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Presentation |
Faculty |
Six Strategies to
a
More Effective Meeting, Presentation, or Class
by Rod Mattson, Communications Instructor at
GRCC
Is there a Problem?
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Have you ever given your class an assignment and said it was due on Thursday, then right after saying so, someone raises a hand and asks, “When is this due?” |
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Have you ever held a department meeting, gave specific instructions for a new procedure and someone raises a hand and asks, “How are we supposed to do the new procedure?” |
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Can you think of any other dumb questions you get during a meeting? I am sure you can. |
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Do you ask yourself, “Does anyone listen?” |
Social Science researchers claim that in a group of
25 or more listeners, only 25% percent of those folks are listening at any
given time. Do you agree with
this statistic? Upon further
examination of this information we understand that many things are going
on in our lives. Folks are
bored, tired, sick, or are having conflict with family, co-workers, the
boss, and/or neighbors. Some
are day dreaming, some are worried, and some are hungry.
This statistic is starting to make sense, isn’t it?
In a survey conducted by Ron Adler, social scientist and author, he
surveyed 4, 400 college students in 1999 on their listening during an hour
long presentation. Here are
his results: 12% were actively listening to everything; 20% were listening
most of the time; but, admitted to “zoning out” at times; 20% were not
listening very much because they were worried about something in their
lives; 20% were also not listening very much because they were
daydreaming; another 20% were having erotic thoughts (remember, they are
college students), and the last 8% were not listening because they were
hungry and thinking about what they were going to have for lunch.
We take the generally accepted notion that only 25%
of individuals in groups are actively listening and compare to Adler’s
study which concludes that only 32% are listening most of the time, then
this statistic gains validity. Now,
let’s combine this statistic with another one.
It is pretty well documented by the psychology field that when
people listen, they can only remember 50% of what they hear immediately
after hearing it. Can you
think of several reasons for this? The
reasons are numerous: rapid
thought, stress, defensive listening, waiting for the other to stop
talking so we can say what we want to say, pseudo-listening because we are
busy, lack of interest, illnesses, medicine, and on and on.
Then, after eight hours, they remember only 25% of what they heard,
and it slowly fades away even more after those eight hours.
Do you see the problem here? If
in a group of listeners of 25 or more, only 25-32% are listening and they
only remember on the average of 50% of what they hear, then we have a real
challenge of getting our message across.
How do we increase the effectiveness of our message and get the
listeners to listen better?
What Are Some Solutions?
Six strategies will help your presentation be dynamic and memorable. All strategies involve analyzing your listeners. Take the time to get to know your group of listeners, then apply the following strategies:
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One,
make it interesting to that group by personalizing your message for
them. |
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Two,
use visual aids to clarify, make memorable, make interesting, or to
prove your points. Remember,
a picture is worth a thousand words.
Visual aids are especially effective with a group of
International listeners. |
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Three,
change your voice rate, pitch, and volume during your presentation.
Nothing puts people to sleep faster than a monotone voice or a
tired presenter. |
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Four,
use movement when delivering your presentation.
Try not to pace, but move around the room and engage the
audience. |
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Five,
make eye contact with as many listeners as possible.
Give each listener the feeling you are talking to each one
personally. |
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Six, use REPETITION in your presentation. There is an old maxim for public speakers: Tell them what you are going to say, tell them, then, tell them what you said. This maxim is so true and so powerful. Many folks resist this as insulting the listeners; however, you will never insult the listeners this way. In fact, they will appreciate this strategy. Don’t do this in your writing because if the reader doesn’t understand something or “drifts off” while reading, s/he can go back and reread. However, when “drifting off” while listening, the listener can not go back and re-listen. So it is the responsibility of the speaker to say it again. So the strategy works this way: have an introduction to your meeting or class, tell the listeners what you will be speaking about, then have a body and tell the listeners your information, and finally, have a conclusion by telling them what you said. |
It is so important that we understand why listeners
do not hear or understand everything we say. With this understanding we
can use the six strategies to help them understand our message. We will have more patience and the listeners will be more
informed.
Copy write Rod Mattson March 2005