Presentations as we define them at TRIPLE A cover a multitude of challenges. Of course..the full-blown presentation, you up on a platform at a conference talking to an audience of 10 - ??? people. We also include however, a situation where you are chatting informally with a group of people, probably in a professional, semi-professional situation; suddenly ' the floor is yours.' You do not have a prepared range of tools with you - how can you put your message across with impact, so people will remember what you say? Try this: link what you want to say with a concrete object in your local environment in a creative, unexpected way. Example Jens-Ole, a trainee on one of our courses, wanted to explain what a green corridor is. (A green corridor is a section of natural vegetation, grass, shrubs etc in a city which allows animals, insects etc to move safely and freely between one good habitat to another. Without such green corridors small animals etc, might be isolated and thus put at risk.). He was sitting chatting over a cup of coffee with some colleagues in his office and the talk moved to green corridors - 'What are they?' asked a colleague, and 'Why are they important?' 'Come with me,' said Jens-Ole and went outside the office. 'A simple question,' he said, 'Where are we now,' 'In the corridor,' 'What is the function of this corridor,' 'It enables us to get from the entrance hall to the manager's office,' 'Yes, and green corridors in our city enable small animals, insects etc to get from A to B easily and relatively safely.'
You could say this way of putting a point across is unneccesarily elaborate and Jens-Ole could just as easily have defined green corridors as I did above and then moved on. I believe however, that by taking his listeners out into the corridor he involved them more deeply and made more impact on them.
I would be interested to read any comments you care to post. What do you think about the way in which Jens-Ole involved his audience by using his local environment? Do you have any more examples?
Monday, 3 January 2011
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Flæskesvær
Hope this is the right spelling - I have often been asked what this is in English. Answer - crackling. Reason I guess is that it crackles if it is made right. Roast pork and crackling is one of the major dishes for Danes at Christmas. This is, unfortunately perhaps, not the case in England. However it is a very popular Sunday lunch and it usually accompanied by apple sauce!
Friday, 17 December 2010
Happy Christmas
What do people say round about this time of the year in UK? Happy Christmas covers it. However, if you also want to send New Year's greetings you should probably change it slightly. Add the two events together and you most frequently get 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.'
A bit more information might interest you. The big celebration in UK, and many other countries, is on Dec 25, Christmas Day, complete with roast turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. Children open their presents very early in the morning, thanks to Santa's nocturnal descent down the chimney to deliver them. This early start does however, have the advantage that parents are left alone while the children play with the presents in the morning. Parents can then either cope with their hangovers from Christmas Eve parties or start the Christmas dinner, or both. The dinner/lunch can appear on the table any time from 1pm to 5pm according to how things go.
What about the next day, Dec 26. This is traditionally called Boxing Day - nothing to do with fisticuffs but so-called from the old word a Christmas box, or present. It was the day when, traditionally, the richer people gave their servants Christmas boxes. I can remember my father inviting the milkman in to have a tot of whisky, at about 7.30 in the morning and then giving him a small present of money. We were not, I hasten to add, rich. I used to wonder how he ever completed his round. On Dec 26 too, we (some at least) eat bubble and squeak. We will award a non-financial prize to the first person to post what they can about this dish.
Anybody got any Christmas traditions they would like to share - just post them, in English of course.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
A bit more information might interest you. The big celebration in UK, and many other countries, is on Dec 25, Christmas Day, complete with roast turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. Children open their presents very early in the morning, thanks to Santa's nocturnal descent down the chimney to deliver them. This early start does however, have the advantage that parents are left alone while the children play with the presents in the morning. Parents can then either cope with their hangovers from Christmas Eve parties or start the Christmas dinner, or both. The dinner/lunch can appear on the table any time from 1pm to 5pm according to how things go.
What about the next day, Dec 26. This is traditionally called Boxing Day - nothing to do with fisticuffs but so-called from the old word a Christmas box, or present. It was the day when, traditionally, the richer people gave their servants Christmas boxes. I can remember my father inviting the milkman in to have a tot of whisky, at about 7.30 in the morning and then giving him a small present of money. We were not, I hasten to add, rich. I used to wonder how he ever completed his round. On Dec 26 too, we (some at least) eat bubble and squeak. We will award a non-financial prize to the first person to post what they can about this dish.
Anybody got any Christmas traditions they would like to share - just post them, in English of course.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Audience rules
Communication has little meaning if it is unheard, unread or unseen. So although it is important for us to get our message across, to be heard and to impact, I would suggest that the audience rules in the sense that every one of our communications is sent to a specific audience. This audience determines whether the presentation is successful. This success can be judged by how much the specific audience changes as a result of the presentation.
