Hi there,
What topics are normally on offer for the presention part of the SSIC course ?
Cheers,
Mozza
When I went a decade a go it was your own choice of topic not sure if thatās changed
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They have a number of topics or you can do your own but they may not have any pics to help in presentation. I had to do 15 mins not 10. I did go over not many did the 15. Go but do not have your presentation ready before you go as they want it the way they have shown you throughout the week
When I went on mine 12+ years ago I did my own topic.
I took training aids with me to utilise within the session.
Iām assuming they have moved on with their technology but I used a ohp slide projector so take some perminent marker pens to write on them.
My advice re the presentation, make it interactive, get the rest of the cohort engaged and doing things.
I did mine on tying knots. I tool a couple of broom handles with me and several lengths of rope.
I Explained how to tie the knot
I Demonstrated how to tie the knot
They Immitated how to tie the know
They Practiced how to tie the know
EDIP the process (yes I know itās a SAAI thing)
Yeahā¦ itās PowerPoint.
Itās not some magical skilly thing.
@Mozza663 they give you the format that they want you to structure your lesson in, and presumably will still tell you an approximation of how to design your slides.
We had a list of topics that we could pick from that they had some images available for, I donāt know if they still allow you to go outside of that list. It was mostly syllabus related stuff and a few other bits like Fieldcraft.
Iād say thereās no harm in going with the bare-bones of a topic in case itās allowable and then adapting that content to their method. Youāre quite limited on the time you have to create your presentation - I think we just did ours in their computer suite and I donāt know if they allow transfers/USB sticks etc.
I did mine 6 years agoā¦ Donāt know if thereās anyone around here more recentā¦
Iāve been within the last year.
Iād second this. Youāll get heavily marked down for not managing to coerce all of the techniques they teach you into a 15 minute lesson.
I certainly wouldnāt go EDIP - thatās likely to be received poorly.
They will indeed. Again, if you donāt use the specified font size/weight/colour, slide colour, etc thatāll be in your feedback.
We werenāt, so long as we could stay awake - some people were up into the early hoursā¦ I wouldnāt recommend doing that.
They donāt.
To answer the original question, Iād ask for clarity when you get there. We were briefed we could use any topic, but I was then criticised for not using one of the listed āsuggestionsā.
Listed topics were mostly first class, with some fieldcraft, marksmanship, first aid.
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To be more positive, itās a great course and youāll learn a load. Donāt stress about your lesson until you get there.
Our evenings were focused on assisting those less drill-inclined (although I think there were one or two who took longer on their presentations), post bar it was the usual ironing and polishing conveyor system.
They did drive-bys to check if we were doing drill.
@Squirrel do you still watch back your presentation on video? That was an interesting learning experienceā¦
We did some drill in the evenings as well, but the early hours were all presentations. We didnāt see any staff past 5 - fairly prompt departures from them all.
I think we only made it to the bar on the first and the last night.
Yeah - itās definitely interesting. Picked up a few things I didnāt know I did.
EDIP is really a lesson trick, not a whole lot of use for a lecture or a presentation.
Slacking!
We had a no work after 9pm rule on every course I did at ATF. I donāt think I ever got to the bar after 8pm on any evening. (On SSIC we were having a few in uniform before dinner, let alone doing home work).
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To answer your initial question:
They have photos covering a whole wide range of topics from first aid through to map navigation and paintball. The photos fall into about 30 different categories but that doesnāt limit you to the category heading, for instance First Aid can be split into sub topics such as allergies, seizures, EpiPen use, type of fracture etc.
Additionally, thereās no need to use the photos for your presentation, if you have a passion for a topic not covered and donāt need to use photos (I.E can use white boards etc) then your topic list is endless.
A few of the topics covered on my course (in 2019) were; Fractures, baking, mental health, 2D maps, navigation, paintball, uniform, swimming.
Now to put the misconceptions at bay - itās not basic training! Thereās no secret filming or midnight wake up calls. Thereās no undercover detective on the group or cctv in the bar. The course is a great training resource and even better networking opportunity, every effort should be made to find time to get together with one another in the evenings and ālet your hair downā.
The training staff are a great bunch of people and are there to facilitate your learning not to turn you into the next Cpl Nauyokas (BadLads Army, of whom is stationed on the base).
Your evenings are your time, yes you have a bit of prep to sort for the following day, some ironing and as the week progresses then the presentation too but your training will finish at 5 on the dot.
USB sticks - the JIs will state not to bring a laptop - you canāt use it to generate your own presentation, only the PCs supplied can be connected into the network and an encrypted USB stick is used to pass data from one MOD PC to another. No point in trying to overcome this itās a strict security feature. (Taking a laptop for your own use in the evenings may be beneficial and as a business owner I regretted not having one to hand).
Youāre not tested on anything that you havenāt been taught on the course (apart from drill) and they make every effort to reiterate important points that you might want to pay more attention to during the course of training.
I appreciate that this reply goes somewhat off the initial topic of presentations but having heard all of the horror stories and painted an aggressive picture ahead of my own training I feel it now important to relieve the strain on others going through the same process and ensuring that these misconceptions are stamped out before they have time to deter some of our organisations great volunteers from taking the step into a uniformed role.
on my course however one of our instructors did visit the bar - they appeared as a coincidence but when discussing with other CFAVs once home it transpires that it is a āwelfare checkā
to ensure that you are getting social time, and actually engaging with fellow students in the social environment. getting an idea of that character when āoff dutyā.
it isnāt marked but worth noting. thinking back at the time some of the questions ask to the group made sense or could see the real reason they were asked
Iād fail that check - Iāll typically just go to the cinema, for a pizza in Sleaford or just lurk in my room. Bars just donāt do it for me, and the bar at Trenchard is particularly grim.
Next week if itās still going aheadā¦
It wont be