Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 1 - Unit 1
MY EXPERIENCE
Hello everybody!
Welcome to this MOOC on Public Speaking!
You cant imagine how excited I am to undertake this trip, with
so many people putting their energies and hopes for months
My name is Alexandra Maratchi, and Im going to be your interlocutor for the next few weeks in which this MOOC will
run its course. Im from Barcelona, I studied in Paris and worked for several years at FCMG in Milano, and I came back
to my home sweet home about two years ago to co-found
HOMUORK with a friend of my childhood. Homuork is an
edtech start-up made to produce MOOCs for firms. But we
mainly make SPOCs through our LMS, and thats why we
decided to undertake this adventure along with Iversity! To
have the real experience of a MOOC! Thank you for joining
us, what an adventure!
Before anything, Id like to start with a confession: the first
presentation I ever did in my life was dreadful. I know it
sounds like a clich, but I swear its true. You can go and talk to
my friends or family or my bosses at the time, and all of them
can tell you all about that shameful scene in detail Because,
even though 5 years have gone by, they are not like to forget it.
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
If they are dying to see you, if you are Steve Jobs in Stanford,
you wont need that many seduction or adhesion elements,
for your audience is already seduced beforehand.
Nevertheless, if you are an intern doing a presentation in front
of her bosses, interrupting their meetings and most pressing
tasks You might as well try to use the first minutes to generate adhesion, and try to convince them that in reality, they are
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
no completely wasting their precious time! I didnt do it myself but I learned a lot!
And it made me want to understand how to perform winner presentations, and that is what we are going to achieve
throughout this course.
Welcome again, and see you in next video!
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Chapter 1 - Unit 2
COURSE STRUCTURE
& PROMISE
How did I go from wanting to know how to make winning
presentation to crafting a course about it for 50.000 people!?
For example, this MOOC? Like every good story, it starts (and
ends) with people. In my case, I met them.
Together we have struggled through hours of script writing,
insane recording schedules, intense role playing and some technical issues. We closely worked with UPF and Prof Canovas as well as other external experts you will meet during the
course, to maximize your experience and guarantee the validation of your certificates.
Now lets make a recap of what this course will look like:
- First chapter will be about you as a speaker, your communication style and how to seduce the audience you are
addressing to.
- Then, we will move into two very hands on chapters:
chapter 2 will teach you 3 techniques to structure your
content and chapter 3 will help you write well, using all
you got to convey your messages to your audience.
- Fourth chapter is the anti-chamber of fifth: so it is all
about the rehearsal before the big day: actual techniques
and exercises to improve your tone, diction and speed.
And we will conclude with a bonus track on elevator pitchs and this is particularly relevant to get to the Barcelonian contest we mentioned in the teaser and that I will
explain further in couple of minutes
- Finally, the fifth chapter is all about your big day: the
delivery! We will show several visual examples of good
body language, teach you about the use of space, how to
get dressed or how to manage your stress. For this chapter we worked closely with theatre teachers to enhance
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Chapter 1 - Unit 2
your engagement and help you make the most of your
presentation.
This class will have homework and assignments and if you
successfully complete this course, you will receive a certificate of accomplishment stating how well you did on our class
that you can put in your resume.
Because making the most of your time is important, we had a
thought.
FACT 1: engagement is one of the major challenges in
MOOCs, less than 10% of people signing up finish their
courses.
FACT 2: MOOCs business model stands on certification;
and thats why we offer you a 99 USD certificate
FACT 3: we stay motivated for different reasons, amongst
others, the promise of a reward.
So we took these three facts and brainstormed and brainstormed and brainstormed some more and we came up with the
First Homuork Elevator Pitch Contest that will take place in
Barcelona next spring. Now, who can participate? Every person who will complete and certificate this course will be invited to visit us in Barcelona o that we can all meet in an adapted
TEDx contest to check your public speaking habilities after
this course!
Having said this, it is super important for us to understand
if we are missing something, if we can adapt and respond to
specific questions, if you are looking for something that you
miss in the structure I just explained. So please, tell us what
are your expectations for this course? What would you like to
learn? What do you think would help you present better next
time? Speaking of time it is up: heres a timer and an invitation to post your comments on the forum!
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COMMUNICATIVE
STYLES OF YOUR
AUDIENCE
Today I want to talk to you about relational styles. What are
relational styles?
Relational style brings together a number of features that define how a person communicates with another. Each of us has
different communication needs. It seduces us for different
reasons.
Precisely for that reason, it is a key point in the communicative relationship: if we are able to adapt to the relational style of
our interlocutor, it will be much easier to convince them.
We believe that there are four major relational styles: the efficient, the detail-oriented, the visual and the trusting.
For this part we are using several different communicative
models as a basis and it allows us to establish these four profiles stemming from two axes which show whether we are more
active or reflective, communicators and whether we tend
towards being more rational or emotional.
If we are able
to adapt to the
relational style of
our interlocutor, it
will be much easier
to convince them.
As you can see on the screen, these two dimensions define the
four quadrants that result in the most common relational profiles.
Lets do it!
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The efficient
person does not
want the details;
they want the key
information in
the shortest time
possible.
Now lets move on to the active / reflective axis to see the detail-oriented person. The detail-oriented profile is rational
and reflexive.
