The more, the merrier? – the mult-presenter experience

 

[3 perfomers]

In my final year at UC Santa Cruz more than 40 years ago, I took a senior seminar entitled “History of Socialism”. What was remarkable and memorable about this course, aside from the amount of work and information involved, was the presence of two teachers, each an expert in a different aspect of the topic. Seeing two experts openly disagreeing on the interpretation of various events gave us students the feelings of awe and freedom, significantly enhancing the course. Last week, I was part of a group of three lecturers giving an ATA (American Translator Association) webinar on preparing a professional website, a topic that I had previously presented to the Israel Translators Association in collaboration with Uri Bruck. I and my colleagues, Dmitry Beschetny and Ben Karl, discussed the rational and manner of preparing a profession translator/interpreter website. I found the experience enriching, challenging and worthwhile.

This combination of expertise provided a texture to the course in that each person contributed his knowledge, style and voice. In the case of the course, we covered three aspects of website construction, specifically the rationale, approach to third party providers and doing it yourself, each of us sharing his experience and point of view. As expected, the presentation styles differed in terms of organization and terminology. More importantly, the voice differed as every individual has a unique presence, ranging in formality and technical vocabulary. The webinar had three noticeable separate parts.

Clearly, this cooperation demanded extra effort, compromise and vision. Specifically, as there was a need to create unity among three parts, the planning involved many emails and several Zoom conversations to ensure that everybody was on the same page. In such cases, it also involved a certain loss of individual preference in order to create a unity of not only of theme but spirit. To make and accept this compromise, the parties must create a single overall vision and identify how each element contributes to it without insisting on a single path. This whole process involves far more time and effort than solo presenting.

However, this investment was worthwhile for both the learners and lecturers. The attendees received far more information and advice than would have received from any single lecturer. Furthermore, the lack of complete consensus among the lecturers reinforced the message that many roads lead to Rome. Thus, the issue become which method is more appropriate, not one size does or does not fit all. The division into three sections and three voices also made it easier to concentrate for two hours, an important benefit. For me as a lecturer, I enjoyed hearing the experience of my colleagues and will benefit from it when I redo my site at some time. All the participants gained.

In teaching and presenting as well as other areas of life, synergy can have important benefits, adding knowledge, texture, perspective and variety. Of course, it involves more time investment but the results can justify it. More may not always be merrier but it is almost always richer.