Why Speeches and Presentations Are Boring

 The explanation lies in Marketing Theory-believe it or not!

Who are you speaking to? The audience, for the duration of your presentation, are to be treated like customers. 

Who are they? What is their motivation? What is their level of interest in the subject of your presentation/talk/speech? These are critical questions, not the great wisdom that you are about to spout.

I had once thought that Communication classes- a course in IIM Bangalore during my MBA- were useless, but now find that many speakers are in dire need of training in basics of communication. 

I cannot summarise all my learnings, but in general, it helps if you can-

Speak the language that the audience understands

1. Use examples, anecdotes
2. Use some appropriate humour
3. Be Enthusiastic, if not passionate
4. Ask questions-even if rhetorical, they break the monotony
5. Wrap up well, keep your key points up front or in the middle.

This includes academic presentations at conferences, but not just those..

Oral and Written Communication

 Our (Indian) education system, in school particularly, stresses written communication much more than oral. As a result, when we get into higher education- college or beyond, our spoken skills are limited. Except for a few students who get into debating or speaking classes.

What I observed in the U.S. is that spoken skills are a lot better among undergrads. Maybe among school students also. Their society needs some socialising skills among opposite genders for dating and so on, which are accepted forms of getting to know potential partners.

Whatever the reasons, our students need a lot more prepping for communication skills. My MBA was the first time I was expected to really participate in a class discussion, and that was when I was 22 plus!

Some training, and opportunities for all through curricular and extra-curricular activities- drama, for example, may be great to develop these skills. Schools and colleges, and individual teachers, can do more in this respect, I think.

Not sure what the impact of social media is, on these two forms of communication among youngsters.. a research topic, maybe?

Things I am Proud of- Personal

 Proud of getting a good education. It was cheaper, those days. Including the Ph.D. abroad, through a scholarship. 

Writing an autobiography. For many, it remains a pipedream. All through life. Like the Hole-in-one in Golf. I got two, in 2014 and 2016, at Kodaikanal and Wellington, both in South India.

Friends -making them, keeping them. I have so many I have lost count. Mark Zuckerberg and multiple job changes helped. All those colleges and schools I attended too!

Accomplishments of my students. And kids.

Many relatives I was fortunate to know, due to my parents. Cousins alone, are over a dozen or two.

My leaning towards music. Karaoke singing too, after practicing at antakshari for many years.

My ability to communicate over social media. Whatsapp, I don't like too much, but it's helpful for quick one-to-one communication and meetings. Facebook for more leisurely musings, or posting pics. Now, memories too.

My quizzes which are simple, fun and impromptu. I get engagement, and some really great answers.

The Art of Communication

 Sometimes we communicate through words, sometimes not. When we do use them, we could write, or communicate orally. Both are good, and suit certain occasions well. I recently joined Instagram, for instance, where the emphasis is on the visual, and text is incidental, or by the way. 

Facebook, where I have been longer, has an equal emphasis on both the text and visuals. I do a lot of text, having been into writing, so I am quite comfortable with fb. 

About communication, public speaking is an art that can help in certain professions. If you are a politician, persuasive communication can win you votes. If a spiritual Guru, followers. If a teacher, maybe students who are fans.. or become fans. Of course, there's more to teaching, but communication is a very important part. 

Of course, we make statements through how we dress (up or down, as students tend to do), act, or behave in a place where others are present- at a party, or other public places such as airports or when walking in a park. 

Important to understand various facets of communication, both as a receiver and sender. 

Thought Leaders

 Who is a thought leader? Anyone who takes it beyond the ordinary level, in whatever sphere or domain he is thinking about. It could be science, art, leadership, management, architecture,... what have you.

Governance too. If we had more thought leaders as politicos, it would do us a world of good. Simple ideas can help the common man live better. Job generation could be one such thought process (this includes entrepreneurship, the generator of jobs).

