Mods may move it if it is. Wow lots of two letter words with i’s at the beginning.
Okay,
So my mother wants me to do a presentation at our local school. If I do it, it will be around half an hour’s time. Should I send links YYE for kids to buy some yo-yos here? Maybe I could get that paper Studio42 was working on…
Anyways, should I start teaching the kids? Or should it just be a quick show? They had a guy come in three years ago and the kids loved it. It’s a K-8 school, so a wide diversity of ages. Should I put a show on at the beginning and than start teaching? I could give out papers to YYE (The tutorials) for them to continue to yo-yo afterwords. I probably should use my bros One for unresponsive play, or my Dm2 with a slim bearing. Then their is the issue of replacing string for the audience, and bearings, lube, response pads, (Or flowable silicone), but is Studio42 still working on that paper for the other guy?
I taught yoyo classes for 3 weeks. I just did a little show(Try to do easier,flashier tricks that they think look cool) and taught them the rest of the time. And printed about 200 yoyoexpert trick lists to hand out to people who want to keep going with it. I also printed a bunch of hand-typed lists of things to buy at yoyoexpert. This included: Bulk string, Freehand, metal rifter,dv888 etc. And they had levels Of beginner, expert, or advanced for when in their yoyo career they should get certain ones
I would have a quick show first if I were you. Maybe 1 to 2 minutes long. It would probably be a good idea to hand out those papers you were talking about after the preformance. Do crowd pleasing tricks like horizontals or body tricks but be sure to put some technical stuff in your performance to. I find that people also enjoy 5a stuff. I hope this helped a little. Good luck!
I’m working on a bearings editorial as well as that double-sided “care sheet”. Anything I “publish” will be available to all. I might make PDF’s of some files to make them easier to deal with.
Here’s what I’d do:
People want to be ENTERTAINED. See if you can show them all 5 major styles. Not necessarily in depth, but at least a minute of each. This gets them excited. It also kills gobs of time, which you can adjust UP or down.
Talk a little about the history. You can gloss over lots of stuff. When they think the yoyo was invented, how it’s one of the oldest toys, maybe how it was a toy of the rich in Europe in the 1600’s and the like. Skip ahead to Flores and selling to Duncan. Talk about how they were pegged and you can’t do tricks other than throw/return, and how looping changed the game It’s best to have examples. Toys R Us sells a pegged yoyo, the FAO Schwartz Little Bear, for under $5, get one just for that. Talk about the various parts and what they do: String, axles/bearings, and even response systems. Talk about responsive vs. unresponsive play. Have a yoyo without a response system in it(say, one you’ve refused to silicone for example) and show how important it is. Materials: metal, plastic, wood, delrin(if you’ve got one) plastic/metal(yeah, YYJ gets the plug here), metal, stacked, wide, undersized vs over-sized. Code 1’s with their side effects systems helps. Make sure you also have stuff they can get locally, because they’ll want to run out and get stuff immediately, so you have to either have product in hand or direct them to a quick fix location. ALSO talk about strings, how strings wear out, and show how easy it is to change a string. Talk about string length, because I see too many kids who don’t cut their strings.
You can talk about modifications but that’s more advanced. Siliconing is more advanced. You can talk about bearing lubrication since they’ll all need to do that at some point in time. Bearing cleaning is an “adult supervised activity” due to the requirement of sharp objects and “hazardous chemicals”, and as such, is ADVANCED and not needed.
If you were near me, I’d help by being there, providing PA, talking and maybe even doing simple stuff. I am not that great, but I can be a good example of a bad example! I can’t loop but I might be able to in a couple of weeks as I work on it a bit daily. Two handed is a ways off, but again, practice. 3A? Not for some time! But, I do such at 1A, 4A and 5A, if that’s any help!
ALSO, emphasis on PRACTICE. We practice our writing, letters, and math. Practice makes us better, it works in school it works in yoyo, it works in sports. Spin it(ahem) in a way that ties into learning and education to make the school happy: always put your best effort into it. Schools love that.
I actually Have not tried 3a and 2a much, so I may just stick with 1a, 4a, and 5a.
I am not even sure if I am going to do this. Not totally sure yet. Just taking suggestions. I have not even done any major performances before, not even competing. If I do, I hope I do well.
I am considering doing a presentation soonish, may even record it if I can, or even a documentary in my free time.
Tips? Be friendly and easy to listen to, no on likes listening to the boring chemistry teacher. Be lively, enthusiastic, passionate, etc… these will all come through in your presentation.
If you have enough yoyos, try and do a short workshop after maybe but if you don’t have enough then don’t do one since some may feel left out.
If you do talk about the history and mechanics of the yoyo then make it short and sweet, unless you are asked about it.
Make sure you mix it up. Have a good variety and don’t spend too long on one subject.
All in all though if you have fun, then it is likely that they will too.
