Presenting With Pizzazz: Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: The Process Is As Important As The Product

"You learn from pain and you learn from pleasure."

The book says to think of pleasant and unpleasant memories.  Chances are, you have plenty of memories of painful or unpleasant experiences- vivid ones.  I had a great childhood and wonderful experiences in school- but I can still remember almost every experience I had crying in the bathroom.  Painful memories stick!

Painful memories also affect our behaviors later on in life.  If we had a bad experience with something, we're likely to avoid doing that again or anything that resembles that.  This is the reason that we need to be conscious of how  we're teaching as well as what we're teaching.  If we teach something good in a wrong way, the only thing we're teaching is to avoid that subject. Make sense?

"How your participants 'get there' is as important as the information they walk away with. The activities they engage in will determine the depth of the learning they leave with.  Your greatest challenge is to create a learning experience that is pleasurable, stimulating, challenging, and informative...and you can do it in simple, fun, and creative ways." 

There are four ways to attempt this: Comfort, Food, Connecting to Your Audience, and Connecting People to Each Other

Comfort-

"Within the limitations of the room...create as comfortable and colorful a place for learning as possible."

Food-

"Food is a nurturing thing and gives the message to your participants that they matter and they are worth the time, effort, and money it takes to provide nourishment."  (I had never thought of this before- but who doesn't love food?)

Connecting To Your Audience-

"Before starting your presentation, take a moment to make eye contact with as many people as possible, welcoming them mentally as well as verbally.  This little exercise is a focusing of your energy and theirs as you begin your presentation.  It creates positive emotional connections.  And it gives you that friendly face to return your attention to when you need a little extra support from the group." 

Connecting People to People-

"When people are not emotionally connected to each other in positive ways, the group dynamics can be destructive to learning."

Think about this for a minute- do you do your best group projects in school or work with people you don't get along with at all?  I sure don't, and as a presenter I need to be aware that people may come into a workshop with negative vibes towards one another.  If I don't fix that problem straight up, my workshop can be ruined before it even starts.  So how do I do it?

"Connections are the keys to creating positive learning experiences, community building, the willingness to take risks, and the ability to open up to other people and learn from them.  People feeling connected to each other in positive ways is a crucial part of a successful training or presentation.  So before connecting your trainees with the content you're going to be teaching them, connect them with each other first."

 Stay tuned- there's like, four more chapters!
Rachel