With my new iPad in hand, I signed up for some workshops at the Apple Store to get familiar with the powerful gizmo.  The first session was great and opened up some new capabilities. 

The second focussed on making presentations with the Keynote product.  I marvelled at the knowledge and straightforward teaching style of our young instructor – so adept at manoeuvring around both the hardware and the software.  He was able to work with 4 people at once and each of us had different levels of experience with presentation software.  At the end of the hour, we said our thank you’s and were on our way. 

As I was leaving the young man said in a quiet voice, “How did I do? It was my first time doing that session.”  From his expertise, comfortable style and confidence fielding a host of questions, one would never had known it was his first time!  However, the big Aha(!) for me was that even as we are wowed by the techno talents of the millenials, human nature hasn’t changed.  He wanted informal feedback on his “performance”.

Note 1 to self:  Intergenerational learning is powerful—take advantage in both directions.

Note 2 to self:  Go beyond “thank you” and include specific feedback – if nothing else it’s a good conversation starter.

Teri Brown