Help!

[PEO]

The deputy head has asked me to do a presentation about our schools website, the use of social media as a tool and help desk. My ass has just droped as I've never done a public speak/presentation before and I have no idea what the hell to talk about. Can anyone give me some pointers or ideas what I should talk about.

[tudorcrisp]

how long do you have to talk for?

 

The first time I had to do something similar I had produced a 'technical manual' which instructed staff how to solve the most common problems that affected the start of a lesson (SIMS errors, Connecting a laptop to a projector) as well as some basic housekeeping instructions for things like Outlook. My talk lasted less than five minutes but it was pretty daunting! I remember thinking that keeping it light and brief was the way to go... however I was only talking for 5 mins!!

[PEO]

Not sure how long I need to do it for but I'm planning to keep it under 5 minutes. just not sure what the deil i should talk about. everyone knows what social media is, waht a website is and most know what a heko desk is. grr

[enjay]

everyone knows what social media is

Not sure on that. Many people know that Facebook is a way of seeing photos and chatting to someone (either via live chat or posts and comments), but fewer people have thought of educational applications of this, e.g. homework discussions.

 

most know what a help desk is. grr

If you have one, demo that and explain the benefits of people logging calls via that rather than approaching you in the corridor, dining hall, car park or toilet (or supermarket!) (and I have been asked questions in all those locations!).

 

You're not going to get much done in 5 minutes though. If you want to talk about all of those things, then you will need longer; otherwise the risk is that you will end up saying nothing or worse, adding further confusion.

[tudorcrisp]

I think finding out more information from the deputy head is your first port of call. You need to understand exactly what they are expecting as the last thing you want in that situation is to be put on the spot. Perhaps something similar to what I had to do, create a guide/manual prior to the talk then standing up and introducing the document and how it could benefit them may be the way to go.

[penfold]

Cover some of the legal aspects of the web and social media. I have spoken to a few members of staff who wanted to use Facebook (among others) for children to get informaiton but didn't realise there was an age restriction on creating accounts to access these sites.

 

Importance of keeping information up to date and contact details easily found on your website for prospective parents looking to contact the school.

 

As for the help desk, use it to highlight the fact that you have different categorys for job requests which require varying degrees of response(High Priority>Low Priority). Highlight the importance of users providing as much relevant information as possible so you can assign the appropriate category to each job and hit any SLA you have in place. If you can run off a few reports/graphs you can also show people how you are doing in hitting these targets and where things can be improved. Having advance notice when staff are planning something new can help you keep these target realistic.

Edited June 19, 2012 by penfold

[elsiegee40]

You need to address the use of personal accounts in Social Networking. To protect staff's own backsides, they should only engage students through the school's own accounts and never through their personal accounts.

 

Unless given more guidance, I would address this from the stand-point of "protecting your professional reputation"... in other words what to do to minimise the risk of being accused of clandestine activities with young people.

 

There are some fantastic tools in Social networking that are brilliant to use, but staff must be made aware of the precautions they must take before using them.

 

My facebook privacy settings guide might be handy for you too! (see below)

 

This document from Kent Safeguarding Children's Board has some good topics for discussion in it:

Safer Practice with Technology - guidance for adults who work with children and young people