Latest / The Book Deal / SPECIAL EP: School Author Talks - Everything You Need to Know (Part 1)

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SPECIAL EP: School Author Talks - Everything You Need to Know (Part 1) · The Book Deal

• 0:09
  Speaker: The Book Deal Podcast Where you will discover the inspiring stories behind your favorite books.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: We interview seasoned and debut authors, as well as publishing industry professionals, to bring you the best tips and advice on how to get that elusive book deal.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: So no matter what stage of writing you're at, we've got you covered.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I'm Tina Strachan.
• 0:30
  Speaker: I'm Madeleine Cleary.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm Natasha Rai.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: And join us as we pull back the curtain of published authors.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: One deal at a time.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: The Book Deal podcast acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and waters which it's recorded on, and pays respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.
• 0:56
  Tina Strachan: Welcome to this very special episode of The Book Deal Podcast.
• 0:59
  Tina Strachan: I'm Tina Strachan, and today I am bringing you a mega ep focusing on everything you've ever wanted to know about school author visits.
• 1:08
  Tina Strachan: Book Week is coming up in August, so it's a busy time for many authors as they make their way into schools to celebrate.
• 1:15
  Tina Strachan: But school talks or children's talks in general, so even at libraries or festivals or other events, can be very daunting for many, especially those just starting out.
• 1:25
  Tina Strachan: And for others that have experience, it's always great to hear advice from other authors on how to pull off a presentation or workshop for children that keeps them interested and entertained and leaving inspired for their own creativity and reading.
• 1:41
  Tina Strachan: And because every author is different and has their own unique style, I have asked not one, not two, but six different authors and a high school teacher librarian technician to share all their insider knowledge on what makes a successful school author talk.
• 1:57
  Tina Strachan: They will share what types of talks and presentations they offer, how they like to structure them, what works best to hold students' attention, what doesn't work well, any disasters or embarrassing moments and how they navigated them, funniest questions they've ever been asked, advice for how to score the highly sought-after school visits, and other important tips for making these visits run smoothly.
• 2:20
  Tina Strachan: In fact, there was so much valuable advice shared that I had to turn this into two episodes.
• 2:27
  Tina Strachan: So grab your notebook and pen because these are episodes you will want to take notes for.
• 2:32
  Tina Strachan: We are so appreciative to the stellar authors that have joined us for this school talk special.
• 2:37
  Tina Strachan: And today you will hear part one with Sarah Armstrong, Zanni Louise, Peter Carnavas, and Carla Salmon.
• 2:45
  Tina Strachan: And next week we'll release part two with Adrian Beck, Kristen Dorelle, and teacher librarian technician Helen Farche.
• 2:53
  Tina Strachan: These are mega episodes jam-packed full of helpful tips and advice to give your children's presentations and workshops a huge boost, and we wish you all the best of luck for your own school visits
• 3:09
  Sarah Armstrong: Hi, my name is Sarah Armstrong.
• 3:10
  Sarah Armstrong: My latest book is Run, a survival thriller, uh, set in the Australian bush.
• 3:16
  Sarah Armstrong: And coming up very soon is The Wave, another survival thriller featuring a very big wave.
• 3:22
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, so at the minute I'm writing survival thrillers.
• 3:25
  Sarah Armstrong: I've also written fantasy, what I would call low fantasy.
• 3:29
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, so I'm definitely in the middle grade space, and just love writing for kids after...
• 3:37
  Sarah Armstrong: I used to write for adults, and I'm very firmly in the writing for kids camp now.
• 3:41
  Sarah Armstrong: What I love most about going into schools is just hanging out with the kids, and their incredible imaginations, and their enthusiasm.
• 3:51
  Sarah Armstrong: I mean, they are my audience.
• 3:54
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, so I love knowing what's, you know, exciting them and sparking their imaginations.
• 4:00
  Sarah Armstrong: And going in and meeting kids who've read my books is just...
• 4:06
  Sarah Armstrong: I love it.
• 4:06
  Sarah Armstrong: To know that a book of mine has really landed for a kid is, you know, pretty much everything.
• 4:11
  Sarah Armstrong: This is, this is why I do what I do.
• 4:13
  Sarah Armstrong: So that kind of, um, gratification cannot be got elsewhere.
• 4:18
  Sarah Armstrong: So when I go into schools, I do both presentation, like large group presentations, and also smaller group workshops.
• 4:26
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, I've been teaching writing to adults and kids for, you know, couple of decades now, and I really enjoy doing those sort of hands-on workshops.
• 4:36
  Sarah Armstrong: Whether it's with kids who are already really into writing or kids who don't think they are, I enjoy both.
• 4:42
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, and I get very kind of craft focused, and really support them in learning how to write freely.
• 4:50
  Sarah Armstrong: Free writing is something I love teaching in my workshops.
• 4:54
  Sarah Armstrong: And I think the sort of, you know, my secret power, if you like, is the feedback I give.
• 4:58
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, it is grounded in craft, and it's really constructive, but it really focuses in on each child, each writer's special quality that they have in their writing, whatever that may be.
• 5:13
  Sarah Armstrong: And in my large group presentations, uh, I talk about my books.
• 5:18
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, I sort of take them behind the scenes of the writer's life.
• 5:23
  Sarah Armstrong: Like I used to be a journalist, so I talk about that sort of- the transition from journalism to writing.
• 5:28
  Sarah Armstrong: And I mean, the really fun thing for me at the minute in my presentations, I, um, brainstorm a, um, suspenseful scene with the kids, and that is like, it's really fun, and they're sort of throwing ideas at me, and together we kind of craft this plan for a scene, and then I sort of tell them the story.
• 5:48
  Sarah Armstrong: And that's- that's heaps of fun.
• 5:50
  Sarah Armstrong: So it's I cover, like, nuts and bolts of writing, some of the themes that come up in my book around survival, and some of the sort of moral questions that are raised in the books.
• 6:02
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, and just, yeah, how to get published.
• 6:06
  Sarah Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
• 6:06
  Sarah Armstrong: A lot They're very interested in that sort of publication process.
• 6:11
  Sarah Armstrong: When I'm doing a, a large group presentation, my aim is to get the kids interacting with me right away.
• 6:20
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, you know, honestly, the job is part entertainment, uh, to the extent that I need to grab their attention so that they will listen what I've got to what I've got to say about writing.
• 6:29
  Sarah Armstrong: So I'm thinking,"What's a story I can tell that is going to grab their attention and that relates to my book?" So for Run, which is a survival story, I tell them about a news story that I was quite obsessed with when I was a young journo, um, that involves a medical student, um, a Brisbane medical student who got lost in the Himalayas and survived for six weeks in a cave with only two chocolate bars to sustain him.
• 6:56
  Sarah Armstrong: And when I'm telling this story, you can just hear a pin drop in the room.
• 6:59
  Sarah Armstrong: They're really interested.
• 7:00
  Sarah Armstrong: So it gets them in, and then it gives me something to bounce off to talk about survival and why it's fascinated me, and why it's sort of an interesting topic for a novel.
• 7:11
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, so, um, it's about finding stories to tell them.
• 7:15
  Sarah Armstrong: It's about asking them questions.
• 7:17
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, or even just, you know,"Hands up if you've I don't know, if you've read Hatchet," or something like that.
• 7:22
  Sarah Armstrong: And then we brainstorm a story plan together, and that's, like, heaps of interaction.
• 7:27
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, and you know, I just get to, you know, revel in their wild and amazing ideas.
• 7:34
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, amazing how many megalodons feature when we're brainstorming a scene.