Delicensing was one such, that India did in 1991. Before that, to set up a factory producing nuts and bolts (or anything), one needed a license, and multiple permissions. Naturally, that led to corruption and zero competition. The consumer, or the common man, came last. In the USA, one of many reasons that the consumer gets a good deal is minimal government interference in the process of starting a new business. I have a friend who got his license to operate in the mail, without having to visit any office personally! Why can't this happen elsewhere?

Public transport that is cheap and efficient can solve half the commuting problems that common people face. The local trains of Mumbai solved this, and remain the cheapest and most efficient mode of transport, barring some Metro trains in other cities. One reason why Mumbai grew much faster.

Miniaturisation of electronics by the Japanese was a similar thought process, that led to pocket radios and much more. Digital innovations have led to a communication revolution, and made it possible for you, dear reader, to be able to read what I am writing, even if these are not world-changing thoughts.

Imagine if we Did Not Have....

 Imagining that we didn't have a mobile phone, computer, TV etc. is not so tough, because my generation actually did not have these for at least some of our years on the planet. Was life better? Not necessarily, all the time.

We did get more exercise by just walking around, playing outside rather than on/with a gadget. But communication with hundreds of people through social media was made possible only because of the internet+computers or later, internet+mobile phone. I have definitely benefited from the ability to do this, and keep meeting people because of it. Most of these are enriching experiences, so I am not exactly complaining. Self-control is definitely needed, no matter which medium you use. Reading books late into the night every night probably had repercussions on the brain, if not the eyes, in the same way that gadget use has. Maybe the details are different.

Door delivery of many things is a good thing for people who cannot move around, due to old age, sickness etc. But not so sure about healthy adults who can. Building exercise into your routine, even if it involves buying bread or groceries, is actually good compared to everything being delivered to you. I would like though, all government servants to come ad bow, and ask what else I need- a passport, a vehicle registration, driving license etc..when will that dream come true?   

Overcommunicating May be Good

 Not when politicians do it, perhaps, when you are at the receiving end, but in most other situations, I would say. Good because people don't necessarily know as much about your situation as you think. To me, I am the greatest thing that happened to the planet (!), but to others, I may be just a speck of dust. I am exaggerating, to make a point.

On social media, where scrolling is the norm, and attention spans are even less than in a classroom (contradictory as it may sound), explaining a post/picture is probably better than a cryptic caption that does not say much, and assumes that people know the context of what you are talking about- could be a new job, a change of place you live in, a new relationship, or multiple other things. 

So here is some (unsolicited) advice- communicate, communicate, communicate. You may find the results are pleasant when you do. 

Fan Mail to Self 2

 Why stop with one? Now that I have got started, let me write about other good qualities. (Ahem!). 

Dear Raj,

You always try and keep in touch. I like this quality in you. It's very old world, like the media you use - facebook, for instance, which nobody of the young generation uses any more. But I must say you use it to good effect on those who count. I realise you have managed to engage people by some really creative means, like your DP Awards, and Awards for Quizzes that you seem to have almost on a daily basis.

Not just that, you are available for chats on Messenger at various times of the day, even if it's a simple hello or an answer to a question that someone has. Also, to meet, when you travel. You seek out old students, friends and share a chat over chai (will not say Chai pe charcha, it's copyrighted :) )

You are also quite funny with your posts, and routinely bring a smile to my face, and many others too, I am sure. In a world full of gun shots, migrants and wars over nothing, we need a calming influence of some kind to keep us sane. I am glad you are doing your bit. It might not change the world, but it helps.

I am happy to be connected, and occasionally, meet up. 

Yours truly..

Labelling Things or People

 You want to sort stuff, like inventory or stock of items - in a store, warehouse, or anywhere else. Therefore you label them, or number them in some manner.

What about people? Tall, short, fat, thin, balding, blonde (a favourite in the US-we don't have that many blondes), standoffish, a show-off are some labels that we use to describe people. If it is by way of a description, accurate and not demeaning (except when warranted), it is an easy way to identify certain traits or attitudes in people. Introvert versus extrovert is a case in point. It is a generalisation, but could be used like shorthand to describe some qualities of a person. 

