At the end of October I got to try something new, I gave an Ignite Talk at the NCTM Annual Conference in Washington, DC. (disclaimer: I am on the NCTM Board of Directors) I’ve been wanting to do an Ignite for years, so it was pretty cool when I finally got an invitation to do one. An Ignite talk is a five-minute presentation with 20 slides. The slides auto advance every 15 seconds so once you hit start, the slides are going with or without you! I was the first one up, which was great because I got it out of the way and could then enjoy the other Ignite presentations.
I worked on this talk for a few months. I had a lot of fun thinking about what I wanted to say. I decided that the message I wanted to share is that even though things can seem bleak, and that, at times, we as individuals seem largely powerless to enact change, the little things we do can make a difference. Many little actions, collectively taken, can create the conditions for larger changes. If you watch the talk, look for the many AI-generated images that I made for the slides. AI still isn’t great at hands and hair, and you’ll see some funny Easter eggs if you look carefully. 🙂 See the full video of my Ignite talk below.
(Note: my last name was mispronounced, I say it dee-uh-rah-jo). Also, you may have noticed I’m now using WordPress for my newsletter rather than MailChimp. I am trying to simplify my life and using WordPress is just easier for me right now.