PanSIG 2017 AIU

Ready to rock&roll

May 19-21 saw JALT PanSIG visit Akita International University, with members and non-members coming together from all over the country, and even a few from further abroad, to present, exchange and share ideas. It was my first time attending a PanSIG conference, and I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to present; a poster presentation on using the mobile app Aurasma.

The entire process was very new to me, writing a proposal for my presentation, getting it approved, preparing all of my materials (with multiple backup copies!), ironing out any technical difficulties with Aurasma and finally standing in front of a crowd of people showing the ins and outs of my poster display.

Augmented reality guru Parisa Mehran checking out my work!

The preparation stage was a good opportunity to take a step back and re-evaluate what exactly were my aims with using Aurasma, had I succeeded in attaining those goals and to reflect on ways to improve or do differently. It allowed me to view my project another perspective, the perspective of the audience. What questions would they have, what questions would I be asking if I were seeing some new tech for the first time and how I could translate it into my own teaching.

Leading up to the conference it was a mixture of first-time nerves and anticipating some sort of technical failure, but composed and collected knowing that I had put in the time and effort to create a poster display I was confident in showing to a group of language instructors. It was left in my hands to make the presentation a success.

An interactive poster with an interactive audience

One niggle that I did run into was that I had prepared my posters to be held up by magnets, being a modular poster with various segments it allowed me to have a more dynamic and interchangeable display, under the presumption from reading the PanSIG poster session web page that magnetic display boards would be available. You could imagine my disappointment when I reached the venue realised I had to pin all of my posters! I think it would be a benefit to future presenters if the advice on the official web page matched what was available on site on the day.

Contributions from attendees on the day

The day of the presentation was brilliant. There was a lot of interest and it was overwhelming at times with the number of people crowding around my display. I did come away thinking that I would have preferred the Saturday slot as there would have been even more people to get feedback from. Many conference attendees had to catch flights/trains to get back to their respective workplaces (Akita is not an easy place to get to and from!) for Monday morning, which meant that there was a significance turnout between the Saturday and Sunday poster sessions. Nevertheless, it was an amazing opportunity and my first experience presenting outside of local events.

Thank you to all those involved, especially the organisers for putting together a wonderful conference, Akita International University for a gorgeous venue and for the splendid hospitality, and all the presenters for an eye-opening weekend of professional development. A special mention to Jim for driving all the way there and back while I kipped in the front!