Labelling is not always a bad thing, like jargon. If both sides in a communication understand jargon, it makes for an easy conversation, or reading of an academic paper, for instance. But if used against unsuspecting recipients not on the same wavelength, education, background etc., it can hinder communication.

Also, adjectives need to survive. Their major use is in describing or labelling.

Presentation Matters

 I have spent many hours (years?) of my life listening to presentations made using a Powerpoint set. But that's not what I mean by presentation. I am broadly talking about communication. For instance, it could be just a way of telling a story. My grandfather told us one very effectively, and I still remember it vividly-about a rabbit scaring away a lion by pretending to be a bigger animal!

It could be the intonation, or images used-orally or on a screen, or board, or gestures, while communicating. In food shows, it's the plating that makes the food looks cool, because you can't taste it as a viewer, so you only have an image to help you imagine.

Packaging is a form of presentation. How you package a product can make a difference between someone buying it or not! Which is why smart marketers play around with packaging so much! How you display products in a retail store can also achieve similar results- good or bad.

In short, think about presentation. Whether it's yourself at an interview, or a on a date, or a presentation you make to a boss or a client!

We Are Multidimensional

Women more so than men I think, but we all are to some extent, multidimensional. I think the tendency to look at a human being as only one thing (or two) is extremely myopic.

We all function for about 60-70 years in ways that require many skills at work, and even more of them outside it. We might pursue a hobby (or many of these-photography and writing, in my case), maybe play a sport (I have played Golf, Badminton, Tennis and cricket at various points, apart from Table Tennis), travel alone or otherwise, interact with a variety of people from all walks of life (maids, drivers, assistants at work, bosses,...you get the picture), and some of these are not easy things to do.

We communicate, handle emotions of great variety, from anger, frustration, joy, hope, in ourselves and others too, and handle mundane tasks like cooking, cleaning, setting up a home, bringing up kids, buying a vehicle, and need various life skills to do that.

Did I mention academics? It is deliberately left to bring up the rear, because I want to make a point.

The End of the short lecture.

I Was Around When...

I was around when-

We did not have Facebook, Google, Orkut, Yahoo, Hotmail, Windows.

We did not have Mobile Phones.

We had only two models of cars and one major model of scooter in India.

We had to wait in line for Sugar, and Dalda (brand of hydrogenated cooking oil).

LPG was introduced as a cooking fuel, and had no takers.

Indian Airlines was the only domestic airline, unaffordable for most.

Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Tina Munim were yet to make their debuts in Hindi films. Aamir Khan and Sreedevi were child stars.

Film Duets were a personal thing between the hero and heroine running around trees, and not with two hundred guys and gals straining their muscles in unimaginable contortions around them.

"Kutte, main tera khoon pee jaoonga" was a violent dialogue.

Kissing on-screen was taboo.

There were three IIMs, known as A, B, C.

BJP's Marketing Campaign- An Analysis

I will admit it is easy to do this after the results are out. Cynical that we are, we don't believe anything before the event.

There were a few good things in the ad campaign run by the BJP. It used the name of the 'product' in the ad, like the Nirma ad does (multiple times). Even Alia Bhatt remembered the words, the jokes apart. This is a strategy recommended by many experts on communication, including David Ogilvy.

The campaign was easy to remember, and talked of a few things in simple Hindi, ending with- janata maaf nahi karegi (the voters will not pardon you), highlighting the competition's weak points. Comparative advertising adapted to politics.

By comparison, the Congress campaign was unable to portray the future too well, and kept harping on inane generalities (at least in retrospect). It also could not offer any convincing explanation for the perceived ills of its second term, such as inflation and corruption. The leadership also appeared weak, in comparison to the BJP's candidate for PM.

