Brown Bag Day!

Congrats to all of our team members that presented today. Everyone did a great job! And what I really appreciated was tying your extra credit reading to how it pertains to class. Some of the presenters merely told us what was in their book. It was assigned in this class for a reason, so I think it would have been powerful for presenters to tell us why these texts were meaningful or pertinent to our course. COMMUNICATE to me why I should care, don't make me guess. Oh, a rule to which we should all try to adhere during our project! :P

Anh's presentation on how to present was really useful, practical, and pragmatic. I've heard similar suggestions from other sources and I thought it tied in really well with the reading for that week (a nice, concise version!). I think having that reading (or sections) be assigned at the very beginning of the course would have been useful. We could all stand to learn a thing or two about successful presentations/presenting and since we all have to present, it would be a great resource for all of us as presenters and as audience members. Not everyone has the same experience with presenting and without some form of guidance we end up seeing presentations that are too long, with too much information and we end up zoning out which isn't fair to anyone involved.

Any presentation that references Harry Potter or uses it as a main example has my vote! Cody's presentation tied in well with Izzybeth's about viral sources for getting messages across, particularly with younger populations (the i-generation, I believe they are called). What really stood out to me was Cody's point that people don't want to hear about your product, but they do want you to "fix their problem". As Cody said, a poor mother doesn't want to hear that she should feed her children healthier foods, but she would be interested in learning HOW to do that within her means. I know that for my own professional goals working with disadvantaged and low SES populations, this idea is revolutionary and very inspiring.

While all the presentations were informative, the other presentation I really appreciated was Lindsay's. I think it is very important to examine the uses and applications of dominant and/or participatory paradigms and globalization. Lindsay stated that many international aided programs still utilize more of a dominant paradigm (which is ultimately top-down programming) rather than grassroots programs. While this has proven successful in international health campaigns, we can reach more people and have more people be responsive to grassroots campaigns especially given the xenophobia, mistrust and dissatisfaction with "outsiders", Americans or industrialized nations. Granted this is on a larger international scale but I do think it is just as applicable to more local campaigns (an idea that we've beaten to death).

What a day! So many presentations, so much information....but all so useful in their own way.