• 7:40
  Sarah Armstrong: I do show quite a few photos on PowerPoint, uh,'cause I think that can really work for a lot of kids, give them something to focus on, and I definitely do a reading.
• 7:50
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, for my fantasy books, um, Big Magic and Magic Awry, um, I bring hula hoops and juggling scarves, and I get the kids up doing, like, a little micro circus performance with circus music to sort of segue into me reading.
• 8:06
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, so honestly, thinking about a presentation is a bit like thinking about a story.
• 8:11
  Sarah Armstrong: Like, how do I grab their attention early?
• 8:15
  Sarah Armstrong: Having moments of excitement, and then moments of letting things settle, you know, and a bit of quiet so they can absorb some of the information and ideas, and then kind of rounding things off at the end.
• 8:26
  Sarah Armstrong: So yeah, think about it a bit like a story.
• 8:28
  Sarah Armstrong: In terms of holding their attention, I think it's, you know, asking questions, walking around.
• 8:33
  Sarah Armstrong: Like, I walk around a lot.
• 8:34
  Sarah Armstrong: I never stand behind a lectern.
• 8:36
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, using the pictures, humor, um, and sometimes talking quietly brings them back, you know?
• 8:44
  Sarah Armstrong: If they're just sort of beginning to get a...
• 8:48
  Sarah Armstrong: Th- th- there's often a lot of buzz when they're talking about the story ideas, but if I just talk very quietly, I bring them back.
• 8:53
  Sarah Armstrong: I always have a microphone though, because I need to be able to rein them in, because I get them throwing ideas around, and they're often talking to each other about their ideas, and I'm fine with that.
• 9:03
  Sarah Armstrong: I'm really happy if what they're talking to each other about is the story idea.
• 9:07
  Sarah Armstrong: That's all good.
• 9:08
  Sarah Armstrong: But if I've got 300 kids, I need a microphone to be able to pull them back in.
• 9:13
  Sarah Armstrong: So a microphone works very well to hold students' attention, I would say.
• 9:19
  Sarah Armstrong: I think probably the, um, hardest situation I've had is when all the tech failed.
• 9:27
  Sarah Armstrong: So I had no pictures, and I had no microphone, and I had, like, 250 year four students.
• 9:34
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, and so I just projected, just, just dug real deep and just gave it everything with my projection, and my, my voice was really raw afterwards.
• 9:48
  Sarah Armstrong: And I just moved around a lot, and I gestured a lot, and I used my face and my eyes a lot, and I looked the kids in the eyes.
• 9:57
  Sarah Armstrong: They were sitting on the floor, and I was trying to make a lot of eye con- eye contact.
• 10:01
  Sarah Armstrong: I was just doing everything I could to keep their attention.
• 10:05
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, it was just like I dialed it up to 200, because I didn't have the mic and I didn't have the pictures, and it worked.
• 10:13
  Sarah Armstrong: It was just really hard work.
• 10:15
  Sarah Armstrong: I'm always, always asked if I'm related to Neil Armstrong, the astronaut.
• 10:23
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, I was once asked if I was married to him, which, uh, would've meant that there was a 38 year age difference between us.
• 10:30
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, but what I tell them in response to that is that,"No, I'm not related to Neil Armstrong, but, uh, when I was their age, I used to tell people I was, because I thought it'd be very cool to be related to the first person on the moon." So I am always asked that.
• 10:47
  Sarah Armstrong: It's amazing.
• 10:48
  Sarah Armstrong: I have speakers agents, so that takes a lot of the work, hard work out of my hands, which I really appreciate.
• 10:56
  Sarah Armstrong: But I think it's just the thing of, um, you know, making connections with people.
• 11:04
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, and sometimes it's parents who will put You know, I, I meet a parent somewhere and they'll say,"Oh, I'm gonna talk to the school about whether you could come to the school." Sometimes it's a teacher librarian or a teacher I meet.
• 11:16
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, I think it's just the more you can get to know people in this world, the better.
• 11:21
  Sarah Armstrong: And look, it's just taken me time to When I first wrote my first book, I was hoping I would get a lot of school visits straight away, and it just, you know, it takes time to build those relationships and to become known, and to hone your craft.
• 11:34
  Sarah Armstrong: So I think it's also just understanding that it's, it's something that builds over time.
• 11:40
  Sarah Armstrong: Um, when I've approached schools directly, mostly that doesn't really reap a lot of visits for me, interestingly.
• 11:50
  Sarah Armstrong: Maybe kind of one out of 10 approaches will bring me a visit.
• 11:56
  Sarah Armstrong: And one thing that, I found helpful too is I will, um, you know, outside of the kind of book month period of the year, I will sometimes do some, free, visits into schools when I've got a book newly out, and I'll do it, um, sort of in conjunction with a bookshop who, um, sell books into the schools when I do the visits.
• 12:19
  Sarah Armstrong: And I'm In those visits I'm just giving them a little taster of my presentation basically.
• 12:23
  Sarah Armstrong: It's not my full presentation, it's a sort of like a little taster.
• 12:27
  Sarah Armstrong: And that's a way also to get known amongst teacher librarians and, and bookshops.
• 12:33
  Sarah Armstrong: Because I've had, a bookseller recommend me to a, um, school, and that school ended up ordering something like 80 copies of my book from that visit.
• 12:47
  Sarah Armstrong: So it's I think, um, there are lots of ways to, to get there, and that sort of collaboration with bookshops is, is another way.
• 12:57
  Sarah Armstrong: I mean, you wouldn't, you couldn't do that too much because it's really tiring doing presentations, but a few of those can just sort of help make connections.
• 13:06
  Sarah Armstrong: I think just being really organized is my main, um, sort of tip for making s- visits run smoothly.
• 13:12
  Sarah Armstrong: You know, arrive in heaps of time.
• 13:15
  Sarah Armstrong: Allow for traffic jams and all sorts of chaos.
• 13:18
  Sarah Armstrong: Uh, much better to be sitting there in the car park with, 20 minutes to spare than sort of rushing in and sort of plugging in your tech while the kids are all sitting there.
• 13:27
  Sarah Armstrong: That's kind of pretty stressful.
• 13:30
  Sarah Armstrong: Take water with you, take snacks.
• 13:33
  Sarah Armstrong: Definitely ask about where you can park if you're driving.
• 13:36
  Sarah Armstrong: You don't want to turn up and not have a park and having been driving around the streets looking for somewhere to park.
• 13:41
  Sarah Armstrong: And, I get the librarian's mobile number, so if I need to If they're happy for me to have it so I can contact them if something goes wrong, like my car broke down on the way once to a visit, and it was really good that I could just call and say And I had allowed so much time that it was okay.
• 14:00
  Sarah Armstrong: I got there just in time, um, even allowing for the fact that my car broke down.
• 14:05
  Sarah Armstrong: So, uh, I think just being super prepared for, things to go wrong and allowing lots of time.
• 14:13
  Sarah Armstrong: I always feel like it's such a privilege to be invited into schools, and it's not something I ever take for granted when I'm invited.
• 14:21
  Sarah Armstrong: You know, I'm meeting amazing kids and, you know, teachers are carving out time in their curriculum.
• 14:28
  Sarah Armstrong: And you know, I know their curriculums are just packed.
• 14:30
  Sarah Armstrong: They've got so much to fit in.
• 14:32
  Sarah Armstrong: And the librarians, you know, often go to such effort to promote the author and the book and make you morning tea and things like that.
• 14:42
  Sarah Armstrong: And it You know, it's a really It's a truly lovely experience going into schools, and it gives me such faith in humanity.
