Showing posts with label presentations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presentations. Show all posts

The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever Review

The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever
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The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever ReviewEffective public speaking is a challenge for many executives. They must prepare interesting content, overcome stage fright and deliver a speech that will hold the audience's attention. As if that wasn't difficult enough, they are increasingly likely to find themselves looking out at a sea of faces illuminated by the glow of laptops and PDAs. Social media is invading the auditorium, and rather than tuning out while a speech is delivered, people are turning on laptops and cell phones to send out text messages, broadcasting to the world their opinions of a presentation.
In his new book Cliff Atkinson explains how these new forms of online communication are shifting the rules of engagement between audiences and presenters. Instead of sitting politely until it's time for Q & A, people are going online during the address to swap comments and opinions via an electronic backchannel.
At the very least, Atkinson claims, speakers and their communications support staff need to be aware that there is likely to be a backchannel in the room and learn how to monitor it or be left out of the conversation. Beyond this basic awareness, he encourages communicators to take the initiative and employ social media as an integral part of any executive's presentation.
Practical advice
Atkinson's book covers a lot of ground, from how to open a Twitter account to advice on expanding the conversation with the audience. He details how social media can transform a presentation from a one-off information dump into a longer-term relationship--one that starts before you step onto the podium. His advice includes:
* Breaking a speech into "Twitter-sized chunks" to make it easier for people to post 140-character sound bites. One measure of success then becomes how many of these summary statements are posted and reposted online.
* Using Twitter as a vehicle to extend your ideas to people outside the room, giving them a "virtual stage pass" to the event.
* Creating instant polls using tools, such as Twtpoll and Poll Everywhere, to involve the audience.
* Publishing a Presentation Home Page using wiki software. For example, I was inspired by Atkinson's book to create [...]/ listing my past and future talks. A Presentation Home Page is a convenient archive for reference material; blog postings; a Twitter feed; bio and contact information and more. This shifts the burden from overly busy PowerPoint slides as the sole way to communicate information. Also, by implementing a page like this prior to an event you initiate a backchannel that involves the audience, letting you gather comments and suggestions before you deliver the talk. After the event, the page becomes a repository for evaluation responses, blog postings, reference material and a transcript.
Atkinson acknowledges there are both risks and rewards involved in the backchannel. It enables people to connect online and become part of a shared community, but at the risk of leaving out those who are unaware of what is happening. It gives the speaker a way to reach a wider audience, but at the risk of distracting the smooth delivery of material. It provides an archive for comments and opinions, but a series of 140-character notes can lack context. And there's the very real risk that the comments people make on Twitter might lack civility and shock presenters with their sometimes brutal honesty.
Though this approach is not for everyone, Atkinson describes a potent way in which social media allows a (frightening?) new level of transparency that speakers can use to transform a one-way stream of communication into a dialogue with the audience--before, during and after the speech.
The Backchannel might not bring welcome news to presenters who are wedded to the old school ways of controlling audience response and involvement, but is clearly shows how you can magnify the impact of a speech using social media.The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever OverviewArmed with laptops and smartphones, audiences today are no longer sitting quietly taking notes during live presentations. Instead, they're carving out a new space in the room called the backchannel, where people are online searching for resources, checking your facts, and connecting with others inside the room and out.When audiences are happy, the backchannel vastly extends the reach of ideas and creates a new sense of community and connectedness. But when they are unhappy, the intersection of frustrated audiences with unaware presenters can often create dramatic and public breakdowns of communication—and even mob mentality.In this book, communications consultant Cliff Atkinson shows that if these new kinds of audience participation are embraced and the conversations properly handled, the outcome can be a new, more effective form of communicating. Whether you're a host, presenter, or an audience member, Cliff will help you understand how this convergence of social forces is upending the presentation norm and how you can effectively manage the change.

