I held my first iNaturalist presentation as an Ambassador today at our local library…gearing up for springtime in our region. It was the “Introduction” presentation. It was a lot of fun and well-received.
I thought I would share my top takeaways in hopes they might be useful to other ambassadors planning in-person presentations:
1. The iNaturalist slides are a great starting point with excellent information in the presenter notes.
Take advantage of the pre-made slideshows and training iNaturalist has offered. I could not have put together this well-received of a presentation without the this tool (and the presenter notes) nor without the training iNaturalist has provided to ambassadors. So kudos to iNaturalist staff for this (I would not have joined the ambassador program without this type of support and help).
2. There is no slide or information about the “history” of iNaturalist in the slideshow.
Starting the presentation with a little iNat history is a perfect introduction to the presentation…before jumping into the “global biodiversity crisis” (their first slide). I created an animated slide with graphics for this; if anyone would like a copy, reach out to me. I think it also can help to create a single slide about your own iNaturalist journey for the very first slide as a way to introduce yourself and share about your iNaturalist background/experience.
3. Even though the slideshow is not long, it is a lot of information coming at people.
Consider breaking up the “wall of information” by doing a live demo in the middle of the presentation.
After “section 1” about using iNat, you can demo using iNat via the website to create an observation, suggest an ID, visit a local project, and show maps of your own region (the many “dots on the map” is a wow-factor). You might also take questions at that point (people asked to see things “can you get IDs for seaweed?” or “can you submit observations of birds?” and I was able to show these things during the live demo). A few iNat experts in the audience shared a few favorite tips and people really liked that, too.
This breaks up just you talking and helps keep the audience engaged. I had 36 people so I was also able to allow questions during the presentation to break up my talking. After the live demo, you can move on to “section 2” of the slideshow which is how iNat “makes an impact.”
4. Many people wanted to load the app BEFORE the presentation; Also, someone came in while people were installing the app and said “iNaturalist is NOT FREE you have to choose iNaturalist Classic…that is the free one.”
Arrive early enough to set up and test your presentation before people arrive with their phones asking for help with the app. I was prepared for this due to other things I have demoed in our community.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you search the app store for “iNaturalist,” an app called “Plant Identifer: Plantiary” with a “sort of” similar green leaf icon (like Seek has) is the first thing listed; two people had installed that app thinking it was iNaturalist and an ad for payment came up when they opened it or tried to use it.
For the future, I will create a slide showing the actual steps for finding and installing the app; I will have that sitting on the screen prior to beginning the presentation as well as at the end of the presentation (many others stayed after to install the app as well).
5. I received a number of questions (before, during and after) about the differences between Seek, iNaturalist, and iNaturalist Classic. I also learned before the presentation began that some people had installed Seek and others iNaturalist Classic and did not know about the latest iNaturalist app.
Knowing the difference between all three of these apps could be beneficial before your presentation so you are prepared for these questions; having a slide to share about this near the end or start might be useful.
6. Many people wanted to learn how to use the app in more detail than the intro presentation and my personal demo provided (I only demoed the website).
If I had anticipated this, I would have scheduled time for and offered a short walk around the block after the presentation for people who had just installed the app and wanted to practice using it with me there.
7. People asked for more opportunities to learn.
I anticipated this and had a sign up sheet for people to request future presentations or a group outing. The top requests were (in this order): Group outing to practice using the app; a second presentation on how to take good photos and post good observations; how to learn to make IDs in iNaturalist. Some asked me to repeat this one to give “friends” a chance to attend.
8. People were excited and wanted more information about using the phone app.
If you are primarily a website user, getting familiar with the phone app BEFORE any in-person presentation or tabling might be useful so you can answer questions such as how to how to upload and edit observations, how to update the location of an observation, how to add multiple photos, how to find a person someone wants to follow, what all of the checkboxes mean that you must agree to when creating an account, etc. Also, one person had Seek and asked me how they could contribute to iNaturalist (so knowing that might also be helpful…I was able to show them how to log into iNaturalist via Seek and hope that was the right answer).
A few final takeaways:
I had so much fun today sharing my passion about iNaturalist. I was thrilled that a fair number of people actually installed the app before leaving the room…and they stayed to ask about how to get started (thanks again to iNat for giving me a great tool and information with that professional-looking slideshow). People were genuinely excited about using it and that made me super happy.
The other part that I loved was having some really experienced iNaturalist users attend the presentation as well AND that they were willing to share their own expertise during the presentation. It was a very nice group of people and I think it was a positive experience for everyone (just as it was for me).