• 14:52
  Sarah Armstrong: And it's really a perfect, um, companion to the solitary nature of writing.
• 15:00
  Sarah Armstrong: I mean, I spend so much time on my own in my head.
• 15:04
  Sarah Armstrong: It's a lovely balance when I'm going out into a school and engaging with lively, excited kids and, you know, lovely teachers and librarians who are just dedicated to getting the right book in the hands of the right kid.
• 15:18
  Sarah Armstrong: And you know, that's what we're all about ultimately, is getting the right book in the hands of the right kids.
• 15:24
  Sarah Armstrong: And if my presentations and workshops can help that, then yeah, gives me a great feeling of satisfaction.
• 15:35
  Zanni Louise: Hello, my name's Zanni Louise, and I write books for kids.
• 15:40
  Zanni Louise: I've published over 50 books.
• 15:43
  Zanni Louise: In this year alone, I have 11 books out, which is a little bit nuts.
• 15:48
  Zanni Louise: The four books I have out this August are a book for teenagers called Us in the Bright Lights, a book for middle grade readers called K-Pop Superfans, and two picture books.
• 16:02
  Zanni Louise: One is called Sunny Gets to Work, illustrated by Suzie Oh, and the other one is called You, Me, Community, illustrated by Tony Flowers.
• 16:12
  Zanni Louise: Thank you so much for having me on your podcast, Tina.
• 16:15
  Zanni Louise: I'm so pleased that you asked me about school visits.
• 16:19
  Zanni Louise: So I've been visiting kids in schools over the last decade just about, and would say I've visited up to tens of thousands of kids.
• 16:31
  Zanni Louise: So my school presentation is very refined after all that experience.
• 16:37
  Zanni Louise: I'm always trying things out, taking things away.
• 16:41
  Zanni Louise: It's You, you learn on the job, and you're ditching away things that aren't funny or aren't engaging kids.
• 16:49
  Zanni Louise: You're adding things that you know will support your, uh, presentation.
• 16:56
  Zanni Louise: So it's a constantly evolving thing.
• 16:58
  Zanni Louise: Uh, so the way I have my school visits at the moment, um, I'm really happy with how the hour presentation goes.
• 17:07
  Zanni Louise: It feels really engaging, uh, for kids of all different ages.
• 17:12
  Zanni Louise: I adjust it depending on the age.
• 17:14
  Zanni Louise: Uh, and I feel like it's got quite a lot of quality content, stuff that kids and teachers can keep, uh, take back to the classroom and, you know, hopefully extend what they did in our session and keep the ball rolling after the excitement of an author visit.
• 17:33
  Zanni Louise: So, uh, yeah, I visit, um, young kids all the way through to teenagers I would say, uh, up until So from kindergarten till about grade four, my presentation is generally more or less the same.
• 17:49
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I inflate it, expand it, contract it, uh, and adjust it depending on the group size and the particular age level.
• 17:59
  Zanni Louise: But more or less it has a backbone that runs through the presentation.
• 18:04
  Zanni Louise: I, it's on a, uh, PowerPoint, so I have my kind of cues, my card cues, so I know kind of roughly where I am in the presentation.
• 18:13
  Zanni Louise: But it's, uh, it's a combination of reading aloud to kids, engaging them with questions, uh, a little bit of play performing, and, uh, some story work stuff.
• 18:27
  Zanni Louise: So giving them something practical to take in back to the classrooms.
• 18:32
  Zanni Louise: And my, uh, presentations for slightly older kids, I think always fell a bit flat.
• 18:38
  Zanni Louise: I always felt they weren't as engaging as my, uh, presentations for younger kids, partly'cause I haven't done hardly as many of them.
• 18:46
  Zanni Louise: I mainly p- um, visit younger kids.
• 18:50
  Zanni Louise: But, uh, just talking to friends, and workshopping ideas, and trying out new things, I feel like those presentations have really come a long way now.
• 18:59
  Zanni Louise: And one of my friends, Deborah Abela, said,"Do Errol with all the kids." And I was like,"Really?
• 19:06
  Zanni Louise: Errol?
• 19:07
  Zanni Louise: Errol's for little kids." The little kids howl with laughter at this, especially when I'm lying on the floor as Errol's mum.
• 19:15
  Zanni Louise: Uh, and I was worried that older kids might find it a bit too silly, and Deborah's like,"Nope, go for it.
• 19:22
  Zanni Louise: I think they're gonna love it." And she was right.
• 19:24
  Zanni Louise: It really breaks the ice.
• 19:25
  Zanni Louise: It just makes kids feel unco- feel comfortable, uh, when you're being a bit silly with them, and I think the older kids just love playing just as much as the younger kids.
• 19:35
  Zanni Louise: So I'm a lot looser with them now, and I think that really, really helps.
• 19:39
  Zanni Louise: So those presentations for grades five and six are always a little bit more in depth, but, uh, have a bit more of a takeaway in terms of sort of story structures and things like that.
• 19:50
  Zanni Louise: And maybe I can introduce them to, uh, a bit more of the nuance, um, behind the inspiration of the book.
• 19:57
  Zanni Louise: But, uh, more or less I'm still playing with them.
• 20:00
  Zanni Louise: I'm still, um, Being humorous and, and just having fun with them, and that's worked really well.
• 20:07
  Zanni Louise: High school students, on the other hand, are a whole other kettle of fish.
• 20:11
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I've had a few nightmare experiences of standing at the front of two or 300 stony-faced teenagers for an hour, uh, to a dead sea of silence.
• 20:23
  Zanni Louise: Uh, every joke fell flat.
• 20:26
  Zanni Louise: Every question went unanswered.
• 20:27
  Zanni Louise: It was hell on earth.
• 20:30
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I've, I've quickly learnt from those experiences too.
• 20:34
  Zanni Louise: I now come armed with lollies.
• 20:36
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I'm not usually one for bribing kids, but when it comes to teenagers, well, a, a packet of lollies goes a long way.
• 20:45
  Zanni Louise: Uh, so I start my presentation with a simple,"Does anyone want a Kit Kat?" And all the hands go up, and then I ask, um, for some volunteers to come out the front, and they very happily, um, willing to accept my bribe.
• 20:58
  Zanni Louise: And it just breaks the ice'cause once they've seen someone get up the front and participate in my presentation, it makes it a lot easier for everyone else too.
• 21:07
  Zanni Louise: It's, it's just sort of is an icebreaker.
• 21:10
  Zanni Louise: Um, yeah, so I think it's really important to have lots of different things in your presentation.
• 21:15
  Zanni Louise: Uh, kind of not just be a talking head.
• 21:18
  Zanni Louise: Just don't talk at the kids.
• 21:20
  Zanni Louise: Um, I always start very much by engaging them as early as possible.
• 21:26
  Zanni Louise: I start with a personal story, uh, three stories about myself when I was young.
• 21:31
  Zanni Louise: They're silly.
• 21:32
  Zanni Louise: Um, they're all real.
• 21:34
  Zanni Louise: Um, well, one of them isn't.
• 21:35
  Zanni Louise: That's the game.
• 21:36
  Zanni Louise: They have to guess which one isn't real.
• 21:38
  Zanni Louise: But I, you know, I tell it in a kind of a dramatic way with actions, et cetera.
• 21:43
  Zanni Louise: Uh, so I'm storytelling, so I'm demonstrating story.
• 21:47
  Zanni Louise: I'm connecting'cause I'm engaging with them, and I'm entertaining'cause I'm telling a story, but I'm also playing.
• 21:53
  Zanni Louise: Um, and playing and games are a really great way to get kids inspired right from the get-go of the presentation.