Imagine a spectrum ranging from a completely mechanical presentation to a completely organic one. The completely mechanical one would be a pre-recorded PP presentation. The button is pushed initially, a recorded voice drones, the slides are shown at a pre-determined rate. The audiences leaves when the last slide has been shown and the words 'The End' appear on the screen. An organic presentation ís when the presenter establishes good rapport with his or her audience, some stimulating and well chosen slides, appropriate to this audience, are shown, the presenter tells some stories which are adapted to his or her audience and finally, the audience feel included and involved in some way or other.
The decision as to where your presentation will lie on the spectrum depends on a number of factors. It can however, be interesting to start the planning of a presentation by firstly taking into consideration what the audience wants and needs to hear. Then add in what we want to say to them. This then becomes a constantly shifting process between the two. So, although it is an exaggeration to say that the audience rules absolutely, it is equally dangerous to ignore what they want and to plough on paying no attention to their initial goals and their subsequent reactions to what we deliver.
Imagine a spectrum ranging from a completely mechanical presentation to a completely organic one. The completely mechanical one would be a pre-recorded PP presentation. The button is pushed initially, a recorded voice drones, the slides are shown at a pre-determined rate. The audiences leaves when the last slide has been shown and the words 'The End' appear on the screen. An organic presentation ís when the presenter establishes good rapport with his or her audience, some stimulating and well chosen slides, appropriate to this audience, are shown, the presenter tells some stories which are adapted to his or her audience and finally, the audience feel included and involved in some way or other.
The decision as to where your presentation will lie on the spectrum depends on a number of factors. It can however, be interesting to start the planning of a presentation by firstly taking into consideration what the audience wants and needs to hear. Then add in what we want to say to them. This then becomes a constantly shifting process between the two. So, although it is an exaggeration to say that the audience rules absolutely, it is equally dangerous to ignore what they want and to plough on paying no attention to their initial goals and their subsequent reactions to what we deliver.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Communication and change
Every time you say anything in English, every time you write anything in English, you change the world. Not quite true; but if you are heard, if you are read, then you will change your audience or your readers respectively.
You will instruct them, you will amuse them, you will fascinate them or you will bore them. But be assured, that they will not be the same after as they were before.
If this is the case, why not do a good job? Why not create those changes in people that you want? This is what TRIPLE A has been all about for over twenty years. Communicating in English, so that you achieve the changes in people that you want to. This is what this blog is about.
Try the following exercise.
Next time somebody is talking to you in Englísh, observe your own process. Observe how you change as the person talks to you....you become interested, you become bored, you become amused, irritated, fascinated and so on. Get used to observing the changes that take place in you. Logically, a similar process will be taking place in your listeners as you talk to them, or make a presentation. They will become fascinated, bored, amused, better informed in turns as you talk.
Then try and discover how the speaker caused these various emotions and states in you. What did s/he say or how did s/he say it that amused/irritated/informed you?
If you decided to carry out the above exercises - which might take anything up to twenty years to do perfectly - it would be great if you posted a comment sharing your reflections with others on this blog.
You will instruct them, you will amuse them, you will fascinate them or you will bore them. But be assured, that they will not be the same after as they were before.
If this is the case, why not do a good job? Why not create those changes in people that you want? This is what TRIPLE A has been all about for over twenty years. Communicating in English, so that you achieve the changes in people that you want to. This is what this blog is about.
Try the following exercise.
Next time somebody is talking to you in Englísh, observe your own process. Observe how you change as the person talks to you....you become interested, you become bored, you become amused, irritated, fascinated and so on. Get used to observing the changes that take place in you. Logically, a similar process will be taking place in your listeners as you talk to them, or make a presentation. They will become fascinated, bored, amused, better informed in turns as you talk.
Then try and discover how the speaker caused these various emotions and states in you. What did s/he say or how did s/he say it that amused/irritated/informed you?
If you decided to carry out the above exercises - which might take anything up to twenty years to do perfectly - it would be great if you posted a comment sharing your reflections with others on this blog.
An embedded presentation
How many times have you been to a presentation which has not impacted on you significantly?
You arrived three minutes before the speaker mounted the platform, you listened, laughed politely, noted what he or she said and then filed out with the rest of the audience after the speaker had left the platform. Two days after the presentation, you had forgotten all about it.
Imagine a smooth, flat stone on a smooth, flat, shallow rock near the water's edge. What happens when the tide comes in? The stone is washed off the rock. Now imagine some moss on the same rock. What happens when the tide comes in? The sea washes over the moss which remains firmly attached to the rock. An embedded presentation should be as firmly attached to your audience as the moss is to the rock. How to achieve this?
