Presenting to Kids

View post on Bluesky

Can confirm. About once a quarter I give a presentation at the Voyager Club, which is a volunteer organization of 12-18 year olds that do work for the local space centers.

My style for this kind of presentation is simple: Pick a topic, figure out some questions to lead the audience in a Socratic discovery, include a demo of some kind.

The kids just eat it up.

I mean, naturally you'll have some conspicuously looking at their phones under the table, but there's always dozens of hands going up whenever I ask a question. They're usually pretty engaged with the demos, and they ask good questions. And hopefully what I discuss sticks with them.

It's something that I look forward to whenever it comes up. I'd encourage anyone who has some knowledge or skill to volunteer to share it with youngsters. I expect you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you enjoy it.