Presentation in front of 80 children
I have given my fair share of presentations over the past 16 years. 42 to be precise, which works out at 2 or 3 presentations a year. My last one, however, was special because I was not presenting at a conference or to students. I was giving a presentation in front of children at a children’s university and my audience consisted of 80 children aged between 8 and 12.
What is a children’s university?
I am not sure if this exists in other countries, but it probably does. A children’s university is basically an outreach programme by a university for children to familiarise them with the university environment. They come to one or more lectures and get a scientific presentation made for children. They can ask anything!
In the case of the university I presented, the children were also able to collect points (like ECTS), get a student card and, after a while, a diploma. This degree is only pro forma, of course, but I think after six lectures they get a bachelor’s degree, after six more a master’s and after a few more even a doctorate. I have seen some of the children receive their degrees and they were very proud.
What did I talk about?
I was asked to talk about 3D reconstructions as this is usually a very visual type of presentation. The title (roughly translated) was “Archaeological reconstructions. What did it look like then?” I was not sure how to present it to children, so I took it step by step. I started by explaining what archaeologists do, and then showed them the difference between what we usually find when there is stone architecture and when there is mud-brick architecture.
Then I started to show them how we as archaeologists reconstruct and what sources we use. That sounds a bit hard for children, doesn’t it? I thought so too, but I was wrong. The questions were so precise (Why did the windows look like that? How long did it take to build this temple?) that I was really impressed. After completing a reconstruction for a temple, I finished by showing them how to reconstruct an entire city. When I showed the final image, I got a “wow” from the whole audience. I never got that in a classroom or at a conference 🙂
How was it received?
Well, as I said, the questions from the young audience were really to the point and showed me that they were listening. They wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t done a good job and the organisers told me that it was indeed a very engaging and interesting talk for the children. I was very pleased with that and spent the rest of my time answering questions from the audience.
Some asked me what the toilets were like in Uruk and if they stank. Others wanted to know if there were really people walled up in the Great Wall of China (because I showed them a picture of me being there) or what archaeologists eat when they dig. It was really interesting to see children asking questions they are interested in without fear of sounding unprofessional. I think this would sometimes be a good attitude for archaeological conferences or workshops.