They want as many details as possible and require a lot of information to make decisions. A detail-oriented person is a
perfectionist, patient and prudent, something which on the
negative side makes them someone inflexible and indecisi-
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We have seen
very marked and
drastic profiles, but
it is important to
understand that
almost nobody
has such a marked
profile.
To recap, Ill finish off with the takeaways from this lesson:
- If you are dealing with an interlocutor who, for the most
part, is an efficient interlocutor, you will have to convince them using a guiding idea and the minimum relevant
information. With the example weve seen, its enough
for them to know that its a party. Uncertainty doesnt
bother them.
- On the other hand, well provide the detail-oriented
with all the details: whos coming, what time the party
is, where its being held, whos organising it, the music
theyre going to play. If you are patient, prepare them an
Excel to invite them to the party.
- The visual, as we have seen, needs to be seduced. Suggest
images to them and evoke emotions in them by reminding
them of previous parties. They will go about building up
an imaginary party in their mind and will decide based on
their own particular movie. They require lots of suggestion.
- And as for the trusting, carry them with you. If they
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Communication
is a matter of
empathy; its a
matter of knowing
how to read the
other.
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PERSONAL
COMMUNICATIVE
AUDIT - EXERCICE
In the last video we saw the different relational styles that exist
and the communicative implications to take into account.
In this video Ill explain in detail how to analyse others to
maximize the chances of effective communication. But as
I said, in order to analyse others, the first requirement is to
analyse oneself and learn to recognize which communicative
style corresponds to us, so well start with ourselves.
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION AUDIT
To start with, a very easy exercise: think about what people in
your personal or work environment convince or seduce you
most easily and how they do it. Who are they and how they
make you feel at ease. Also, think about who unnerves you.
In order to analyse
others, the first
requirement is to
analyse oneself
and learn to
recognize which
communicative
style corresponds
to us.
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Empathy, an
essential quality
when it comes to
modulating our
speech according
to the reactions of
others.
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In a period of high
stress or sadness,
with regard to
times of joy and
optimism, we have
a very different
expressivity that
we should be
able to identify
and modulate
depending on the
audience.
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
So much for the theory. Now I invite you to download the test
that we have prepared so that you do a personal communication audit on yourselves, in which you will have to evaluate the
different aspects that we have discussed here. With this test
you will have a rough idea of your relational style.
For it to work best and for you to see yourselves with distance and perspective, I recommend you record yourselves using
the camera from the computer explaining something that
is close to you to someone you spend a lot of time with. For
example, record yourself trying to explain to your father a
problem you have at work. Or take your partner and pretend
that youre trying to convince him / her to go on holiday to
Thailand next summer.
Once you have the recording, press play and try to analyze
your level of aggressiveness, your level of listening to their answers, your rhetorical ability, and the intensity of your movements and expressiveness of your paralanguage.
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Discover your
communicative
style test
efficient
detail-oriented
visual
trusting
test
1. Youre on a trip with your friends. You are being told how the day will proceed. When do
you stop listening?
a. As soon as I can picture more or less how the day will look like
a. You try to explain the context, the reason why this task is important and the objectives
b. You explain what type of output you expect, that should be enough
c. You are sure they will complete it, you are the boss after all
d. You briefly mention the context and who can assist them if needed
3. Its dinner time and you are thinking about cooking something
a. You pick a recipe by taking the time to read the ensemble of ingredients and tools you
c. You google what to eat tonight?, click on the first appealing link you see and start
cooking
f. You google food images, choose something appelaing and try to make something
b. You take the time to read webs, blogs and guides to fully grasp the country you are
about to visit before taking any decisions on the route you will do
test
c. You picked that destination because your close friend went there last year and
loved it
d. I dont plan for a trip, I buy a ticket and the rest will follow
a. You have been thinking about it for a long time and have a clear idea of what you
b. You more or less know what you want but trust the person at the store will help you
c. You go in the store and pick the one you saw the other day one someones
6. You are preparing for an important presentation for work. Your slides are:
d. There is not a clear pattern, your boss likes to use different resources and
so do you
7. You want to tell your friends about an interesting article you read the other day
a. Before talking about the article, you tell them in which newspaper you found it and
b. You tell them you read this great article and what the main insight was
c. You brought the article with you and hand it to them as you speak
d. You ask them their opinion about the topic of the article
So, what profile do you match more? Check your answers in the following pages
solutions
1. Youre on a trip with your friends. You are being told how the day will proceed. When do
you stop listening?