• 22:00
  Zanni Louise: And it also teaches them something about me, so there's that personal, uh, bonding that's happening.
• 22:06
  Zanni Louise: I ask kids questions too.
• 22:08
  Zanni Louise: So throughout the presentation, I have questions for them like,"Do you have any flying dreams?" Uh, what else do I ask them?
• 22:17
  Zanni Louise: Oh,"Is there a time where you've needed resilience and courage to do something that you find scary?
• 22:24
  Zanni Louise: Uh, is there anything you wanna do in your life?" Um, and they love those sort of questions.
• 22:29
  Zanni Louise: So every kid wants to answer them.
• 22:31
  Zanni Louise: They get so excited to share.
• 22:33
  Zanni Louise: I usually try and limit it to sort of two or three kids just so the presentation keeps rolling on.
• 22:39
  Zanni Louise: So I might say, after the second, um, volunteer, I might say,"Ah, have we got one more suggestion?" And it just sets the expectations.
• 22:46
  Zanni Louise: It means you're not sort of carried away to these little stories, which are wonderful, but, you know, you do have a presentation.
• 22:52
  Zanni Louise: You need to keep it on time.
• 22:53
  Zanni Louise: You won't y- lose the plot yourself.
• 22:56
  Zanni Louise: Um, so my most popular books with kids would be, well, definitely Errol.
• 23:02
  Zanni Louise: That's just a no-brainer.
• 23:03
  Zanni Louise: So although that's book's been out since, I think, 2017, I will use that book forever'cause it's just a crowd-pleaser for all ages.
• 23:12
  Zanni Louise: Maybe not up until high school, but all primary school ages.
• 23:15
  Zanni Louise: Uh, it basically involves me pretending to be Errol's mom.
• 23:19
  Zanni Louise: I get a kid out on the, um, stage to be Errol, put a little red Errol hat on, and, uh, so you're getting audience participation.
• 23:28
  Zanni Louise: It's a very simple book, so they don't actually have to read anything.
• 23:32
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I'm doing all the sort of voices'cause it's mainly Mom's voice, and there's only one little bit where they need to read.
• 23:38
  Zanni Louise: So that's a really fun performance for kids, and like I said earlier, it involves me at some point lying down on the ground.
• 23:45
  Zanni Louise: So there's something comedic about an adult, the status getting turned upside down, but they're on the ground.
• 23:52
  Zanni Louise: And no matter where kids are in the world, no matter how old they are, they howl with laughter at that point.
• 23:58
  Zanni Louise: So I'm like,"Well, kids like it.
• 24:00
  Zanni Louise: I'm gonna keep doing it." No, no complaints from me Um, yeah.
• 24:05
  Zanni Louise: So I think, uh, if you're just starting out with school presentations, just go easy on yourself.
• 24:11
  Zanni Louise: You'll learn things along the way.
• 24:13
  Zanni Louise: It takes years to really refine the craft of this.
• 24:17
  Zanni Louise: You do not have to be a Nat Amoore or someone, you know, Adrian Beck, or someone really loud and boisterous and entertaining, and there are some people who certainly do that fantastically.
• 24:27
  Zanni Louise: But through the years of watching different school presentations, I've learnt that it's just really important to be yourself more than anything.
• 24:34
  Zanni Louise: Lean into your strengths.
• 24:36
  Zanni Louise: Don't forget to share your books.
• 24:38
  Zanni Louise: I did this for years with, uh, a presentation.
• 24:41
  Zanni Louise: It was all about encouraging creativity and inspiring them, but I, I kind of wasn't really promoting my book.
• 24:47
  Zanni Louise: So I've, I've shaped my presentation now around my book.
• 24:51
  Zanni Louise: So the books become a marker.
• 24:52
  Zanni Louise: They change the flow.
• 24:53
  Zanni Louise: We do a little bit of poetry.
• 24:55
  Zanni Louise: We do some, uh, stuff with illustration with the Monsties.
• 24:59
  Zanni Louise: So, you know, it's got lots of sort of fiber to the talk.
• 25:02
  Zanni Louise: But, uh, yeah, it's really great to give them a little taster of your book.
• 25:06
  Zanni Louise: They love being read to.
• 25:08
  Zanni Louise: So the one I read aloud is Pegasus, um, which is You know, it's, it's in rhyme.
• 25:13
  Zanni Louise: It's, it's got a narrative arc.
• 25:16
  Zanni Louise: It's, it's got voices.
• 25:18
  Zanni Louise: And they, all the kids, no matter what age they are, sit up on their haunches while I'm reading that story, and they really wanna know what it is.
• 25:26
  Zanni Louise: So no one's too cool to listen to a story, so that's what I've learnt.
• 25:30
  Zanni Louise: And I'll lean in a little bit further and be a bit more animated, a bit more playful, uh, the younger the kids or maybe the more boisterous the group.
• 25:39
  Zanni Louise: Some Once I had a really boisterous group.
• 25:42
  Zanni Louise: Uh, they were so ear-piercingly loud and excitable'cause they were absolutely tiny.
• 25:48
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I think they were, like, five years old.
• 25:50
  Zanni Louise: And actually for that book, I dropped my voice to a whisper, and it was really amazing.
• 25:56
  Zanni Louise: They went from being so loud and chaotic to just silent, and I It was like discovering a superpower.
• 26:04
  Zanni Louise: So I've learnt that that works, too, so you don't just have to be loud and crazy for the kids.
• 26:09
  Zanni Louise: You can actually be- And they get really excited about that too.
• 26:13
  Zanni Louise: Um, and they wanna find out what you're, what you're doing.
• 26:16
  Zanni Louise: So I think, yeah, being really authentic, being yourself, being natural, being relaxed and practiced helps.
• 26:22
  Zanni Louise: I'm lucky that I've got a real, uh I'm really comfortable in front of an audience.
• 26:27
  Zanni Louise: I h- always have been.
• 26:29
  Zanni Louise: I enjoy it.
• 26:30
  Zanni Louise: I come away from presentations feeling rejuvenated, not drained.
• 26:34
  Zanni Louise: I know that's not the same for everyone.
• 26:36
  Zanni Louise: For me, it, it's just lucky.
• 26:38
  Zanni Louise: Um, but yeah, I think it's just important to just go easy on yourself, not expect too much for yourself, and be really true to yourself.
• 26:46
  Zanni Louise: And lean into the themes of your book as well.
• 26:48
  Zanni Louise: Lean m- lean into the style of book.
• 26:51
  Zanni Louise: So if you've got a quieter book which is maybe a little bit more sensitive, go with that.
• 26:56
  Zanni Louise: You know, don't feel like it has to be this loud, chaotic presentation with wigs.
• 27:01
  Zanni Louise: It's, it doesn't have to be.
• 27:02
  Zanni Louise: Some people do that, some people do other things, and it's just about doing what you feel comfortable with.
• 27:09
  Zanni Louise: So, uh, this year I'm sort of changing things up a little bit, sort of introducing new books as they come about, as I do every year.
• 27:15
  Zanni Louise: So although it's sort of The backbone is roughly the presentation I've been doing over the years, uh, I adapt it and I add new books as they come about.
• 27:25
  Zanni Louise: So this year will be a focus, um, on community.
• 27:28
  Zanni Louise: This is a new book, uh, You, Me, Community, from, uh, myself and Tony Flowers, which comes out, uh, this August with Walker Books.
• 27:38
  Zanni Louise: So, uh, I'll be doing some things with community, which works perfectly'cause my presentation is already about community.
