Thursday, 28 August 2025

2025 MIT - ONLINE CONNECT HUI #4





Today we had a quick online catch-up with Matt and the MIT cohort.
The focus was to run through our Pecha Kucha presentations. Although mine isn’t final yet, it was a great opportunity to share my progress and receive feedback on what’s working well and what could be improved.

Some key takeaways for me were:

  • Pace yourself — nerves on the day can make you speak faster, so be mindful of your timing.

  • Include a few slides with lighter content to pause, breathe, and regroup if needed.

  • The audience enjoys seeing the project in action — include photos of students engaging with the content.

  • Keep slides clear and simple — avoid videos, GIFs, or busy backgrounds, as these can distract from your key message.


Next steps include continuing to chip away at the Pecha Kucha presentation over the next couple of weeks. I’ll practise my timing to ensure each slide stays within the 20-second limit. I also think it would be beneficial to practise presenting in front of others — starting with a small group and gradually building up to a larger audience to help ease nerves around public speaking.

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

2025 MIT - KPMG HUI #3



I always look forward to our hui at KPMG — Justine welcomed us warmly and spent the day quietly guiding, encouraging, and challenging us with thoughtful feedback. As always, we were spoiled with delicious kai and an inspiring space designed for collaboration and creativity that is Rangiātea Infinity Room.

Another highlight was catching up with my MIT peers and being mentored by Matt and Dorothy as we worked on our projects bringing thiem to fruitition.

The kaupapa for today is to put together our our presentations to showcase our projects using the Pecha Kucha format.



A Pecha Kucha presentation is a fast-paced format where you present 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds, creating a concise and engaging six-minute-and-40-second talk.

We were fortunate to be able to watch the presentations of former MIT colleagues (and Matt!) for inspiration. Next, I made a start on my planning document and Pecha Kucha slides for the upcoming MIT On The Road Tour and the 2025 Principals' Wānanga.

To be honest the 20-second timer definitely added a bit of pressure! It has forced me to be concise with what I wanted to say, to cut out the 'waffle talk'.

My next steps are to go home, keep working on the Pecha Kucha presentation - working through each slide, making sure that I do justice in showcasing my project AND that I am on point and concise in getting my message across.