Commuting - Commuter Power Point?

Before creating my own, I thought I would check here.

I'm going to do a seminar at my workplace about commuting by bicycle and how to prepare. (Bike, fenders, laws, clothing, etc...)

Anyone have a slideshow presentation that answers these kinds of questions? Or somewhere I could steal some fairly generalized responses for?

Thanks in advance..

Bummer, I thought this thread was going to be about an aggressive form of signaling turns.

Anyone have a slideshow presentation that answers these kinds of questions? Or somewhere I could steal some fairly generalized responses for?

Hey David, check Kent Peterson's Bike Blog (http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/). He regularly posts about the basic needs of commuting cyclists.

Email him for permission and reference him if you reprint anything of course, but he's the commuting director for the Bike Alliance of Washington so educating is his thing.

Anyone? Bueller?

Other helpful hints?

I'm thinking I'll do a Safety portion : How to ride on the road, laws, lights, helmets, etc...

Then a portion on cleaning up, dress, moving things from one place to another, locks and locking, Quick Showers,

THen one on paths, routes, distances, bus to bike, etc...

Any other suggestions?

Well, the first mistake is power point. Sorry, that's been the downfall of the corporate world. Don't use powerpoint, bring in your bike and call up Lance for a cameo.

I'm gonna use powerpoint for pics of how to ride in a lane, and to bullet point out some key info....

Fortunately I'm an excellent presenter so the PowerPoint will just be an addition.

+1 for BigMacfu - Powerpoint is evil Spawn of the Devil. So of course we live and die by it and I'm as guilty of using it as the next fool. Although I can do just as much or more with a whiteboard or one or 2 meaningful graphics.

What I'd recommend - do the presentation as a show & tell - bring in your bike with a typical commuting load and dress as you would for commuting. As you explain what the use of various items, you can tell a story of how you got started and grew from the essential basics (bike, helmet, whatever you'd wear for the ride) to why you keep riding and came to have what you use today. If showing the full rig is too intimidating, strip it down to something more appropriate for a beginner. Instead of a powerpoint, fashion a 1-page (2 sided OK) handout for AFTER the talk (that way the focus is on you and not on the handout). One of the local bike advocay groups has some material you may find useful here: http://waba.org/areabiking/safecycling/

[As an analogy, our Boy Scout leader roundtable brings in an experienced Scout backpacker (e.g., this is an older teen who knows what they are doing and wants to practice their public speaking) who shows a typical setup for a day hike or a weekend overnight backpacking trip, AND he explains (with help from one of our High Adventure leaders) how to teach new/younger Scouts how to properly get started without they or thieir parents spending $$$. Our troop does something similar for new Scouts and their parents.]

Good luck!

Don't let the haters get you down. A good presentation is about the presentation, not about the pictures.

If you work best with powerpoint, use it. Hands on show and tell works pretty well too, but there's no reason you can't combine it with your usual presentation methods.

Easy does it. Start them on easy rides in quiet neighborhoods. Get them comfortable with traffic before you lay out routes to work for them. See if you can sign them up for one of the League of American Bicyclist effective cycling classes. Sell them on daytime summer rides to work. For ones that stick with it you can go on to nights rides in rain and snow. Pleae do not scare them.

Powerpoints are extremely effective. Especially since it can add a professional quality to presentations that is often lost when people aren't bringing in physical slides.