• 27:44
  Zanni Louise: Uh, I'll also be introducing kids to a new book called Sunny Gets To Work, which is illustrated by Susie Oh.
• 27:52
  Zanni Louise: And it's actually a UK publisher, but it's being distributed in Australia with Penguin Random House.
• 27:58
  Zanni Louise: So, uh, that's got great themes about teamwork, helping out around the house, and just generally being a team player.
• 28:05
  Zanni Louise: So there's lots we can do with that as well So I wish you well on your school visit journey.
• 28:12
  Zanni Louise: Have fun.
• 28:14
  Zanni Louise: You will fail sometimes.
• 28:16
  Zanni Louise: It will be scary sometimes.
• 28:19
  Zanni Louise: Uh, you will feel frightened perhaps or nervous, and all of those things are really, really normal.
• 28:26
  Zanni Louise: Um, I've just found I th- I do just genuinely enjoy kids, like I enjoy hanging out with kids, and I think that comes through in my presentations.
• 28:35
  Zanni Louise: I'm pretty relaxed with them.
• 28:36
  Zanni Louise: That comes through, too.
• 28:37
  Zanni Louise: Like, that sort of helps them feel settled and trusting, uh, that, you know, they're gonna be okay for the next hour, so that, that always works out well.
• 28:47
  Zanni Louise: Um, you know, I've had times where I've had to be really adaptable, really flexible.
• 28:51
  Zanni Louise: At, at a festival once we had I was meant to have a big group of year seven and eights, and I was already a bit worried about that,'cause back then I was just doing picture books, so what I was gonna do with them?
• 29:01
  Zanni Louise: Uh, and no, that group canceled and I, in fact, had 10 year 10 boys, and they came and sat down in front of me and stared up at me, and I was just terrified.
• 29:11
  Zanni Louise: Uh, and I But I just It was kind of good though, because I just said to them,"Look, you're looking at me thinking, what are we gonna learn from this woman who makes picture books, baby books?
• 29:21
  Zanni Louise: And I'm looking at you guys thinking, what on earth can I teach you?
• 29:25
  Zanni Louise: So what about if we made a story together?" And it ended up being one of the best sessions I've ever done.
• 29:30
  Zanni Louise: Like, by the end, all of the kids were up walking up to the board, adding ideas.
• 29:35
  Zanni Louise: We had a professional illustrator in the group who got really excited about the story, jumped up, started illustrating it.
• 29:41
  Zanni Louise: All of us were on cloud nine at the end of that session, and it just taught me that, well, sometimes you have to be resilient.
• 29:47
  Zanni Louise: Sometimes you have to jump in the deep end and swim and you'll be okay.
• 29:54
  Zanni Louise: Like, what's the worst that can happen?
• 29:57
  Zanni Louise: It's a terrifying feeling when it feels like it's not working, but y- honestly, you will survive.
• 30:02
  Zanni Louise: Um, so hopefully there's some tips in there.
• 30:04
  Zanni Louise: Hopefully there's, uh, things to inspire your presentations.
• 30:09
  Zanni Louise: Come and visit me anytime at zannilouise.com if you have any specific pre- uh, questions, and maybe I will see you on the road when I'm back doing my school tour this, um, August or September.
• 30:22
  Zanni Louise: Thanks for having me, Tina.
• 30:28
  Peter Carnavas: Hello, I'm Peter Carnavas.
• 30:29
  Peter Carnavas: I'm an author and illustrator of children's books.
• 30:32
  Peter Carnavas: I've made lots of picture books and a handful of novels, and my, um, latest book is Kid, which is the story of a little miniature goat called Kid who, um, decides he's going to leave the farm one day and, uh, journey up the nearby mountain to discover what happened to his parents who, um, he has never really known.
• 30:54
  Peter Carnavas: So the thing I love most about school visits is just staying connected to my readers.
• 31:02
  Peter Carnavas: I think that's super important because as a writer, it's really easy just to spend a lot of time by yourself, which is really important as well, um, or spending time with other authors.
• 31:12
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but you can't lose touch with your readers, with those kids.
• 31:15
  Peter Carnavas: So, um, the second you're in front of those children, uh, you get immediate feedback on everything, on the little excerpt you might read or the little joke you might try to land.
• 31:28
  Peter Carnavas: Um, I think that's one of the things I love most about it.
• 31:31
  Peter Carnavas: It's so immediate, and you get to stay in touch with them.
• 31:34
  Peter Carnavas: Um, there's always little things that pop up with kids that they're into that you have no idea about.
• 31:39
  Peter Carnavas: Like a couple of years ago, everyone was into sloths, and then a, a bit later everyone was into capybaras, and you don't know these things unless you go and spend time with the children.
• 31:49
  Peter Carnavas: Doesn't mean you need to start writing books about sloths and capybaras yourself, but, um, it's just really cool just to stay in touch with them and, um...
• 31:58
  Peter Carnavas: But also, you know, the main thing is that it's not just for us, but it's for them.
• 32:02
  Peter Carnavas: And, um, it's just a huge kind of responsibility, I think, to be part of their reading journey and just if you can inspire someone, a couple of kids or more, to walk away from those sessions excited about books in some way, then, um, I think that, you know, that's, that's the best thing you could hope for So the workshops and talks that I do, I guess I've pretty much covered everything over the years.
• 32:28
  Peter Carnavas: Most of the time it's a general talk, um, so kind of a 45-minute or maybe a one-hour talk.
• 32:35
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and they're generally, you know, there's sort of two to three classes up to 100 kids sometimes.
• 32:41
  Peter Carnavas: Occasionally you might have a very small group or a very, very large group.
• 32:45
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but generally it's around that sort of between 50 and 100 kids per session.
• 32:50
  Peter Carnavas: The general talks, I just present a bit of everything.
• 32:54
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and it's just about inspiring them to get into books in some way, whether it's reading or writing or illustrating them themselves.
• 33:02
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but yeah, I, I just, I chunk it up and it's a bit of everything.
• 33:06
  Peter Carnavas: It's a bit of illustrating.
• 33:08
  Peter Carnavas: There's a writing activity in there.
• 33:10
  Peter Carnavas: I read something from one of my books.
• 33:12
  Peter Carnavas: I tend not to talk too much about myself and my books until the end.
• 33:16
  Peter Carnavas: Whatever the new book is, I'll talk about that in the last 10 minutes or so.
• 33:20
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and I usually like to finish off those general talks with a demonstration of a little watercolor painting, which I do sitting at a desk, but I have a, a document camera that shows them what's happening up on the screen as I, as I paint.
• 33:33
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and that's how I like to finish things.
• 33:36
  Peter Carnavas: So, um, and I'm kind of the opposite to some presenters where I like to kind of quieten everything down, um, and there's sort of a hush a- across the room as we finish off, and I think that's a really lovely way.
• 33:49
  Peter Carnavas: It just kinda suits me, um, to finish the, the session.
• 33:53
  Peter Carnavas: So those general talks are the- just a bit of everything.
• 33:56
  Peter Carnavas: The workshops can be writing or illustrating.
• 34:00
  Peter Carnavas: They might usually about an hour long, um, and that's with a smaller group, so no bigger than a classroom size, uh, bunch of kids really.
• 34:08
  Peter Carnavas: And the writing sessions, I just try to cover some big things and then little things.
• 34:13
  Peter Carnavas: So big things, ideas, characters, problems, and then little things, uh, that's more technical aspects of just tiny ways to make your writing stronger.
• 34:22
  Peter Carnavas: And then the drawing workshops, um, are just heaps of fun.
