Discussion: 30 minute presentation

I need to give a 30 minute presentation on Monday night to a group of about 35 adult scout leaders. The topic is anything on orienteering.
I’ve done this a few times already. Last year, we did map reading and an armchair O competition. The year before it was compass navigation vs. GPS navigation.
Can anyone suggest an activity that would be a learning experience, fun, and hopefully get them out of their chairs for a while? I have access to a projector, computer and can print out stuff as necessary. The adults can also be told to bring any additional materials to the meeting.
Suggestions?

Have them map the room/group of rooms and then set "courses" for the other adults (small groups?) with 3-5 control points. Control markers can be bits of paper -- maybe a different color for each group? (Idea from Linda Kohn from a USOF convention workshop several yeas ago.)

Was going to suggest more or less the same thing. Who wants to sit watching some slides on a projector when you can get them to actually do it. Think of it as Indoor Micro-O.

For the presentation part you could talk about big picture vs. small feature recognition on a map. Then, for the activity, do a map-memory relay. Have maps on one side of the room with features circled (or a course drawn), then blank maps on the other side of the room teams/pairs switch off running over to the features maps, memorizing what they can, then running back to the blank one to draw it in. Or some variation on that theme.

excellent suggestions!
I like JanetT's because it requires no prep work.
Taco-C's is very cool too and requires only a little prep work.
I am in a nice position of having 2 great ideas to chose from.
Any others?

Conclude with a 3-5 minute video of an orienteering race perhaps? "Here's what the elite do!"
Even though the 'real thing' is not the goal, sitting back and seeing the 'real thing' can be fun (eg Hawaii's Ironman appeals to casual cyclists, runners, and swimmers).
If you find this idea appealing, please suggest a couple videos for Bernard to use.

here's a video suggestion:
http://www.finnvangelderen.com/O-film/index.html

The first minute and a bit of this are nice.
http://vimeo.com/channels/pzostv#11652305
Then there is another route choice bit 2:20 in, or so. You may need to dub it :)

I now have way more than I can do in 30 minutes. I will put it together over the weekend and let you all know how it went. Thanks again to all! Really appreciate it!
Neil - if you want to come and be a guest speaker for the dubbing, let me know :-)

You could give them maps with really gnarly courses and have them draw in routes. Then discuss distance, climb, degree of fight, and tactics they would use to follow their chosen routes. Basically do an armchair world event course from start to finish.

Some curious suggestions: video about mental aspects of orienteering set in bad weather; another about orienteering at night with snow on the ground; and recommendation to use a very complex map when already many of the symbols will be unfamiliar. Understand your audience.

Nice Una! I like it. I think I will do this also Taco-C's relay race. That will keep them busy and they will have fun.

Thanks all for the input. I used bits of a lot of the suggestions and came up with the theme "you don't need a compass". This was good because not many of the 30 or so people there had brought one.
- We started with map reading skills; I had people describe what they would see as they walked along a course.
- Then we had a copy relay: People had to memorize score O control locations on a master map and copy them onto their team map
- Finally, we had teams draw in the routes that they would take to visit all the controls. The teams took turns describing the route choices.

The whole thing lasted about 40 minutes and I got positive feedback . All good and I hope will eventually help me get the District Award of Merit Knot.

Bernard, it is great to see you sharing your knowledge and expertise with the scouts. I know that you really enjoy doing scouting with Alec and that you sometimes have to choice between scouting and orienteering. Since I became involved with orienteering because of my leadership in Girl Scouting, I like to see others that combine the two together. NOW you need to get involved in Girl Scouting with the girls or maybe Lisa as we really need more girls in orienteering.
Thanks for sharing with all of us your experiences.