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English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing Review

English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing
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English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing ReviewWhat I like most about this book is the section on how to socialize at conferences. This is something I have always found difficult. I tested out the author's suggestions at a recent conference and I was very happy with the results!English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing OverviewEnglish for Academic Correspondence and Socializing is the first ever book of its kind specifically written for researchers of all disciplines whose first language is not English. With easy-to-follow rules and tips, and with authentic examples taken from real emails, referee's reports and cover letters, you will learn how to:' use strategies for understanding native speakers of English' significantly improve your listening skills' organize one-to-one meetings' feel confident at social events' manage and participate in a successful conversation ' write effective emails' review other people's manuscripts - formally and informally ' reply effectively and constructively to referees' reports ' write cover letters to editors ' use the telephone and Skype ' participate in (video) conference calls ' exploit standard English phrasesOther books in the series:English for Presentations at International ConferencesEnglish for Writing Research PapersEnglish for Research: Usage, Style, and GrammarEnglish for Academic Research: Grammar ExercisesEnglish for Academic Research:Vocabulary ExercisesEnglish for Academic Research: Writing Exercises

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iWork '09: The Missing Manual Review

iWork '09: The Missing Manual
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iWork '09: The Missing Manual ReviewFrom the overall organization of iWork '09: The Missing Manual to the examples used and phrases selected, Josh Clark has written this book to show us how to do what we want to do in iWork. He has succeeded. It is much better than just a manual.
Other iWork books are organized based upon the history of the program's development. They start with Keynote. iWork '09 The Missing Manual starts with Pages because that is what most people will use first.
You start with writing in Pages text mode, and are soon learning how to use the new outline features to organize your small book.
You learn that in text mode the text flows like rivers, but layout mode puts text in boxes like islands. You learn to flow your text from one island to the next.
Other iWork books all tell you how to put a text box and a picture on a page. That is not enough when you are looking at a blank page and wondering how to design your own layout.
Josh Clark shows you how to create a 6 column, or 5 column grid, and how to use it to align your objects to create your layout.
He has included more interesting information and useful tips than you will find in most manuals. Here are some examples:
Why does Pages open at 125% resolution when 100% is the "actual size?" This book has the answer.
If you make a mistake when you ask your Macintosh to learn a new word, here you will learn how to remove it from your dictionary.
He also tells you how to match a color in your photograph so you can use it in other objects.
In iWork '09 The Missing Manual you will learn more than the instructions for Keynote. You will learn how to plan, make and give a Keynote presentation that will engage your audience in your story, and to not use bullet points to tell your story. You will also learn when you should and should not use the new transitions.
The examples Josh Clark uses are suitable for most of us. To teach us to use Numbers, he uses a membership roster as an example of using a formula to transform text, and uses logic formulas to summarize our team's baseball statistics.
You will also learn about sheets and tables as well as the new multi-row headers and footers, and freezing the header for large spreadsheets.
As I read iWork '09 The Missing Manual I got the impression that Josh Clark really enjoyed writing this wonderful book. Because I thought he enjoyed writing it, I enjoyed reading it. After reading the online in Rough Cut, I bought the book. If you read this far, I believe you will want to buy it too.iWork '09: The Missing Manual Overview
With iWork '09, Apple's productivity applications have come of age. Unfortunately, their user guides are stuck in infancy. That's where iWork '09: The Missing Manual comes in. This book quickly guides you through everything you need to know about the Pages word-processor, the Numbers spreadsheet, and the Keynote presentation program that Al Gore and Steve Jobs made famous. Friendly and entertaining, iWork '09: The Missing Manual gives you crystal-clear and jargon-free explanations of iWork's capabilities, its advantages over similar programs -- and its limitations. You'll see these programs through an objective lens that shows you which features work well and which don't. With this book, you will:



Produce stunning documents and cinema-quality digital presentations
Take advantage of Mac OS X's advanced typography and graphics capabilities
Learn how to use the collection of themes and templates included with iWork
Get undocumented tips, tricks, and secrets for each program
Integrate with other iLife programs to use photos, audio, and video clips

Learn why iWork is the topic most requested by Missing Manual fans. One of the few sources available on Apple's incredible suite of programs, iWork '09: The Missing Manual will help you get the best performance out of Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and more in no time.