• 34:26
  Peter Carnavas: It's just different ways to tell stories, whether it's, um, developing characters and showing expressions or whether you're telling a story through suspense or little step-by-step sequence pictures and things like that.
• 34:37
  Peter Carnavas: So, um, that's generally what I do.
• 34:39
  Peter Carnavas: Occasionally you'll, you'll get asked to do something a bit different, a big sort of assembly thing where it might just be five or 10 minutes.
• 34:47
  Peter Carnavas: Um, uh, but most of the time it's those general talks The way I structure my sessions, um, I'm a, I've got a background in teaching, so I like to be very structured and prepared.
• 35:00
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and I have a really simple PowerPoint.
• 35:02
  Peter Carnavas: Um, not too much text at all, just a couple of words, if anything.
• 35:07
  Peter Carnavas: Um, quite visual, but just really simple, lots of white space.
• 35:11
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and my sessions, I, I chunk them up.
• 35:14
  Peter Carnavas: So over a 45-minute session, I might have seven to eight segments in that session, so it's not long on each thing.
• 35:21
  Peter Carnavas: Um, it just makes sure the kids don't get bored, they stay engaged.
• 35:25
  Peter Carnavas: And, um, the transitions are important, just really knowing how you're going to move from one thing to the next.
• 35:33
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so for me, I'll do my writing, interactive writing activity in a general talk is really just bouncing back ideas from the kids.
• 35:42
  Peter Carnavas: You sort of set up some kind of a situation and getting ideas from them.
• 35:46
  Peter Carnavas: It's just a way to engage them and make it interactive so they're not just sitting listening the whole time.
• 35:50
  Peter Carnavas: And that just might be five minutes max, and that's the writing activity.
• 35:55
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and then just knowing how to move from that to the next thing.
• 35:58
  Peter Carnavas: It might be a drawing or something else.
• 36:01
  Peter Carnavas: Um, I Try to do something really early on to get them hooked.
• 36:08
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and for me, that's usually drawing something.
• 36:11
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and I know that's not what everybody does or can do, so it's just a matter of finding the thing that you can do really well that you think can hook them at the start.
• 36:21
  Peter Carnavas: Um, one of the very first things I do is I show them...
• 36:24
  Peter Carnavas: I don't, as I said, I don't spend too much time talking about myself, but I show them a few childhood things, but that takes about a minute, and then I show them a school photo from when I was a kid, and they have to pick which one is me, and that's always a, kind of a fun way to just kind of start off the session, and then I go into, um, some kind of drawing.
• 36:46
  Peter Carnavas: Um, yeah, the other thing that I take with me everywhere, ever since I started teaching over 20 years ago, um, I have a harmonica and I keep it in my pocket all the time.
• 36:56
  Peter Carnavas: So my har- harmonica is my little signal to get attention.
• 37:00
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and I did it as a teacher, so I didn't have to raise my voice.
• 37:04
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and it's great, and these kids have ne- you know, they're not used to it, so it's novel.
• 37:10
  Peter Carnavas: So for a 45-minute session, it works every time.
• 37:13
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so something like that is really cool.
• 37:15
  Peter Carnavas: Tambourine, harmonica, whatever, um, I think that's a, a good little trick to use.
• 37:20
  Peter Carnavas: I think one thing that kids don't- I don't think kids are too interested in our journey.
• 37:27
  Peter Carnavas: Like, if we get up there and talk about our journey as a writer and everything for half an hour, I think they'll tune out.
• 37:34
  Peter Carnavas: Um, save that for the grownups.
• 37:36
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so kids just wanna know about your book or about, you know, just whatever's happening right now.
• 37:42
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so I think that's one thing to steer clear of.
• 37:45
  Peter Carnavas: And just make sure you're not talking and talking and talking.
• 37:47
  Peter Carnavas: To, to break it up, whether that's interaction or just different kind of segments.
• 37:52
  Peter Carnavas: Um, get kids up.
• 37:54
  Peter Carnavas: Um, I, I do that a little bit.
• 37:56
  Peter Carnavas: One thing I'm trying to do more is tactile things.
• 38:02
  Peter Carnavas: So, sorry, we're talking about what doesn't do well, but, um, just another idea.
• 38:07
  Peter Carnavas: I take bags of things where kids have to come up and pick something out of the bag, and it's really, really simple.
• 38:12
  Peter Carnavas: But they It's Everybody wants to get up and pick something.
• 38:16
  Peter Carnavas: So it's just another way of keeping everybody engaged.
• 38:19
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but yeah, I think the main thing to avoid is just talking and talking and talking, and also trying to be someone that you're not.
• 38:27
  Peter Carnavas: So it's really tempting to think that you need to be a certain kind of presenter, um, especially when you see other presenters do their thing.
• 38:38
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but the best thing you can do is just be yourself, and'cause kids sniff out a fraud so quickly.
• 38:46
  Peter Carnavas: So don't, don't try to be a circus clown if that's not who you are.
• 38:50
  Peter Carnavas: But if it is, um, then yeah, go for it I won't go into it too much, but I did have a child injure themselves really badly once, which was nobody's fault, and they all just kind of ran into the room and tried to grab a seat, and there were these tiered seats with metal edges, and this kid stacked it as he was running up the, um, the seats and hurt himself really, really badly.
• 39:13
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so that was pretty distracting and horrible.
• 39:16
  Peter Carnavas: Awful for that student and, um, pretty, um, hard to concentrate for everybody else after that.
• 39:23
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so that's, that's the one disaster I always try and, um, block out of my mind.
• 39:31
  Peter Carnavas: I was presenting to some year two children, and at the end of the session when I had time for questions, and this little girl must have just been staring at my face the whole time, and she just said, um,"Do you stroke your beautiful beard when you're thinking of ideas?" And I said,"Yes.
• 39:50
  Peter Carnavas: Yes, I do." Um, I've always remembered that.
• 39:52
  Peter Carnavas: I remember the school and everything.
• 39:53
  Peter Carnavas: It was a long time ago.
• 39:55
  Peter Carnavas: Um, I think I drew a picture of it later, me stroking my beard.
• 39:58
  Peter Carnavas: Uh, another child once asked me if life is hard.
• 40:04
  Peter Carnavas: That was, that was a good one.
• 40:06
  Peter Carnavas: That kind of threw me because yeah, you know, it is sometimes, but you don't wanna go into too much detail with the kids.
• 40:15
  Peter Carnavas: When I started, um, I was on the Sunshine Coast and I just did up some flyers.
• 40:22
  Peter Carnavas: They probably weren't very professional looking.
• 40:24
  Peter Carnavas: But I did, did up some flyers and I just got onto the, uh, like the Queensland schools directory and found the address of every school on the coast, and I just mailed.
• 40:35
  Peter Carnavas: I didn't email, I mailed flyers to everyone.
• 40:40
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and that's how I started getting my first school visits.
• 40:44
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and then luckily a little while after that I was, I joined up with an agency, and that's how I tend to get most of my school visits now.
• 40:55
  Peter Carnavas: Um, but I think, I mean, schools just get hammered with emails, um, from everywhere.
• 41:02
  Peter Carnavas: So I just think emails can easily get lost, and a lot of schools won't necessarily have a teacher librarian, um, to kind of flick things onto.
• 41:11
  Peter Carnavas: So it's the kind of thing that can just easily just get sort of tossed away in, from the inbox.
• 41:17
  Peter Carnavas: So I, it j- it might be just a little bit more novel to send a paper f- flyer in an envelope with some little stamps or illustrations on the envelope or something kind of that stands out.
• 41:32
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and perhaps address it to the teacher librarian or, um, whatever you like, head of curriculum perhaps or, um, something like that.
