Okay, we’ve all seen lists like this before but we all ignore them. Why? Because we don’t want to believe that the things on them are sensible, in terms of our time; perhaps we don’t think we need to do what is being suggested – or perhaps we think we already do. Maybe we just don’t think we need to do it badly enough to put the effort it.
Think about it for a moment.. then recall the number of times you’ve read a self-help book and not done the exercises. For me, that’s a higher number than I’d want to admit. I’m sure it is for you, too. If I’d done all the exercises in fitness books that I’d ever read, I’d be the fittest man on the face of the planet. As it is, I’m not the fittest man on my street – and my street only has five houses on it!
So – to put it bluntly – there’s limited point in lists of
and
when it comes to making presentations and doing public speaking.
Quite apart from the fact that most of the advice in these lists is superficial (yes, I know I shouldn’t say Errrm a lot when I make presentations, please don’t tell me not to… tell me how not to!) the fact is that the advice, even when it’s good advice, all too often doesn’t get taken.
Why not?
To be honest, I don’t know; but I suspect it’s something to do with the fact that the motivation to change just isn’t there. People don’t change their behaviour unless the pain of not changing (or the benefit of making the change) is not great enough to justify the move and also great enough to overcome the pain of the actual process of changing. Given that I ask a lot of my clients sometimes, that’s a lot of pain they need to be in. :)
So what to do about it?
It seems to me that the answer’s fairly obvious. Instead of just listing the changes that need to be made by potential presenters, we need to think about why those changes need to be made.
What say you?
Most lists say I need to learn to breathe properly – sure, but how? Any what motivation would I need to spend time flat on my back doing the necessary diaphragm exercises?
Most lists say I need to make sure I know what my audience is like – absolutely, but how? And what motivation do I need to overcome my shyness about meeting them first?
Most lists say I need to make sure I don’t try and say to much – agreed, but how? And what motivation do I need to learn the techniques for designing presentations correctly?
What say you?!
What say I? Yes, yes, and yes. I have attended a few events where everyone is telling you, you need to do this and that and I agree no one is telling you how.
Quite frankly I’m tired of these events because it is so boring. I have got to the point where I attend to network but don’t go and listen to the presentation cause it is all just blah, blah, blah lately. I want to know how, not do this, do that. I already know I need to do this and that.
Hi Romany – nice to see I’m not the only one! :)
Not sure I fully agree – I get your point, f course.
However, a good model of learning is:
Increase awareness
Develop options for change
Make choices (informed by experimentation and linked to motivation)
Try out and reflect… and so on.
Dos and Don’ts lists are sometimes helpful at the first part of this cycle. If people have never come across the basic rules of the game, (eg make visual aids visual and make them aids…) then they can raise awareness, help people to evaluate their own performance and start the process of increasing their desire to change.
However, they are never sufficient in themselves, even when necessary.
And for those who already know this stuff and need to move onto the next step in the cycle, they are enormously frustrating when presented as ‘the answer.’
Hi Andrew – I can see your point about them being potentially useful as part of the learning cycle… I guess what I had in mind when I ranted (!) were situations when people simply post a list of “do this” and “don’t do this” up online and think they’re being helpful.
In a way they are, of course, but they also rather miss the point.
Similarly, I get a little frustrated at lists which just say “Do this” but don’t go on to tell you how, particularly when the thing they tell you to do is obvious in the first place.
I worked with a ballet teacher once who told her protege to ‘jump higher and longer to stay with the timing of the music’. The dancer replied that they were working flat out and simply couldn’t jump higher and longer – they were jumping as high and as long as possible: what, they asked, was the necessary technique they were missing…..?
Without missing a beat, the ballet teacher replied “It’s simple – spend more time in the air”. :)
Love the Ballet teacher quote: I tend to need the other advice, though – come down to earth occasionally…
Back on topic, the best dos and don’ts lists are those generated by learners (ideally in small groups). That way they can remind themselves of what they already know but perhaps need to apply better, without you as facilitator having to tell them.
And as you say, simply presented online, they are a bit of a waste of space – if used at all, they need to be the first part of a learning process.