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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Connecting with the audience

Connecting with one's audience. A daunting task.

I have a list of random public speaking tips I try to remember every time I give a presentation. I recently shared this list with a group of friends and thought I would post it here as well.

Pretty much all of the presentations I give involve PowerPoint, hence its presence.

  • Know your subject. Know your presentation. If the power goes out or you suddenly lose your eyesight, you should still be able to deliver it.
  • Don't chew gum, jingle your keys, move your hands around in your pockets...
  • How well you know your topic is visible in your powerpoint slides. Lists of long sentences that must be read drive people crazy, especially if you flip through quickly. Instead, there should be one or two words that give a hint at the point you are trying to make and YOU deliver the long, drawn out sentence so it feels like a conversation.
  • Powerpoint: there should rarely be more than 20 words per slide. Each slide should take one minute of your presentation. Thus, if you have a ten minute presentation, there should be close to 10 (or maybe 8 so you have time for questions) slides and a 200 word word count.
  • Laser pointers are a priveledge, not a right. A laser pointer should not run out of batteries halfway through the presentation. If you must use it, use it sometimes. Push the button, point at what is interesting, stop pointing the button, set the pointer down. I can not trust myself with a laser pointer. I accept that my speaking style does not allow me to stop pushing the button and pointing the laser into the crowd from time to time, making people cross-eyed. I accept when offerred a laser pointer, I must sadly decline
  • Practice, practice, practice. Practice out loud (we speak slower / faster in our minds than out loud). Practice in front of your mirror, your dog, your hampster, your mop.
  • Give your presentation to your friend / group of friends / family.
  • Powerpoint: you may have noticed not all of these points end in a period (but some do...). Decide whether you will or will not end each point with some form of punctuation and stick with it.
  • Headings should line up from slide to slide and should be the same size.
  • Busy backgrounds make people crazy.
  • Time your presentation
  • If you have a problem with saying things like uumm, ahh etc... Practice pausing silently. It is something we do to give our minds time to think about the next thing we want to say. For whatever reason, we figure if we are making noise, we still look like we know what we're doing. Doing this, however, makes us look nervous. If you pause, you'll have everyone hanging off your every word.
  • Too many animations make people crazy. This is an art, not a science.
  • Watch the news. Ever notice when there is a reporter AND a little square with a picture on it, the reporter is on the left and the square is above their shoulder on the right? People read left to right (at least reading english), people listen left to right. If you stand on the right of your presentation, people will focus less on what you are saying and doze off staring at your powerpoint.
  • Using the same word / phrase over and over makes people crazy... It might also drive home a point (like continuously giving a newly defined word). Just be sure if you are doing it, realize you are doing it (repeating crazy a hundred times does not count as accepted use).
  • Join a public speaking group (like Toastmasters).
  • Consider your audience. Think of the times you have been in an audience. No one is there to judge you. They are there to learn from you. You are obviously an expert in the subject (work with me here, this is a pep talk) and you want to share what you know because it is important to you.

But what do I know about connecting with the audience? The last conference I presented at, I put the microphone backwards on my head, dropped the power pack on the floor mid-presentation and almost hung myself with the cord getting the stupid thing back on the waist-band of my pants.


Do you have any tips to add to this list?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A Calendar of Love


After I finished my M Sc last winter, I felt a sudden sense of freedom. I could read whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. So I did.


About 2 weeks and 20 books later, I hit a wall. A wall of books. Suddenly, I had trouble choosing books I loved. I enjoyed them, but didn't always love them. Some I didn't even enjoy. Some I didn't finish.

I recently discovered a book that made my heart sing: George MacKay Brown's A Calendar of Love. This collection of short stories gave me everything I was looking for in a book.

It also made me realize what I was looking for: an author who trusted I wasn't a dummy. An author who realized I could work a few things out for myself.

This book follows the lives of people living in Orkney. The stories touch on the lives of people who live there, softly following the characters and places from story to story. While reading, I felt like a silent observer, where I had no control over the what or when, but if I didn't try too hard and just absorbed the experience, I might feel what it was like to be this set of islands in Northern Scotland.

One of the things I loved best is there is potential to miss the little things if attention is not paid. I'm certain I missed a couple things, which makes me excited to read this book a second (or third) time.

If anyone wants an example of a book that shows and does not tell, this is it.

Does anyone else have a book they enjoy for its ability to show, not tell?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Bucket List

I think everyone has a list of things they would like to do in their life. This is a conversation I like to have with friends. It is interesting to hear what people's passions are. Their secret life goals.