• 41:42
  Peter Carnavas: But it's always nice to assume that they've got a teacher librarian because then when, when they see the envelope, it reminds them that, that's what they should have if they don't have one.
• 41:52
  Peter Carnavas: Yeah.
• 41:52
  Peter Carnavas: But I, I, I think that's one way to approach it.
• 41:56
  Peter Carnavas: To make things run smoothly, first of all is just, just communicate really clearly, um, before the visit.
• 42:03
  Peter Carnavas: Um, I send, at least a few weeks out I'll send my presentation outline, which is a few pages long but it's really, really simple and easy to read.
• 42:13
  Peter Carnavas: But it's just got really clear headings, um, of how the day's gonna run and what...
• 42:19
  Peter Carnavas: A- and it's, it's very polite, but, uh, it'll kind of, it mentions the space that is ideal, the group, the size of groups and all those kinds of things.
• 42:29
  Peter Carnavas: It's, it's not demanding.
• 42:30
  Peter Carnavas: It's just saying,"This is what works best." Um, and then a little rundown of what my sessions will look like.
• 42:36
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so there's kind of no ambiguity about what's gonna happen when I turn up.
• 42:41
  Peter Carnavas: And yeah, arrive early, always arrive early.
• 42:46
  Peter Carnavas: And, um, take, take things that you need just in case.
• 42:51
  Peter Carnavas: Like adapters, um, just, just extra stuff, backup on USB, all that kind of stuff.
• 42:58
  Peter Carnavas: Um, because now and then, not, not often, but now and then there'll be something that doesn't quite work and you just need to kinda go to plan B or C Only other thing I'd add is just keep in mind that you're presenting to children, but you're also presenting to teachers.
• 43:15
  Peter Carnavas: Um, and, you know, half of the planning that I put into my presentation is kind of aimed at the teachers as well, um, to make it worth their while, and just to kind of give them something to go on with after the session as well.
• 43:28
  Peter Carnavas: Um, so that's just something to keep in mind.
• 43:35
  Carla Salmon: Hi, I'm Carla Salmon.
• 43:36
  Carla Salmon: I'm the author of Coastal Mystery Thrillers for Young Teens, including We Saw What You Started and We Did It Anyway.
• 43:43
  Carla Salmon: And I'm really thrilled to be able to contribute to this podcast because I think it's such an important topic for, um, authors in the kid lit space, and the timing's perfect'cause I'm actually chatting to you from my hotel room where I've been in Perth, um, this week presenting at the National Conference for the Australian Association of the Teaching of English.
• 44:02
  Carla Salmon: So I've been talking with teachers from all over the country this week and hearing about all of the amazing things that they're doing in their classrooms, and it's really had...
• 44:12
  Carla Salmon: got me thinking about how we can add so much value as visiting authors when we come along.
• 44:17
  Carla Salmon: So I guess I probably do have a bit of an advantage having been a teacher for the last 10 years, but not because my ideas and strategies are any better, just because if you can imagine every possible scenario where things could go wrong, it's likely happened to me in my classroom at some stage.
• 44:36
  Carla Salmon: So um, I guess I have a little bit more confidence, um, to go with things and to over prepare, um, but to also have a bit of a toolkit of strategies that I can draw on, um, if things don't go quite as planned.
• 44:52
  Carla Salmon: And that's probably my first tip to suggest here, is to overprepare.
• 44:58
  Carla Salmon: Um, don't be shy to reach out to schools in the lead-up to, um, your visit, and when you're confirming details, make sure that you ask, you know, who you're presenting to, the size of the group, the age, the interests, you know, whether it's a whole cohort or whether it's just a standard English class.
• 45:17
  Carla Salmon: You're gonna have a mix of kids who really wanna be there and who really don't wanna be there, or whether you've got a specific, um, you know, writing group or extension class, and you can then tailor your workshop or presentation to make sure that you're really meeting the needs, um, and interest levels from the beginning.
• 45:35
  Carla Salmon: At least then you've got a good base to work from.
• 45:38
  Carla Salmon: Um, still assume though, when you get to the school space, that something possibly could go wrong in terms of technology.
• 45:45
  Carla Salmon: So I don't wanna sound pessimistic, it's more so, um, I like to sometimes think in worst case scenarios, and then it feels better when it doesn't go wrong, um, and everything is smooth.
• 45:56
  Carla Salmon: But also you're prepared if it does, and you're not gonna panic, and you're still gonna be able to deliver a really meaningful and engaging experience.
• 46:04
  Carla Salmon: Um, so I love embedding videos and photos, a lot of visuals into my PowerPoints.
• 46:11
  Carla Salmon: Um, I usually do use PowerPoint and, and Canva.
• 46:14
  Carla Salmon: I design a lot of my presentations in Canva.
• 46:17
  Carla Salmon: Um, but I always take a USB as a backup.
• 46:20
  Carla Salmon: I would never, ever rely on having internet access at a school, and I would also never assume that I'm gonna have sound.
• 46:28
  Carla Salmon: So I've been at quite a few...
• 46:30
  Carla Salmon: You know, there's been quite a few times where the sound doesn't work.
• 46:33
  Carla Salmon: If you've got a microphone, hold the microphone to, um, the speaker on the computer if you really desperately need to play a video with sound or music.
• 46:42
  Carla Salmon: But again, never rely on that.
• 46:44
  Carla Salmon: Um- The other thing that I have had go wrong, it's, um, probably my funny story actually, is, is just recently I presented at a really great school.
• 46:53
  Carla Salmon: Um, it was a whole cohort address, and the board, um, overheated.
• 46:59
  Carla Salmon: And so not only did I have no sound, I had zero visuals, and it was a 45-minute address.
• 47:06
  Carla Salmon: And so it was literally just me talking.
• 47:09
  Carla Salmon: And luckily, the way that I plan my presentations or my, my talks is a little bit like I plan my lessons,'cause I know that students can't really stay focused on the same story or the same anecdote or idea or strategy for more than a few minutes.
• 47:26
  Carla Salmon: So I always chunk my presentations, um, and I mix it up with, you know, interactions and quizzes and those types of things too.
• 47:34
  Carla Salmon: So I was able to still deliver and remember what I was speaking to without having to depend on my notes too much.
• 47:42
  Carla Salmon: Um, eh, although that is another hot tip, is to still print a copy of your notes just in case.
• 47:48
  Carla Salmon: So number one tip, overprepare, definitely.
• 47:52
  Carla Salmon: Um, don't be scared of school visits though, because at the end of the day, you're there facilitating and delivering an experience that most of the kids are gonna really, really appreciate.
• 48:03
  Carla Salmon: Um, a lot of kids have never met someone who's chosen to write professionally, and, you know, maybe they haven't read your book, but maybe they will be really excited to, you know, im- improve their own creative writing or just to communicate better or just to start reading a little bit more.
• 48:20
  Carla Salmon: So, you know, that's really, really great.
• 48:22
  Carla Salmon: The other magic, magic moment, if you're lucky enough to ever have it happen, um, is when kids have actually read your work and it has made a real difference in their lives.
• 48:32
  Carla Salmon: I don't think anything can possibly beat that, when they say,"Oh my gosh, you know, I loved your book.
• 48:37
  Carla Salmon: I really, um, I really connected with the characters, and I can't wait to read more." That's a really amazing moment.
• 48:45
  Carla Salmon: Um, the other part of school visits which is so great is that you get to meet the amazing teacher librarians and the teachers behind the scenes who are, you know, keeping us in business.
• 48:57
  Carla Salmon: So they're advocating reading every single day.