Of course, the Social media, and some combination of hi-tech and low tech elements of the campaign (like Chai pe charcha, and 'hologrammed' rallies of Mr. Modi) also proved that innovation can work. Integrated marketing communication in action.

The (good) product can sometimes sell itself, but good marketing helps multiply sales.

Presentation Skills

These are the most important set of skills a person may possess or acquire in life, in my humble view (just avoiding IMHO, the cliche). Why? It can change you from a hero to a zero, or vice-versa, in a jiffy. I have come to this wonderful conclusion about the human condition (might get nominated for a Nobel sometime), after sitting through a bunch of presentations at a conference where educated people, some faculty and some students, presented their research papers.

I have no quarrel with content that was presented, but I do have one with the way it was presented. Most speakers did not seem to have a clue as to how long they were taking. This was compounded by a laissez- faire chairperson, who allowed them to drift aimlessly from slide to slide (oh, what a slide it was, too).

Anyway, there were horrendous (egregious? maybe I still remember how to spell this, after all) errors of spelling, pronunciation, grammar, editing and the like on many of the slides and articulation of those. The central idea of the 10-15 minute presentation was not clear to the audience even at the end.

Is it so difficult to present a few ideas or thoughts or report on what you tried to do and achieved? I think not, but it needs you to think from the other's-the audience's-point of view. We are so full of ourselves that we as speakers neglect the audience. We have no idea of their needs, and make it so one-sided that it puts people off. Structuring a thought or two into a slide so that the audience gets a gist, should be the objective. Stringing the slides together for coherence should be the second objective. Editing it after it is done should be a matter of course.

Asking questions is another art that I will pontificate on some other time. The manner of doing it is just too rude in many conferences.

Subliminal Communication

Why do we communicate? My theory is that there are subliminal messages we want to send when we say something/wear something/do something. They could be the following-

1. I need you/I don't need you

2. I want to be noticed.

3. Tell me how smart/beautiful I am.

4. The world should be more like me.

5. The world does not understand my greatness/smartness/wisdom/competence etc...

6. My kameez is whiter than yours- brilliant ad which used it well. Don't understand why everyone in washing ads only wears white though.

7. I own this brand/I shop here/I eat at xyz restaurant. Therefore, I am ....

8. Women don't understand what men want...or its more popular version, men don't understand, period! (which may or may not be true)

9. Like me..(not subliminal any more after Facebook invented the option to 'Like' anything and everything).

10. You don't love me...made popular by Western soap operas in which every other sentence is a reaffirmation of a false premise.

Joke on Communication

This is an old joke about How A Message Flows Through An Organization that I thought I would post, for a change..


MEMO:
From: Managing Director
To: Vice President

Tomorrow morning there will be a total eclipse of the sun at nine o’clock. This is something which we cannot see everyday. So let all employees line up outside, in their best clothes to watch it. To mark the occasion of this rare occurrence, I will personally explain the phenomenon to them. If it is raining we will not be able to see it very well and in that case the employees should assemble in the canteen.

Translated:
From: Vice President
To: General Manager



By order of the Managing Director, there will be a total eclipse of the sun at nine o’ clock tomorrow morning. If it is raining we will not be able to see it in our best clothes, on the site. In this case the disappearance of the sun will be followed through in the canteen. This is something we cannot see happening everyday.

Translated:

From: General managers
To: Industry Managers

By order of the Managing Director, we shall follow the disappearance of the sun in our best clothes, in the canteen at nine o’ clock tomorrow morning. The Managing Director will tell us whether it is going to rain. This is something which we cannot see happen everyday.

Translated:

From: Industry Managers
To: Location heads

If it is raining in the canteen tomorrow morning, which is something that we cannot see happen everyday, the Managing director in his best clothes, will disappear at nine o’ clock.

Translated:

From: Location heads
To: Marketing Executives

Tomorrow morning at nine o’ clock, the Managing Director will disappear without his clothes. It’s a pity that we can’t see this happen everyday?