, more authentically and more effectively with an audience.
3. Use resources such as facial expressions, gestures, voice, attitude and the stage to acquire maximum support for the content of the presentation.
4. List their strong points and improve their weak ones in terms of improving presenting further.
5. Deploy presentations in a more useful way in teaching.

At the start of the workshop each course participant formulates two or three pitfalls of theatre techniques. Practice has shown that by the second session, 50% of the pitfalls have disappeared. And in the third session that is even 85%. The skills you learn are applicable in all the situations where you communicate with groups. These might be presentations, but certainly also speeches or meetings.

Contents and form
The Art of Presenting is primarily a practical workshop. Over the three half-days you will discover what is needed to communicate effectively and authentically with the audience in the theatre. The preparatory time for each half-day is around an hour.

The programme is made up of four steps:

1. Becoming aware of differences and similarities between working normally and theatrically.
2. Discovering the demands of a theatrical presentation.
3. Developing presentation styles and achieving segmentation.
4. Interaction in the theatre.
   

During the workshop you will work on a prepared presentation of a few minutes. You will work on presenting improvised items and in doing so will learn mainly from exercises and from the feedback which you provide on the presentations by others. Finally we will cast a critical glance at the possibilities for teaching presentations, and you will learn a method to improve the quality of your explanations.

Evaluation and certification
Once you have completed the workshop, you will receive a certificate of participation.

Information about the trainer (external):
Gijs Meeusen studied Technical Physics at the TU/e and graduated in plasma physics in 1994. After graduation Meeusen opted for a career as a composer and developed a number of practical courses for teachers and scientists. His theatre and story courses have now become well-known in the academic world and are used in a range of universities and colleges in the Netherlands and Belgium to teach scientists to communicate more effectively.