a. As soon as I can picture more or less how the day will look like VISUAL
a. You try to explain the context, the reason why this task is important and the objectives
b. You explain what type of output you expect, that should be enough VISUAL
c. You are sure they will complete it, you are the boss after all TRUSTING
d. You briefly mention the context and who can assist them if needed EFFICIENT
3. Its dinner time and you are thinking about cooking something
a. You pick a recipe by taking the time to read the ensemble of ingredients and tools you
b. You look online for bloggers you know and bingo! TRUSTING
c. You google what to eat tonight?, click on the first appealing link you see and start
cooking EFFICIENT
f. You google food images, choose something appelaing and try to make something
b. You take the time to read webs, blogs and guides to fully grasp the country you are
about to visit before taking any decisions on the route you will do DETAIL
solutions
c. You picked that destination because your close friend went there last year and
loved it TRUSTING
d. I dont plan for a trip, I buy a ticket and the rest will follow EFFICIENT
a. You have been thinking about it for a long time and have a clear idea of what you
b. You more or less know what you want but trust the person at the store will help you
c. You go in the store and pick the one you saw the other day one someones
6. You are preparing for an important presentation for work. Your slides are:
d. There is not a clear pattern, your boss likes to use different resources and
so do you TRUSTING
7. You want to tell your friends about an interesting article you read the other day
a. Before talking about the article, you tell them in which newspaper you found it and
b. You tell them you read this great article and what the main insight was EFFICIENT
c. You brought the article with you and hand it to them as you speak VISUAL
d. You ask them their opinion about the topic of the article TRUSTING
Chapter 2 - Unit 1
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Chapter 2 - Unit 1
-Impulsiveness
- Patience
- Shyness
- Anxiety
- Optimism
- Pessimism
Taking this into account, one can include communicative elements throughout his or her speech in order to seduce or persuade each and every one of these personality types. We will
give each of them what they want. Lets see a practical example by using a unique resource: managing the Question time in
a public intervention. What are we to do?
- For instance, at the start of your speech, let the audience
know that you are open to their questions. Thus, you will
satisfy the impulsive type.
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Chapter 2 - Unit 1
Question Time. This is a way to make him keep his expectations.
- What about the opposite? What to do with the pessimistic type? You got to bring on a negative contrapuntal
to your speech: like a rhetorical question that leads to a
pessimistic perspective on the subject you are presenting. This strategy should make them agree and enjoy the
confirmation of his pessimistic conception.
- Weve kept the patient type for last. You dont have to
worry too much about them. Give them time to write
down their questions in their notebooks, so when you
open the Question Time they can solve all their doubts.
This is only one example, and all about the same resource: the
use of questions. Obviously, there are many more techniques
at hand, but the main objective here is for you to take in account the different emotional types that you may encounter
in an audience, so you are able to fill their needs and be persuasive from the very beginning.
Its key to search for the audiences feedback during your
speech in order to make sure that you are achieving your goals.
You can either be explicit: Have you understood the concept
I just explained? Or implicit, by observing peoples reaction
to what we are saying.
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Chapter 2 - Unit 1
SEBASTIAN LORA:
When we look at our audience, we read fundamentally its
body language. And we want them to smile, to eye contact
with us, to take notes and if they nod their heads to what we
are saying then its just awesome. But of course, a lot of times
we archive just the opposite: they dont look at us, they get distracted, they dont smile, make funny faces, cross their arms
What can we do in this situation in order to recover our audience attention?
Look for conversation, because when we converse we dont
have that pace all the time. We loud out our voice and be speak
quietly, we speak fast and slowly, in conclusion: sound natural,
dynamic, and authentic and that hooks and grabs the audience attention. In second place, it also happens, mainly in work
presentations, that we only talk about theory. And as interesting as a subject could be, when we only talk about theory our
audience gets bored anyway.
What can we do in this case? To get our audience attention
back?
Modify the rhythm, and we modify the rhythm alternating
theory, personal stories, examples, practical cases, visual resources and interaction with the audience. When we see that
our audience is not paying attention. We can throw a question
to be answered at the moment, and immediately the energy is
regenerated and we grab their attention again.
When we see
that our audience
is not paying
attention. We can
throw a question
to be answered
at the moment,
and immediately
the energy is
regenerated and we
grab their attention
again.
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PREP TECHNIQUE 1
THE 6 WS
I would like to tell you about the preparation method of a
good presentation. Like Ive said before, the only improvisation that works is the one that has been prepared beforehand.
Never, never, never trust pure improvisation.
In the next three units (including this one), well go over three
different methods for content preparation. They are not exclusive so they can be used complementarily, especially because they have both different purposes and approaches.
Well start with the 6 Ws Method, that will help you answer
the 6 basic questions a journalist must answer when writing
news: the What, Who, Where, When, Why and How of your
presentation, in order to bear all the features of your intervention in mind.
The only
improvisation
that works is
the one that has
been prepared
beforehand.
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By answering these 6 questions, you have identified the sources of complexity youll be facing, and you have a clearer idea
of what you should be focusing on in order to ensure the success of your presentation. In other words, you know the problems that may arise during your intervention, and its easy
for you to anticipate their solutions.
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PREP TECHNIQUE 2.
VISUAL MAPPING
Lets see the second speech preparation method Id like to tell
you about. Unlike the 6 Ws method, this one focuses more on
the content of the speech than on the elements that surround
it.
Its a visual map. Its based on the visual structure of the contents that are to be presented. It consists in drawing the flow
of your intervention. This technique is especially useful for
people who have a very clear idea of what they want to say,
but find it hard to structure the speech and its arguments coherently.
A few months ago, a friend of mine asked me to help him prepare a presentation in a business school in front of a hundred
students, about his start-up company. He knows his company
by heart, so he sent me a speech, and I swear I didnt even
understand its corporate purpose! It was a Word document
with a thousand words and there was no way of understanding how his company made money And hes a brilliant guy
but he has obvious difficulties when it comes to structuring
a speech. So I used the mapping visual technique with him
And this was the result.