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The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) Review

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)
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The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) ReviewThose who have read Denning's The Springboard and/or Squirrel Inc. already know that he specializes in knowledge management and organizational storytelling. In this volume, he develops his core concepts in much greater depth, acknowledging his high regard for Peter Senge's vision of the Total Learning Organization as delineated in his pioneer volume, The Fifth Discipline. Briefly, in it Senge suggests that there are five separate but interrelated "disciplines": building a Shared Vision which enables an organization to build a common commitment to the same long-term goals; formulating Mental Models which guide, inform, and sustain creativity and innovation; encouraging and supporting Team Learning; Personal Mastery of certain skills which enable an individual to learn and understand more and thus perform at a higher level of competence; and finally, Systems Thinking which establishes a holistic view, both of one's organization and of the marketplace in which it pursues success.
In his Introduction to this book, Denning asserts that "the best way to communicate with people you are trying to lead is very often through a story. The impulse here is practical and pedagogical. [The Leader's Guide to Storytelling] shows how to use storytelling to deal with the most difficult challenges faced by leadership today." Denning wholly agrees with Senge that a learning organization is an environment "where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together." However, while agreeing on the importance of "systems thinking" as a way of looking at systems as a whole that will enable people to see complex chains of causation and so solve complex problems, Denning has three concerns which he shares on page 253. By the time his reader arrives at that point in the narrative, she or he may well share the same concerns.
My purpose in this brief commentary is to focus on what I consider to be Denning's key points as he explains why and how storytelling is often the best way for leaders to communicate with those whom they are trying to lead. What he offers is a cohesive and comprehensive system. These are the core principles, as discussed thoroughly in Chapters 3-10:
1. Select and then tell the story which is most appropriate for the given leadership challenge.
2. Tell that story with style, truth, thorough preparation, and effective delivery.
3. Select a narrative pattern based on the primary objective: to motivate others to action, to build trust in you, to build trust in your organization, to transmit your values, to get others working together, to share knowledge, to "tame the grapevine," or to create and share your vision.
Each reader will appreciate Table 1.1. (on page 18) which summarizes key points for each of the eight different narrative patterns discussed separately in Chapters, 3-10. (Additional Tables are provided later in the narrative whenever appropriate.) At the end of each chapter in Part Two, Denning thoughtfully includes a "Template" which poses a set of questions to be addressed when, for example, crafting a "springboard story." Here's the first of ten questions: "What is the specific change in the organization or community or group that you hope to spark with the story?" Then in Part Three (Chapters 11 and 12), Denning explains how to put it all together by using narrative effectively, both to transform an organization and to become an interactive leader.
Of special interest to me Denning's discussion (in the final chapter) of what he calls "Interactive, Tolstoyean" leadership and its relation to other theories in terms of leadership as a trait, as a skill, as a style, as situational, as motivation, and as transformation. This discussion serves as an appropriate conclusion to his book, one in which Denning has spelled out "specific, identifiable, measurable, trainable behaviors that can be used to achieve the goals of transformational leadership."
Storytelling really is a performance art. Some master the requisite skills. Most don't. Denning offers no guarantees but does claim that those who consistently use the narrative tools he has provided will acquire new capabilities. Specifically, to communicate more effectively who they are and what they stand for, to be more attentive to the world as it is now, to speak the truth and do it well, to make their values explicit and take actions which are consistent with those values, to listen to the world and be receptive to innovation. Those who possess these new capabilities will attract the interest, then earn and sustain the trust and respect of those whom they may be privileged to lead.
If this is the kind of leader you aspire to be, Denning's book awaits you...eager to be of substantial assistance.
For whatever reasons, only in recent years has there been an awareness and appreciation of the importance of the business narrative. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Annette Simmons' The Story Factor, Doug Lipman's Improving Your Storytelling, and Storytelling in Organizations co-authored by John Seely Brown, Denning, Katarina Groh, and Laurence Prusak.
The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) OverviewHow leaders can use the right story at the right time to inspire change and action
This revised and updated edition of the best-selling book A Leader's Guide to Storytelling shows how storytelling is one of the few ways to handle the most important and difficult challenges of leadership: sparking action, getting people to work together, and leading people into the future. Using myriad illustrative examples and filled with how-to techniques, this book clearly explains how you can learn to tell the right story at the right time.
Stephen Denning has won awards from Financial Times, The Innovation Book Club, and 800-CEO-READ
The book on leadership storytelling shows how successful leaders use stories to get their ideas across and spark enduring enthusiasm for change
Stephen Denning offers a hands-on guide to unleash the power of the business narrative.


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