• 49:00
  Carla Salmon: They're matching kids with books.
• 49:02
  Carla Salmon: Um, and these people are heroes, and it's so lovely to be able to thank them in person So I offer a range of presentations and workshops, everything from creating bravely, so that's more of a short story style writing workshop, um, to an author talk that combines, um, everything from, you know, the true crimes that have inspired my work through to my own writing processes.
• 49:27
  Carla Salmon: And I guess probably what I've learned is that every presentation and workshop actually has a similar combination of ingredients in that there are personal anecdotes and experiences.
• 49:39
  Carla Salmon: There's, um, insights and direct examples of my writing processes that they'll be able to take away and embed in their own creative writing, and also facts, um, and interesting ideas beyond just my own books, um, that are happening out there in the world that show them that I have to research.
• 49:58
  Carla Salmon: I usually use PowerPoint, and I, you know, always deliver, no matter what, um, by starting with a provocation question.
• 50:06
  Carla Salmon: So I don't ever get up there and say,"Hi, I'm Carla Salmon.
• 50:10
  Carla Salmon: I'm an author.
• 50:11
  Carla Salmon: Here's my books.
• 50:12
  Carla Salmon: This is what they're about." Or, you know,"I've always wanted to be a writer," or anything like that from the beginning.
• 50:16
  Carla Salmon: I don't make it about me.
• 50:18
  Carla Salmon: What I wanna do instead is throw to them, and I ask a provocation question for...
• 50:24
  Carla Salmon: that's related to the topic that I'm speaking about.
• 50:27
  Carla Salmon: So if I'm talking about We Saw What You Started, which is essentially about, you know, the themes that run through that book are, you know, trust and belonging and friendship, and kids who lie to authorities, um, to save their own friendships.
• 50:40
  Carla Salmon: So my provocation question for that to the audience is,"Thumbs up, thumbs down, have you told a lie this week?" And immediately then y- they buy in because you've got their attention.
• 50:51
  Carla Salmon: They're doing something for a start.
• 50:53
  Carla Salmon: They don't have to get up out of their seats, um, but they're not...
• 50:56
  Carla Salmon: You're not just talking at them.
• 50:58
  Carla Salmon: You're actually getting them involved.
• 51:01
  Carla Salmon: The other thing I wanna mention about, um, presentations and the structure of them is that I actually try and, um, design them on brand.
• 51:11
  Carla Salmon: So I try and make, you know, the fonts consistent with my website and, you know, to have imagery that's consistent with the colors of my books.
• 51:19
  Carla Salmon: Um, and I do that partly because, you know, I'm a little bit A-type, and I like that kind of um, consistency across my work.
• 51:27
  Carla Salmon: But I'm also aware that it's, it's a branding thing, um, and it's product placement.
• 51:32
  Carla Salmon: So the more that I can show, you know, readers and teacher-librarians, um, that this is who I am in terms of font and photos and colors, they're more likely to then recognize my books when they, you know, come in amongst the big piles.
• 51:49
  Carla Salmon: There's always so many funny moments when you visit schools, and I think that's why it's really important not to take yourself too seriously, um, and to always, um, be kind and to assume the best, um, when things maybe don't go quite to plan.
• 52:03
  Carla Salmon: I wouldn't say I've had necessarily, like, a specific question that was hilarious or really awkward or anything like that, but I've definitely had, you know, teenagers decide that they're gonna be the class clown for the day, and they're gonna try and take my presentation in a completely different direction, um, just to get laughs.
• 52:19
  Carla Salmon: So I never, ever take that personally and, you know, even if the teacher's in the room, sometimes they don't always pull them up, um, because what I always have to remember is that I don't know what has happened previously, and maybe that kid has already been in trouble multiple times that morning, and what they're doing now is actually low level, and the teacher's just picking their battles and hoping that, you know, they'll just kind of ride, ride it out.
• 52:43
  Carla Salmon: Um, but when that does happen, it can be really distracting as, uh, when you're trying to present.
• 52:48
  Carla Salmon: Um, and I think you have to always remember that in that situation, you are the adult, they are the child.
• 52:55
  Carla Salmon: It is so important to be kind and still to be positive.
• 52:59
  Carla Salmon: Um, you can absolutely redirect, um, the focus if you like to, if it's a workshop, for example, to a different group or a table group or in, you know, if you're in, in an auditorium, don't go back and call on that kid if he's got his hand up to answer.
• 53:13
  Carla Salmon: Um, but if you can, try and at the end or if, especially in a workshop style situation, go and have like a one-on-one conversation with that child and actually give them the attention that they're looking for, but in a positive way that's meaningful.
• 53:29
  Carla Salmon: Because they're the moments that have actually been kind of magical, where the kid has then bought in to the activity and had a go, and they've a- actually stayed back after class then and said how much they enjoyed it When you're first starting out, I think it can feel, um, really tricky to approach schools or to know how to get in touch and to get contacts if you don't have a speaking agent yet.
• 53:53
  Carla Salmon: Um, and so you really need to start by finding out who are the associations in your local areas that are affiliated with schools.
• 54:02
  Carla Salmon: So in Queensland, we are lucky enough to have the wonderful Book Links who run, um, Romancing with the Stars, and that's an event where authors basically speed date teacher librarians.
• 54:12
  Carla Salmon: So, you know, when you're at events like that, find out, you know, in, in conversation who are you actually talking to.
• 54:18
  Carla Salmon: Don't just pitch a book and then, um, and then leave.
• 54:22
  Carla Salmon: Um, also, I would say make sure that you're really prepared, so have your website set up with, um, all of your workshops and presentations outlined on that.
• 54:33
  Carla Salmon: Um, make sure that you carry little flyers with you of what you actually offer'cause you never know when you're gonna meet people who are associated, um, with schools.
• 54:43
  Carla Salmon: Also, try and go to festivals.
• 54:45
  Carla Salmon: So, you know, Brisbane Writers Festival, um, the Story Fest.
• 54:49
  Carla Salmon: There's all of these amazing work, um, that...
• 54:52
  Carla Salmon: There's all this amazing work that's being run by often volunteers, um, and a lot of them are linked directly to schools as well and have wonderful databases that, you know, if you're giving back and you're keen to support them, then you might be lucky enough to be recommended as well.
• 55:11
  Carla Salmon: So I hope that helps.
• 55:13
  Carla Salmon: I really love school visits, and I'm always super, super grateful for being welcomed into schools because it's actually a huge amount of work behind the scenes for teacher librarians and, um, English teachers to, you know, get us in and to organize the day and all of the health and safety behind it.
• 55:30
  Carla Salmon: Um, so, you know, enjoy it, make the most of the opportunities, and it's okay if it's not perfect.
• 55:37
  Carla Salmon: You can...
• 55:38
  Carla Salmon: You know, that's the whole point of it.
• 55:39
  Carla Salmon: You know, you're always learning, and you're always adding ideas, um, and shifting things and making them better.
• 55:44
  Carla Salmon: Ask for feedback, um, and at the end of the day, remember that your, you know, your opportunity to visit the school is also an opportunity for the kids, and they're gonna get something out of it.
• 55:56
  Carla Salmon: So enjoy it, have fun, have a laugh at yourself if things don't go quite right, um, and good luck.
• 56:08
  Tina Strachan: Thank you for listening to another episode of The Book Deal Podcast.
• 56:12
  Tina Strachan: If you are enjoying the pod, we'd really appreciate you following or sharing the show in your podcast directory, checking us out on Instagram and Facebook, or supporting us through our Patreon community at patreon.com/thebookdealpodcast