This technique is
especially useful
for people find it
hard to structure
the speech and
its arguments
coherently.
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It is proven that
using this method,
speakers tend to
use more the key
concepts.
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PREP TECHNIQUE 3.
THE COMMUNICATION
CIRCLE
Lastly, I want to present you a more structural method for ordering your content: the Communication Circle. Its purpose
is to help you organize the time of your intervention, based on
the four steps that form every speech: opening, positioning,
argumentation, and closure.
Thus, you can see on the screen how much time you should
dedicate to each of these steps in the case of a 30-minute intervention:
- 2 to 4 minutes for the opening phase
- 3 to 5 minutes for the positioning phase
- 18 to 22 minutes for to the argumentation
- 2 to 5 minutes for the closure
It is very recommendable to keep these proportions for any
given duration.
Lets start with the Opening. Like I said, it should take about
10% of the total duration of your presentation. This is the
phase you have to use to connect with the audience. To do so,
youll have to include 3 elements:
The
Communication
Circle purpose is to
help you organize
the time of your
intervention.
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The opening
is the most
important part in
our intervention
because that is
when the audience
decides whether
its going to pay you
attention or not.
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Be clear, concise
and brave in your
positioning. Its
your point, and you
are going to have to
prove it.
Lastly, the last phase of the speech: the closure. Again, this stage is a short one, and it shouldnt take longer than 5 minutes in
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Finishing is very
important because
you wont have a
second chance of
saying goodbye.
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Chapter 2 - Unit 3
You must be
as objective as
possible in the
presentation of
your arguments.
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Chapter 2 - Unit 3
guments can be affective or rational.
So, we may resort to facts or thoughts in order to expound our
line of argument. Resorting to facts implies using solid arguments, acceptable and based on true and logical premises. For
instance:
- First Fact: all planets revolve around the sun
- Second Fact: Mars is a planet
- Conclusion: Mars revolves around the sun
Its a logical and factual argumentation and therefore, irrefutable.
When reason is not enough though, we must resort to emotions using persuasive arguments. Heres a classic example:
George W. Bushs speech justifying the military intervention
in Irak in 2003. The arguments, far from being factual, allude to a powerful emotion: fear. The argument of the war was
exactly: to defend the world from grave danger.
This is a purely emotional argument.
When reason
is not enough
though, we must
resort to emotions
using persuasive
arguments.
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Chapter 2 - Unit 3
at night, she has to take a dietary supplement.
3.) Reasoning through signs: one uses signs or evidence to
establish the existence of an event. Example: this individual
shows malaise, feeling of cold, light fever, backache and muscular pain, pain in the throat and cough, and therefore has
acute bronchitis.
4.) Reasoning through causes: one establishes a causal relation between two facts that support the proposition. Example: James mother smoked during her pregnancy, this is why
he is so thin.
5.) Argument of Authority: one refers to an expert opinion on
a topic or to renowned characters to support the proposition.
Example: Like the European Central Bank explained, there
is going to be economic growth next year.
Now, lets go over the emotional arguments.
1.) Affective arguments: Like we said before, this kind of arguments is aimed at the audiences feelings, at their wishes, doubts, hopes and fears. Affective arguments wish to touch the
listener, or to provoke a sympathetic or a revulsive reaction
in him. Like we saw in the example of the war, the objective is
to achieve an emotional support. It is also widely used in fund
raising campaigns for diseases, referring to the fact that everyone is vulnerable to them. Lets see an example:
2.) Arguments through concreteness: for this type of arguments one uses examples with which the audience is familiar,
because they affect them directly. For instance: As parents,
we all know how tough it is to raise a child.
Affective
arguments wish to
touch the listener,
or to provoke a
sympathetic or a
revulsive reaction
in him or her.
3.) Arguments through trust: these arguments consist in supporting your cause with your past and your experience. For
example: if you are a union leader trying to convince your colleagues to support a strike, its convenient that you start off
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Chapter 2 - Unit 3
your intervention by highlighting your past experience as a
union member and your reputation. I, fellows, defend your
rights because
4.) Slogan Arguments: this type of argument is based on a saying or an adagio. One uses proverbs, clichs or sentences of
the popular culture in order to consolidate an argument. For
example, a classic: the end justifies the means.
5.) Mass Fetishism: its based on the idea that the majority is
right or just chooses whats correct. For example: Its an excellent movie, its the most watched of the year in USA.
6.) Use of prejudices: one argues for or against based on false stereotypes. It has been used to exhaustion in Politics. For
example: those who stood against womens or black peoples
right to vote used to argue that these people had a lesser intelligence.
I hope you find these tips useful to vertebrate your presentation and support your propositions.
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ELEVATOR PITCH
Hello and welcome to this bonus track dedicated to the Elevator pitch!
We chose to add this unit in this rehearsal chapter for three
reasons:
a) It is a presentation in its shortest version, so you can
practice once and again
b) Everybody needs to sell a project from time to time,
and this is the first step
c) If done awesome, it has the potential to change your
lives!
Whats an elevator pitch and why is it important?
Elevator pitch is the term given to a 1 minute presentation,
which is the time it takes an elevator to go from the lobby to
the investors floor where the magic happens!
Let me get something clear: elevator pitchs are NOT a stand
alone act. What I mean by that is that you should not expect a
check when the elevator hits the top floor.
