Avoiding Death by PowerPoint at the Forum

A Guide for More Creative Session Ideas

We’ve all had that feeling – it’s 2 pm on the second day of the conference, you’ve just had a big lunch, you walk into your next session room, and you’re greeted by yet another PowerPoint. Let the post-lunch nap ensue. 

In this document you will find a number of session format ideas that go beyond the traditional PowerPoint presentation. The interactive session formats described below encourage storytelling and are often more accessible for people with neurodivergence and different styles of learning.

Disclaimer: If a PowerPoint presentation works for you, we’re not here to tell you to not create one. This document is intended as a resource for those who would like to explore alternative formats.

Ideas for Working Groups

  • Book Club: Bring people together to read a few chapters of a book on climate. Reading in-community can be very powerful. Consider reflecting together at the end.
  • Journal Article Breakdown: Journal articles typically contain complex scientific jargon which can make them inaccessible to many practitioners. Reading articles as a group can help to distill the important information. Consider projecting complex figures, so the group can work through them together. 
  • Worksheets: Create a worksheet on your topic of interest. Ask attendees to work through it in silence and then reconvene to discuss and synthesize ideas.
  • Drawing: Draw individually or together as a group. Create a collective mural or a piece of art.
  • Hackathon: Invite everyone to bring their laptops and work on a collaborative digital project (e.g., editing Wikipedia articles to correct for climate misinformation, building a list of BIPOC led climate orgs). You pick the project and hold a space for others to work on it with you!
  • Mini Movie: Film a group video together on any topic!
  • Bust a Move: Choreograph a fun dance together! Consider, how can adaptation and climate change be communicated through dance?
  • Games: Bring your favorite climate-related board game and PLAY!
  • Speed Networking: Organize a speed dating-esque session for people to find their climate allies/buddies or mentors.
  • Scavenger Hunt: Explore the David L. Lawrence Center, create adaptation-related hints, and hide treasure!

Ideas for Symposia

  • Panel conversations: This format can be much more powerful and engaging than back-to-back presentations. Consider including the audience in your conversation!
  • No slides or minimal slides.
  • Performance-based symposia: Poetry slams, group songs, plays.
  • Quiz Show: Host a quiz or jeopardy style game to convey some of your learnings in a way that includes play and friendly competition.

Ideas for Poster Presentations

Ideas for going beyond the usual “intro / discussion / conclusion” format. Not all posters need to be academic!

  • Photo Collage: Create a collage showcasing photos of a place you care about deeply and the climate challenges it faces.
    • Alternatively, use a photo collage to depict your adaptation career path. How did you get to where you are today? What advice do you have for young professionals?
  • Crowd-sourced Poster: A blank poster with 2-3 prompts about a challenge you are facing. Allow people to fill in responses using sticky notes. 
  • Climate Artwork: A poster showcasing climate artwork that you did or an abstract piece of art that you ask people to interpret with a climate lens.
  • Resources in Adaptation: A poster that showcases your favorite books,  music, and/or podcasts on adaptation!

Ideas for Tools Café

  • Tools don’t always have to be digital – consider any powerful method that you’ve used to bring people together to create change.

Ideas for Individual Oral Presentations

Consider using your 15 minutes to be in community with your audience in simple and meaningful ways. Not all presentations need to be an information dump. You could:

  • Share an honest vulnerable story about a project that didn’t go as planned
  • Tell the story of your adaptation journey
  • Tell the story of your hometown and how climate impacts it
  • Share a list of books that you read this year on climate and how they moved you
  • Share who your top 5 adaptation role models are and why
  • Share your goals as an adaptation practitioner. What would you like to achieve and why?
  • Do a mini book club or journal club – encourage people to read 1-2 pages of your book or article in silence and then discuss
  • Bring a collaborator and have a 10 minute podcast style conversation about your work
  • Poetry slam! Share a poem that really moved you or a poem you have written
  • Show us your favorite piece of climate art and tell us how it connects to your work
  • Bring an object that holds deep meaning to you and share how it relates to our climate journeys
  • Do you like music or dance or acting? Consider giving a 15 min climate themed performance!

Resources

The resources included here are about non-traditional presentation formats and how to make presentations accessible more generally.

Acknowledgements

We’d like to thank Vidya Balasubramanyam for her help in compiling this resource. The National Adaptation Forum will certainly be a more inclusive, accessible, and interactive conference thanks to her efforts!