This is the sort of list that morphs with time. Preferences and priorities change. One experience may influence the desire to have a similar experience. Others may do the opposite. Anyway, here is mine:

Bring it on!
Play darts and get a bulls eye
Ride in a zorb
Knock over a can with a slingshot
Get a mud wrap
Climb a tree (a really tall one, not one of the easy ones)
Make a quilt
Zip-line (not the kind at a playground, I'm thinking across treetops. Redwoods, preferably.)
Scuba dive (I've done it in a swimming pool but this doesn't count in my eyes)
See a wild herd of zebras
The thing that is implied in this blog but I think will jinx things if added to this list
See a volcano
Loom a rug
See a wild whale

Mission Accomplished
Ride a roller-coaster (big mistake)
Meet someone famous (the list is growing)
Travel to Europe
Touch a sturgeon
Go to Norway
Ride a donkey

I don't know if it is part of feeling there is a purpose to this journey or just the anticipation, but I love these things.

What is something you have on your bucket list?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Beauty in Writing


For whatever reason, I have begun writing these stories (begun as in I've been doing it for a few years now). Stories about mermaids, mermen, sirens, finns, mers, whatever you want to call them, that is what I am writing. What does one call them? The more definitively I think about them, the more questions I raise. I think one of the main starting points for me is in every story, the description never quite makes sense.

Why does a mammal have scales? / Why does a fish have hair?
How do they breathe?
Do they have gills? - this would only apply if they are officially fish
Do they come up for air periodically, like a dolphin or whale?

What, officially, is the mermaid genre? Is there really a mermaid genre or are they lumped in with all shape-shifters?

There are a few common themes among mermaid tales - vanity (poems, especially), singing, sailors - but the major focus is their beauty, more specifically, lengthy descriptions of their glorious tails. So many of these stories seem reminiscent of The Little Mermaid (which I love, but I need variety in my life!).

Generally, part of the conflict involves legs vs tail, often involving a decision to change who they are to be with a love interest. This either says something about how special the love interest is or about the poor decision-making skills of the mer(maid / man).


Are people unable to relate to a beautiful creature wishing it was plain? I can't recall the last time I thought, "I wish I could be plain, instead of my extraordinary self," or felt sorry for someone who said that (not that I ever heard it).

In vampire stories, there are generally a few common themes - blood, sun, strength, immortality - and they focus on a mortal and try to protect them (usually successfully, but not always)... or eat them.

Do we identify better with a creature that is a husk of its former self, hungering for a part of its old life? A part of itself lost due to a bad choice? Who can't relate to action-based consequences?

In both however, I see a longing for humanity. A need to belong.

I think there is something more to mermaids than combs and mirrors and waiting for a ship of sailors to wreck on the rocks. I think there is something to be said about basing our opinions of another solely as a result of appearance.

After all, what is beauty? Can it be defined by a hair length, a specific symmetry of features? Are there age restrictions? Or is it something we can smell, hear, taste? Does one need daylight to know someone is attractive. If you can't see beauty in the dark, is it there at all?

There are so many questions swimming around in my head.

I can't stop thinking about mermaids.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Read it Backwards / Backwards it Read

I was having trouble with a chapter I have been working on for months. Each time I read through it, there were sticky bits, but I couldn't figure out what to do with them.


What did I do? I read it backwards.


Am I a super genius? No


Am I the first person to do this? No


Did it work? Yes


Do I plan on reading ALL the chapters in this book backwards? Heck Yes


Has anyone else tried this trick and found it useful?

Friday, January 22, 2010

Opa!

My husband and I are renovating our basement. What this has entailed thus far is gutting it until it is a cold concrete pit, and re-insulating said pit.


For the most part, the two of us have different tastes and generally have difficulty agreeing on something we both like. Instead of fighting, we agree to disagree and go home having bought nothing. We do realize at some point, we will need to tile the bathroom.

While shopping for tile the other day, I picked up a tile and maybe it was the feel of it in my hand, but some part of me (the part of me that wants to trade the neighbor's lawn gnomes around and rearrange your Christmas tree when you're not looking) wanted to smash it on the floor and shout, "Opa!"

The desire didn't come from frustration, just from the knowledge that if I did smash that tile, it would be absolutely satisfying. Not wanting to be banned from Home Depot, I set the tile down and walked away.

Have you ever had a similar desire to be bad for the fun of it?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Why blog?

I have a gym bag that says, "Do one thing a day that scares you."


So I shall.

I have been told a writer should be willing to do pretty much anything once.
Fine. I'll do this. I can't and won't try everything under the sun, but this is within my power.

I'm happiest when I'm writing.

I'm taking a leap.