However, good elevator pitch has the potential of becoming
the prologue of a life changing conversation. Indeed, it is a seductive act: you want to get out of there letting your interlocutor with a flavor of your project and the interest of more.
A good elevator
pitch has the
potential of
becoming the
prologue of a
life changing
conversation.
1. Introduce yourself
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Identify what makes you, your organization, or your idea, unique. Answer to the question what sets you apart from every
other business who do what you do? And dont be shy, starting
this part with what makes us unique is perfectly fine!
4. Call to action
You did this pitch for a reason right? No matter if you wanted
to snag an investment or gain a new client or employee, let
your goals be known. If you are raising money, communicate
how much you want and how much equity youre willing to
part with. If youre trying to win over an employee or a client,
let them know exactly what you want from them.
5. Practice
I know even I feel annoyed having told you this so many times but do it: with friends, in the shower, in your cars!
No matter if you
wanted to snag
an investment or
gain a new client or
employee, let your
goals be known.
Lets have a look at this elevator pitch and you tell me if you
think this guy hasnt practiced!
CrowdCases Offers a Socially Conscious Way to Protect
Your Smartphone
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exercise
Complete these sentences with one of the following connectors: actually, although, but,
consequently, despite, in addition, namely, on the contrary, so, such as.
1. Aircraft engines are well maintained ............................ accidents are unavoidable.
2. ............................ the number of tourists visiting our country may fall next year, we expect
better spending rates.
3. There are plenty of inappropriate solutions to the current economic crisis, ............................
cutting down on public investments.
4. We have bought a new flat ............................ we cannot afford to go on holiday this summer.
5. They are very poor. ............................ , they dont have a cent in the bank.
6. The play was very boring ............................ we left after the first act.
7. He has to take photos of the places he visits. ............................ , hes keeping a diary of his
journey.
8. Not everybody thinks the building is ugly. ............................ , some people say it looks
marvellous.
9. Some companies, ............................ our own, think that employees well-being in the work
place is key to success.
10. ............................ being famous, she is not arrogant at all.
exercise
Complete these sentences with one of the following connectors: actually, although,
consequently, despite, in some respects, in the same way, instead, nonetheless, what is
more, yet.
Facebook has turned our personal and professional world upside-down.
............................ , we dont pick up the phone anymore but log onto our account and leave
messages on other peoples walls (who would have thought this would be socially accepted
one day!). ............................ , we dont talk our customers through the catalogue anymore;
............................ , we tell our friends and our friends friends about it on Facebook.
............................ , we have never been more connected than today, ............................ we dont
feel any closer to the hoards of friends we claim we have. ............................ befriending so
many, we continue seeing the same few. ............................ , we seem to have less time for
these because of the endless hours spent online, stalking on our virtual friends.
............................ many see in Facebook the end of face-to-face communication, ............................
we have never been more looked at than in the Facebook era. ............................ , the face we
look at is not the one we have but the one we like to show to the world. Keeping it straight is
not an easy task.
solutions
Complete these sentences with one of the following connectors: actually, although, but,
consequently, despite, in addition, namely, on the contrary, so, such as.
1. Aircraft engines are well maintained but accidents are unavoidable.
2. Although the number of tourists visiting our country may fall next year, we expect better
spending rates.
3. There are plenty of inappropriate solutions to the current economic crisis, such as cutting
down on public investments.
4. We have bought a new flat. Consequently, we cannot afford to go on holiday this summer.
5. They are very poor. Actually, they dont have a cent in the bank.
6. The play was very boring so we left after the first act.
7. He has to take photos of the places he visits. In addition, hes keeping a diary of his journey.
8. Not everybody thinks the building is ugly. On the contrary, some people say it looks
marvellous.
9. Some companies, namely our own, think that employees well-being in the work place is
key to success.
10. Despite being famous, she is not arrogant at all.
solutions
Complete these sentences with one of the following connectors: actually, although,
consequently, despite, in some respects, in the same way, instead, nonetheless, what is
more, yet.
Facebook has turned our personal and professional world upside-down.
Consequently, we dont pick up the phone anymore but log onto our account and leave
messages on other peoples walls (who would have thought this would be socially accepted
one day!). In the same way, we dont talk our customers through the catalogue anymore;
instead, we tell our friends and our friends friends about it on Facebook.
In some respects, we have never been more connected than today, yet we dont feel any
closer to the hoards of friends we claim we have. Despite befriending so many, we continue
seeing the same few. What is more, we seem to have less time for these because of the
endless hours spent online, stalking on our virtual friends.
Although many see in Facebook the end of face-to-face communication, actually we have
never been more looked at than in the Facebook era. Nonetheless, the face we look at is
not the one we have but the one we like to show to the world. Keeping it straight is not an
easy task.
Chapter 3 - Unit 1
TELL A STORY,
THE PIXAR PITCH
For this video I have a special guest today. Lets hear to Jeremey Donovon, marketer and author of the book How to Deliver a TED Talk: Secrets of the Worlds Most Inspiring Presentations, stating the third condition of successful speakers.
JEREMEY:
The first thing I see, that makes a successful speech versus a
non-successful one, is a lot of the unsuccessful ones are very
left-brain. They throw a lot of facts and information at you,
but they dont have enough of a story component to them.