Begin the embedding process as early as possible
Make sure the audience know who you are and what benefit they will derive from your presentation in the programme notes or similar. You could also email or contact your audience ahead of time to prepare them for your offering. In this way you will have at least a neutral soil and hopefully a fertile one in which to plant your seeds.
Think back to the last presentation you attended. How could the presenter have prepared the soil better, to make you in the audience more receptive to the changes he wanted to induce in you? Did s/he do anything to prepare you for the presentation ahead of time? How much did you know about the presenter before the presentation? Would the presenter have made more impact on you if he or she had in some way or other have contacted you ahead of time?
During the presentation
You will be wanting to create some sort of change in your audience eg, you might want them to buy your products or you might want them to be better informed about your department's strategic goals. Whatever goals you have, make every effort to involve the audience in such a way that you create these changes. This is what a truly embedded presentation is - a presentation which impacts on your audience's lives for a long time after they have walked out of your presentation.
Again, think back to the last presentation you attended - or at least one in the recent past. What three things did the presenter do to make impact on you - to ensure that his presentation would become embedded in you, like the moss on the rock?
After the presentation
The success of your presentation can only be truly judged when your audience resumes their separate lives. To take the two situations above: if you receive lots of orders from your audience, then your presenation has been successful. If your audience uses the information about your department's strategic goals in a constructive way, by changing their work habits to fit in with the strategic goals of your department, then your presentation has been successful. You have achieved your goals. We could also think about what we could do post-presentation to embed further. We might email people perhaps, get feed-back from them, visit or phone them.
TASK THREE - What could the presenter have done to have embedded it further in you, so that it would impact on and influence you?
You arrived three minutes before the speaker mounted the platform, you listened, laughed politely, noted what he or she said and then filed out with the rest of the audience after the speaker had left the platform. Two days after the presentation, you had forgotten all about it.
Imagine a smooth, flat stone on a smooth, flat, shallow rock near the water's edge. What happens when the tide comes in? The stone is washed off the rock. Now imagine some moss on the same rock. What happens when the tide comes in? The sea washes over the moss which remains firmly attached to the rock. An embedded presentation should be as firmly attached to your audience as the moss is to the rock. How to achieve this?
Begin the embedding process as early as possible
Make sure the audience know who you are and what benefit they will derive from your presentation in the programme notes or similar. You could also email or contact your audience ahead of time to prepare them for your offering. In this way you will have at least a neutral soil and hopefully a fertile one in which to plant your seeds.
Think back to the last presentation you attended. How could the presenter have prepared the soil better, to make you in the audience more receptive to the changes he wanted to induce in you? Did s/he do anything to prepare you for the presentation ahead of time? How much did you know about the presenter before the presentation? Would the presenter have made more impact on you if he or she had in some way or other have contacted you ahead of time?
During the presentation
You will be wanting to create some sort of change in your audience eg, you might want them to buy your products or you might want them to be better informed about your department's strategic goals. Whatever goals you have, make every effort to involve the audience in such a way that you create these changes. This is what a truly embedded presentation is - a presentation which impacts on your audience's lives for a long time after they have walked out of your presentation.
Again, think back to the last presentation you attended - or at least one in the recent past. What three things did the presenter do to make impact on you - to ensure that his presentation would become embedded in you, like the moss on the rock?
After the presentation
The success of your presentation can only be truly judged when your audience resumes their separate lives. To take the two situations above: if you receive lots of orders from your audience, then your presenation has been successful. If your audience uses the information about your department's strategic goals in a constructive way, by changing their work habits to fit in with the strategic goals of your department, then your presentation has been successful. You have achieved your goals. We could also think about what we could do post-presentation to embed further. We might email people perhaps, get feed-back from them, visit or phone them.
TASK THREE - What could the presenter have done to have embedded it further in you, so that it would impact on and influence you?
Friday, 26 November 2010
Welcome to the TRIPLE A blog
Welcome to all of you fans of TRIPLE A! You may have landed here through direct invitation from me through facebook, or through a friend - it does not matter: you are here. I am guessing that you have an interest in communicating in English or maybe in TRIPLE A itself, so I hope you find something here that will grab you. Please comment on what you like about the blog or what you don't. Does not mean you will get what you want, but I'll do my best to keep most of the readers happy most of the time: all of the readers all of the time might be over the top. Also of course, comment on the posts and pages you get on the blog. How it turns out is up to all of us.
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