Comments on: Telling stories http://theintegratedlab.com/2009/09/telling-stories/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:51:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Gloria Metrick http://theintegratedlab.com/2009/09/telling-stories/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Gloria Metrick Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:44:40 +0000 http://theintegratedlab.com/?p=599#comment-331 I doubt that most people that work for companies would think to learn presentation skills, scientists or otherwise. As consultants, John and I would be aware of this because part of our job is to give effective presentations and we are in a group of people then who are likely to realize that we all present to a variety of audiences, we must all strive to reach the specific audience, and the presentation must be appropriate to the audience. I'm not suggesting consultants don't also give some terrible presentations, but just that we're made aware of this issue because this is such an integral part of our job. But there are many things a person can do to make their topic more "reachable" and here are a few to add to "tell a story": 1. Avoid jargon and science-specific language. If you're not speaking to scientists, either replace the scientific word with a common word or, if that's not possible or practical, make sure you define the term. 2. Don't put everything you're going to say on your slides. After all, not only will people be distracted reading it all while you're trying to tell it to them, but if they can just read it, what do they need you there for? 3. Practice your presentation and work hard at putting it together, but don't get too crazy about it. After all, it's sometimes the mistakes you make that add a little personality and charm to your talk. Stop worrying about looking silly or making a mistake -- it's eventually going to happen if you give enough talks, anyway, so just do your best each time you do it. I doubt that most people that work for companies would think to learn presentation skills, scientists or otherwise. As consultants, John and I would be aware of this because part of our job is to give effective presentations and we are in a group of people then who are likely to realize that we all present to a variety of audiences, we must all strive to reach the specific audience, and the presentation must be appropriate to the audience.

I’m not suggesting consultants don’t also give some terrible presentations, but just that we’re made aware of this issue because this is such an integral part of our job. But there are many things a person can do to make their topic more “reachable” and here are a few to add to “tell a story”:
1. Avoid jargon and science-specific language. If you’re not speaking to scientists, either replace the scientific word with a common word or, if that’s not possible or practical, make sure you define the term.
2. Don’t put everything you’re going to say on your slides. After all, not only will people be distracted reading it all while you’re trying to tell it to them, but if they can just read it, what do they need you there for?
3. Practice your presentation and work hard at putting it together, but don’t get too crazy about it. After all, it’s sometimes the mistakes you make that add a little personality and charm to your talk. Stop worrying about looking silly or making a mistake — it’s eventually going to happen if you give enough talks, anyway, so just do your best each time you do it.

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