And I find that the most successful speeches, whether the
whole speech is a story, it doesnt have to be, or whether they
integrate some story content within the speech makes a huge
difference.
So, lets learn how to tell a story!
What makes a
successful speech
versus a nonsuccessful one, is
that they throw
a lot of facts and
information at
you, but they dont
have enough of a
story component to
them.
The first thing you need is having clear whats the need message you want to transmit and from that point look into in your
past for a personal story that helps illustrate that message.
Finding a story is easier than we think, every interaction is
material for a story. Asking questions of yourself should help
you find a story:
- For instance, think of your greatest mentors, you might
have a story related to them that you can link with your
message
- Or what was your biggest success you ever had
- Or your biggest failure
- When were you the most embarrassed?
- Or the happiest?
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
Every answer to those questions has a story in it that could
maybe match and illustrate your message. Your fundamental
epiphanies are the best material to find your story.
Ill give you a model that is called The Pixar pitch, like the movie studio. And it goes like a three act structure, like most stories, and each act has two pieces.
ACT 1
- The first Act goes on Once upon a time and everyday.
Thats the beginning of the story and in literature thats called
setting up the ordinary world, where you establish the rules,
the environment, who the protagonist is, its life, its flaws and
strengths
- Then this first part ends with the Until one day moment
which in literature we call the inciting incident, its something
that happens to the character, either inadvertedly or explicitly, something that he does
ACT 2
- Then act 2 picks up with the rising action which basically develops the action and goes in a dynamic of because of that, and
because of that, and because of that so whats happening in
the progression of act two is the reaction to what happened
at the end of act 1. Out of these action, it comes consequences
and in order to restore balance to their world, the protagonist
takes further action, often more and more dramatic.
- That progresses and goes on and on til we get to the until finally moment, which is the end of act 2, and its the dramatic
climax of the story.
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
ACT 3
- Then you go into act 3 that begins with Since that day. Its a
point where they restore to theire original world and come in
a new state of staibility
- And then comes the end of the act 3, where you have the moral of the story.
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
ging water home cause using a tool is considered a man task,
and not a woman-only task anymore
5. Until finally little girls can go to school instead of going after water every morning.
6. Since that day drinking water is not a problem anymore in
some third world communities
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Chapter 3 - Unit 2
BE FUNNY
Theres many types of humor, the three most common that
exist in TED talks, that I think that are the three easiest to
use are the following: the most common that you find is selfdeprecating humor. And a good example of self-deprecating
humor is actually the Jill Bolte Taylor TED Talk. In that particular one, what she is doing is that, you know, she is making
fun of how much of a kind of super nerd she is.
In that moment my right arm went totally paralyzed by my
side, then I realized Oh my Gosh! Im having a stroke! Im having a stroke! Then the next thing my brain says to me is Wow
this is so cool! This is so cool. Ho many brain scientists have
the opportunity to study their own brain from the inside out?
And then it crosses my mind: but Im a very busy woman! I
dont have time for a stroke!
So theres a surprise element there is the laughing you would
expect someone to say while they are having a stroke but you
get this self-deprecated humor there because she is a neuroscientist.
This opportunity to study her stroke from the inside out is
actually this fascinating thing. And in what is an incredibly
tragic event thats happening in her life she finds the humor
and actually gets an uproarious laugh on the audience. The
one thing I want people about self deprecating humor is make
sure that the humor is not something that undermines the
authority on you on the subject in what you are speaking. So
her being a super nerd about being a neuroscientist is self-deprecating on one level but that is not undermine her authority
of being a neuroscientist talking about what its like to have a
stroke. So just be very very careful that your self-deprecated
humor does not undermine your authority on the subject.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 2
traordinary situation. So by way of example there I think that
the most view TED Talk about time is Sercain Robinson and
Sir Ken does his speech. His speech is funny throughout but
he does his one particular vignette that I love which he takes
Shakespeare, he takes an extraordinary person and he puts
Shakespeare into ordinary situations.
You dont think of Shakespeare having a father, do you? Do
you? Because you dont think of Shakespeare being a child, do
you? Shakespeare being seven? I never thought of it. I mean,
he was seven at some point. He was in somebodys English
class, wasnt he? How annoying would that be? Must try harder. Being sent to bed by his dad, you know, to Shakespeare,
Go to bed, now,to William Shakespeare, and put the pencil
down. And stop speaking like that. Its confusing everybody.
So you know in that TED Talk youve got this extraordinary
character in an ordinary situation that comes off as extremely
funny.
The third form of humor that I find very very prevalent in
TED Talks is to some how undermine authority. Television
comedy does a lot of that sort of thing, especially television
talk shows or late night television. And there my favorite TED
for example is the TED speaker Hans Rosling. He is European
he does talk about his talk is fundamentally about global
health. And at one point he talks about the study he did.
The problem for me was not ignorance; it was preconceived
ideas.
I did also an unethical study of the professors of the Karolinska Institute -- that hands out the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and
they are on par with the chimpanzee there.
