My nephew is taking a video production class in his high school. Since I had some use or lose vacation time to burn I volunteered to go talk to his class next week. I asked him if he, or his teachers, have a wish list of what they want me to talk about - classes I took in college, jobs I've had, shooting tips, editing tricks - his response was "whatever you want". So if you could get a guest speaker in your school what topics would you want?

Thanks,
Kris

I would say, above all, inspire and invigorate. Talk about the most exciting things you've been involved in, the most impressive work you feel you've done, the most astounding victories you've won in your career. Kids aren't going to care about editing minutiae except in the context of some larger problem you successfully tackled, and even then only after you've proven to them that you're Batman. The most engaging presentations open with the Big Picture before burrowing into theoretical background.

Bring visual aids if you are able! Quiz your audience to keep them involved!

Sounds like loads of fun! Good luck!

I'm currently a senior in high school in a video production class, although the circumstances are most likley slightly different. We don't have a teacher, so I am basically the person that teaches everyone and gets them to do their thing. I've set up a few speakers to come in and talk to us to try to motivate the other students slightly, and I've found that just try to at least start out with the interesting things that will catch the students attention so they don't get bored. Personally I wouldnt mind the "boring" part, and I am sure that there will be a few in this class that would be interested in it, but starting out with interesting tricks/techniques would be your best bet. Lots of times my class will take a "long way" of doing a certain process, then I find on this site/others a simple and more effective way that would have saved oodles of time. Just things like that, tips basically.

I was inspired to get into the film/ DV world in my high school vid. prod. class.

I say tell them about all the work you've done (stories, etc). They get enough instruction about the equipment and all that... i don't think they need any more. Focus on equipment they haven't used, tell about your experiences, let them know what the industry is all about... i think you'll do well. I hope its not too late.

Best of luck to you.

The class was last Friday and I seem to have survived. I'm not sure how inspiring I was, but I do love my job so they must have picked up on that. I tried asking my nephew later what he thought, I think he mumbled something about it going well, but it's hard to tell.

So thanks to each of you for your ideas and encouragement.

Smile,
Kris