Greyson Pinkston RE: Week 8 Discussion Starter PostCOLLAPSE
Greetings Professor Paulson and Class,
- Have you ever attended a meeting or speech where you dozed off because you were bored? Please tell us about the meeting or speech.
- Yes, I attend semi-annual meetings with my manager and during this time several presentations are given where we are subject to death by PowerPoint.
- Why did you get bored?
- The information was presented in a monotone delivery with no enthusiasm or emotion Examples: One example was a presentation on clean-up after flood water, where the speaker basically didn’t review the information beforehand and was reading word for word off of the slide
- Was the speaker monotone?
- Yes, it reminded me of the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “Bueller, Bueller, Bueller”
- Did the speech run on too long?
- No, thankfully the presenter was on a time schedule and we reminded him of it.
- Was the content dry?
- The content was pretty interesting, but the delivery could use some moisture.
- Any other reason?
- The environment we were holding the meeting didn’t help with keeping our attention (dark room)
- Were the slides overloaded with text so you could not read them?
- Yes, the slides were basically federal regulations, so you can imagine how exciting that was
- Did they use multiple images that were confusing?
- No, the images (where there were some) were pretty informative to the discussion
- Did the presenter forget to ask questions to get you engaged?
- Yes, the presenter did not ask any questions
- Did the presenter not use non-verbal communication techniques, i.e. hand movements, facial expressions, walking around, etc.?
- No, the presenter did not move from the podium, they were very robotic
- Did the presenter stay at the podium?
- Yes
- Did the speaker just stand there and read from their slides?
- Yes
The topic I have chosen for my presentation will be on occupational safety awareness. It will be broken down into several subtopics that will identify, describe, and inform the audience about the different ways we can protect ourselves on the job. I plan on utilizing some of the points from our coursework documents such as Miller’s 3 basic rules: 1. BE EMOTIONAL – touch your audiences heart through your passion, storytelling and create a conversation. 2. BE NOVEL – teach your audience something new through jaw dropping moments with a sense of humor. 3. BE MEMORABLE – present in way that they will remember by keeping it short but include engaging visuals while being your most authentic self.
And I will include storytelling into my presentation to capture the audience’s attention, because…”you’re putting yourself at a significant disadvantage if you don’t use storytelling as part of your toolkit” (Clark)
Miller, Joshua. 2016. “How to Deliver a Killer Workplace Presentation that would Rival a Ted Talk”. Linkedin
Clark, Dorie. 2016. “A Checklist for More Persuasive Presentation.” HBR
2nd response
3 days ago
Have you ever attended a meeting or speech where you dozed off because you were bored?
Yes. While working for CPS we had to attend trainings for a refresher.
Why did you get bored (Was the speaker monotone? Did the speech run on too long? Was the content dry? Another reason?)
Half of the training was on the computer while the other half was conducted concretely. The rooms were too cold and the content was recently updated but the examples that were given were not.
Have you ever experienced a “Jaw Dropping Moment”? Why was it a “Jaw Dropping Moment?”
Yes! During the end of the training, it was discovered that the child had succumbed to her injuries from abuse. This was jaw dropping to me because the examples that were given, were facts from the case itself.
Share with us the topic that you have decided on. What are 1-2 things you can do to deliver a “Jaw-Dropping Moment” in your presentation?
There were many things that I wanted to speak about for next weeks presentation; however, I chose to do a 6-8 minute presentation on “How To Effectively Regain Safety Capacities”. I chose this topic because it came as second nature to talk about and there were many “jaw dropping” moments in doing so. In week 8 readings, one of the questions asked how can you best keep your audience engaged throughout the presentation? In the beginning, Becky Blanton stated that she learned how to be invisible. Meaning that she became homeless to chase her dreams. Countless times I had to over-exaggerate the fact that I was no different from my clients that had cases. One bad judgement or at the wrong place at the wrong time, I could be standing before a judge pleading my case. Looking at the roster, many of my classmates are older. With that being said, it is safe to say that many of them have families. After identifying my audience, my main points will be children and how to work with the system if you should find yourself within it. The first thing I am going to do is ask a question that will make people look at me twice. The second question I am going to ask is to let me help. As stated in Impact the Audience, I would like to engage them by getting a little bit personal (nothing offensive). I learned a long time ago that when you make eye contact, people know that you are listening and that you are engaged. Number 7 in the article 10 Tips For Making A Persuasive Presentation stated that you connect by making eye contact throughout ur speech (Nakano, 2016). We may be doing things virtually; however, I feel like I will make a connection with having the audience view things through my eyes by giving real life stories.
References:
JWI 505 Lecture Notes. Impact The Audience.
Nakano, C. (2016). 10 Tips For Making A Persuasive Presentation.