So there you are taking people in a position of great authority and making them look no better than chimpanzees. Which
again he gets a big laugh about it.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 2
So those are the three forms. I recommend the people do at
least, try to get at least if you go to a TED talk you have to get a
laugh in per minute. The highest TED Talks is tend to be two
laughs per minute. And you dont really see much beyond that
because stand-up comedy which is four or more per minute,
you loose narrative structure and you loose the ability to persuade people if you loose the narrative and becomes too funny.
A question I often get is that applicable into business situation, and the answer is: No of course not. If you were delivering a persuasive business presentation and got a laugh per
minute somebody would think that you werent serious. And
that wasnt right, so, that said if you are extremely confortable in a situation, if its a situation with executive leadership
to have a laugh here and there thrown down to light the situation if there is room for that. Then, if its tasteful then go for
it. Theres no reason to be all serious at work all the time. But
just make sure again that it doesnt undermine your authority.
So context, whit all these rules and suggestions that I have
context is incredibly important.
It has to do with authenticity. I think thats a new, an important home mark, of successful speaking, and its the final home
mark that I really think is important to understand. Which is
I spent the first ten years, now nearly twenty-year journey
learning about public speaking. And in that first ten years I
was really learning the technique and I got so lost of the technique of what to do with your hands and how to move and
how to think about vocal variety and how to construct narrative and humor and all the rest. And I got really lost in the technical detail of it.
Then one day I realized that I had become a little overly mechanical about it. And all I washed away and started to think:
Okay, rather than calculating Im saying that, my face needs to
do that, I just said: Im just going to have an authentic conver-
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Chapter 3 - Unit 2
sation with the audience. And Im going to think of that audience as one person that I really really care about. And I want
to give them some information or an idea that will help affective life in a positive way. And I want to feel the emotions of
the stories that Im telling. And I want to feel passion for the
ideas that I have. And if I just feel that in a loud that to come
through then I can give, hopefully, a very successful speech in
a way that, again, success is not about me its not about being
respected as an authority, its not about what people think of
me, none of that matters.
What success is that you gave someone the idea you want to
give them or you persuaded them to make a decision that is for
the benefit of them and for the benefit of other people. And if
you merely allow yourself to be authentic, in that way, if you
merely allow yourself to feel the emotions positive and negative that you are feeling. What you do with your voice, and
your body, and your hands and the way you communicate will
be transformed. Think, ask yourself: how can I find that part
of me again. That is already inside of my and let that come out
in your speaking.
If you merely
allow yourself to
be authentic, to
feel the positive
and negative
emotions that you
are feeling, what
you do with your
voice, body, hands
and the way you
communicate will
be transformed.
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WRITE WELL
Lets make a checklist of what we have achieved at this stage
of the course:
- We know our communication style
- We know methods for structuring the ideas of our presentation
- We have arguments that support our propositions
- We have a story to weave our thesis through
Weve reached a stage dreaded my many: its time to write
your presentation. Many think its not necessary But they
are wrong. In fact, at the TED talks, youre not allowed to do
a presentation without a written speech. So the Public Speaking Mecca establishes writing as a condition. Lets follow
their example.
The first step will be to draw the argumentative lines of your
intervention, a road map. For this first phase of content structuring, the most useful technique you can use is the one based
on the visual sketches and the conceptual maps we went over
in the last chapter.
Take a piece of paper and a pen and start breaking down and
hierarchizing the ideas and the contents of your intervention.
So now we have both the ideas and the thematic thread. Time
to start writing sentence by sentence.
First rule about the sentence!
You must retain two crucial recommendations about the sentences you are to use in a public presentation:
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Its important to
alternate short
sentences with
longer ones in order
to avoid sounding
monotonous to
your audience.
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Connectors are
fantastic tools to
weave a coherent
speech, as well
as to recapture
the audiences
attention between
paragraphs and
ideas.
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Using connectors
enriches the oral
elocution, they
complete our
intervention and
help the audience
follow your
speech.
We will give you the full text next week. Your success will
rather depend on identifying the spots in which a connector
is needed, and choosing the right type, than using the exact
same connector as in the original script.
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RHETORICAL
RESOURCES
Weve got sentences, paragraphs and connectors. Now Id like
to tell you about 5 rhetorical resources that will be very useful
in order to enrich your intervention.
ONE: QUOTES
As you know, I am co-founder of Homuork and Im often asked to give talks about entrepreneurship. I usually start with
the same quote by Picasso: Inspiration exists, but it must find
you whilst working. With this quote I have a double effect on
the audience: on one hand, Im suggesting that I have a certain
cultural background, and on the other hand Im legitimating a
key concept of my intervention through a third persons opinion.
Thanks to Google, quotes are a wonderful resource at hand
that allows us to reinforce our propositions through someone
elses words (usually someone more famous than ourselves).
From the relational perspective we approached in the first
chapter, its easy to see that quotes work especially well with
two profiles: the efficients and the visuals.
- The efficients buys ideas. If the celebrity who coined
the quote is someone he admires, he will connect with your
speech, and youll have drawn his attention.
Quotes work
especially well with
two profiles: the
efficients and the
visuals.
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When formulating
a question within
the speech, there
is a change in the
paralanguage
that aims to draw
the audiences
attention.
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An emotional
reference allows us
to be very efficient
in the connection,
drawing the
listeners attention
and generating
a link with the
audience through
emotion.
