What could be a universal phobia,
transcending borders and cultures, shared by millions across this little blue
globe? Hint: it's not the dark, not even spiders and no, it’s not heights! It’s public speaking. Yes, we have
got ourselves a topper of the phobia list. Most of us have spoken on stage,
addressing tens or hundreds of faces we did not know or hoped to never see again, as the prospect of death seemed more welcoming minute by minute.
Yet, there is a type of public
speaking to which a hanging noose might look like sweet release: addressing the
ones we know and see every day. Be it a classroom or a boardroom, presenting or
pitching an idea to the people who could turn a blunder into the butt of every
joke ever is indeed a grim prospect. On top of that, sprinkle a liberal amount
of bullet points, a dash of cntrl-C cntrl-V Wikipedia entriesand a few artsy,
neon fonts and you’ve got yourself adeath-by-PowerPoint.
Thankfully, there’s life after death-by-PowerPoint.
That’s
where John Quinn can help. The self-proclaimed presentologist and communication
specialist was invited to speak on the Art of Presenting in the auditorium last Tuesday. He has 20 years of experience in the event technology field and
in coaching big players in diverse industries to make visually stunning and
interactive presentations. He has worked with the DEPA Hotel Awards, as well as
with Emaar to create the first extensive wireless voting event in the Middle
East
The workshop aimed to help us Media
students shed universally widespread and yet commonly disdained practices when
it came to presenting. The guest lecturer introduced the first year, second
year and third year students of the School of Media & Communication to the
concept of gamification of learning by demonstrating his live wireless voting
system and stressed on three aspects of presenting: Preparation, Slide Design
and Delivery.
He emphasized on the importance of
shaping presentations into stories that are simple and clear. The rule of thumb
he shared was 10-20-30, where presentations should not be more than 10 slides
over a duration of 20 minutes and should not contain text with a font size less
than 30 point. He also shared online resources, softwares and PowerPoint tips
and tricks. The two-hour workshop was an intense wakeup call for many of us,
who still hoped to not miss a single word of our prepared speech by reading it
off the slides.
But how do we cope with the fear? A
clip from Chris Hadfield’s TED talk ‘What I learned from going blind in space’
http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space# played, as the TED speaker explained that conquering the fear of spiders is
possible by rationalizing it and walking into every spider web that you come
across. John Quinn compared the fear of public speaking to the fear of spiders.
Yes, us mortals could conquer this fear by practicing over and over again, by
not only practicing things going right, but also things going wrong, and by
taking up every public speaking opportunity that would show up.
By popular request, John Quinn spent more
time on Delivery. He explained the importance of hand and arm gestures, which
most of us forget as they limply dangle beside our bodies during presentations
or stay crossed throughout. He pointed out the difference between pitch, volume
and clarity of voice, demonstrating it by requesting members of the audience to
‘throw’ their
message to him like a ball. The Irish speaker then tackled accents, listing
them through a video by the YouTube channel soundlyawake and urging the audience to be aware of words and expressions with multiple
meanings in different cultures.
As the workshop came to an end, John
Quinn was swarmed with questions from students, who huddled around the speaker.
He shared that the term "Presentology" was his own neologism and that it meant
using the latest Presentation Technology to communicate your message. However, there was a crusade for the term, as some would claim it described the
philosophy of living in the present. “Well
that’s
alright with me, he added, as I also strive to live in the present!”
The speaker will be back for TEDx at
Manipal University so don’t
fret, there is still a chance to catch him again as he speaks about the
gamification of learning. In the meantime, your best PowerPoint presentation so
far awaits your rude awakening.
Head to this video to see John Quinn in action:
Written By Hansa Luximan
The writer is a second year undergraduate student in the School of Media & Communication
0 comments:
Post a Comment