MIT Women's Initiative describes how to train the presenters of the program in the training manual.
The manual breaks training down into 3 sessions. If you go through the recruitment process in the Fall, the training can be completed by the end of Winter so that the women are ready for school visits starting in the Spring. We adapted the training manual for our first year of the program. In the first session, you teach the women all about the logistics and resources of the program. In the first session you also go over what happens during a visit and the structure of presentations and activities.
The manual also includes some facts and statistics to use in the presentations, a general outline of a visit, how to run activities, and homework assignments for the trainees.
The next 2 training sessions are to help the women develop and practice giving their presentations and running the activities, and to give each other feedback. You can have them create their own presentations or you can have them use our general presentation as a starting point.
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We have found it easiest to use a general presentation and have each presenter develop her own personal information slides. Scheduling is much easier this way because presentations can be given by any two women that are available with little extra work from them. |
Great tips found in the manual:
How to give an effective talk
to pre-college women |
- Make it fun!
- Speak clearly.
- Use large fonts.
- Use a fun font!
- Use lots of pictures!
- Use examples and pictures of things that are relevant to their lives! (e.g. Cell phones, iPods)
- Don’t try to cram too much into the talk.
- Use props.
- Use color.
- Make the presentation hands-on and interactive. Get students to speak up during the presentation and ask questions. Give interesting anecdotes and try to bring props or pictures from your projects.
- Reward students who participate with sponsor giveaways.
- Remember…We are not recruiting for our school. When students ask, "What if my GPA isn’t perfect?" or "What SAT score do I need to get into college?" - Answer with the mindset that there are lots of universities.
- In addition to an overview of the engineering field, it is sometimes helpful to focus on one specific issue as an example. For example, students will remember the conversation better if you explore how a fire hydrant works rather than generally describe engineers as problem-solvers. Usually personal experiences are most effective and interesting.
- Talk about projects that you think are cool and try to think of a simple way to explain the principles and motivation behind the project. Give examples of skills that someone working on the project needs and where you might learn those skills.
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GUINEA PIG SESSION!
Bring in a group of well-behaved local middle and high school kids (try the children of faculty and staff) to try out your presentations and activities. We called this a "guinea pig session." |
Link to download the general presentation:
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Link to download the manual: |
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