Doubtlessly the profile that may appreciate this kind of resources will be the trusting type, because trust is based on emotion. When having an emotional connection, one feels trust,
and this results in a higher level of interest.
See you soon!!
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Chapter 3 - Unit 4
BE ELEGANT OR HOW
TO PREPARE YOUR
VISUALS
Every minute, around 21.000 people all over the world are
delivering a Power Point presentation. And you know what?
Most of them are awful! And if visuals are awful, the guy presenting wont make it trough his presentation.
Thats why Im taking over Alexandras spot today for a few
minutes, to help you build your visuals so that you dont end
up like Bill Gates trying to decode this weird hieroglyphic he
made some years ago
Lets start preventing. Here comes the most common mistakes when designing a presentation:
First mistake: your presentation is not an essay.
In a PPT, less is more, dont overload your presentation with
text, its useless and nobody can or want to read. Your audience wants the key messages in the screen so that you can develop the arguments from there.
Dont overload
your presentation
with text, its
useless and nobody
can or want to
read.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 4
Dont do that:
Another mistake
is to overload
your presentation
with numbers and
data and graphs.
Be careful, your
audience wants
the job done, so
give them only the
relevant data.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 4
to headline important words
- Try to avoid italic letters, they are hardly readable and, if
you ask me, not very beautiful
- And avoid completely the underlined text, it will make
the audience think it is a link.
Beyond that, remind that youre designing for the guy sitting
in the last row, so dont make him read Arial 12 in capital letters. Size matters in presentations:
- For readability, dont go under 26 font size for the plain
text
- And be consequent with sizes: size means importance,
so use different sizes to hierarchize what is more and less
important with headlines and plain text.
Third mistake: lack of a color scheme
About color, a couple of advices: use white for your background. Mostly every color will difficult readability.
Besides that, stick to a clear color scheme of two or three colors, dont mix more than that. You maybe have a color scheme defined by your company, if not, you can use a great online
tool to find a color scheme:
Check this colourco.de, its amazing and you have infinite options! Ive lost hours here, but you can get a great scheme.
Stick to a clear
color scheme of
two or three colors,
dont mix more
than that.
One last tip in color: if you use colors in text, use that constrat
each other, clear over obscure and viceversa.
Fourth mistake: dramatic use of visuals
There are plenty of images out there, millions, literally, so
please dont go with Clip arts or the childish and poor quality
images. You can find thousands of images royalty free in istockphoto.com or similar services or even do them yourself.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 4
And please, please, dont use images just to fill the space. The
nicer and clearer slides have a white background with a short
text on it, well placed. Dont fear the white space, its clean and
beautiful enogh, so dont mess it with awful or super standard
pictures.
Besides that, another tip! The visuals you use must have graphic coherence, you cant mix for instance flat design with
realistic design, meaning this
The elements you chose or produce must be consistent between each other, as well as colors.
Oh, and last tip: try to use images without background, I mean,
like theyre floating on the page, its always more elegant and
easier to integrate in terms of composition.
Lets go with the fifth mistake: focal points
This is a hard battle because it has a lot to do with visual intuition, but lets try:
Every slide you design has, necessarily, a focal point that the
audience will remark, so make sure you focalize their attention on what you want. An example, back to the visuals subject: a picture always weights to the audience attention than
text, so if youre using images they must be critical to state
your point.
Every slide
you design has,
necessarily, a
focal point that
the audience will
remark, so make
sure you focalize
their attention on
what you want.
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Chapter 3 - Unit 4
In that sense, its not so much about graphism but about content: when you list anything, stick to the rule of three from
Steve Jobs. He used to say, and also use in his presentations,
that the number 3 is one of the most powerful numbers in
communications. A list of 3 things is more intriguing than 2
and far easier to remember than 22. It might sound stupid, but
it kind of worked for him.
Conclusion:
Design, dont just throw something together. And if youre
not creative, just steal and copy! I mean, most of the designs
history is based on stealing others ideas. Start googling nice
powerpoint presentations and youll find hundreds of examples that, with some effort, will make your presentation something worth it and useful to back your intervention.
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Chapter 4 - Unit 1
Nobody, regardless
of talent, can do a
better presentation
through
improvisation than
through thorough
preparation.
Page 1/2
Through the
syllabic reading
we are getting
our brain ready
for difficulty. It
remembers how
it did it last time.
Thus, you will be
able to verbalize
effortlessly.
Stay tuned!!
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Chapter 4 - Unit 2
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Chapter 1 - Unit 1
When we take out the pen from the mouth, the feeling is similar to when we drop a heavy sack after long hours walking
with it on our backs. After getting rid of the pen, it feels easier
to speak, and our diction is just better.
Lets see the third technique: music articulation
This technique is very adequate to correct lingual vices, especially those related to our rhythm of speech and the singsongs we use. It consists in speaking whilst listening to music
through your headphones. Music will mark your speaking
rhythm in the most natural way.
For instance, those who tend to speak too fast would easily solve their problem by practicing with reggae music. When reciting over music, the melody determines the natural rhythm of
speech, so you can modulate your voice for your own convenience and thus improve your diction. In case you have to give
a speech in-group, this technique offers a very good resource
to help you create cohesion.
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Its necessary
to rehearse the
emotion we want
to convey so that
our voice does not
transmit what we
are really feeling.
For example, lets say your presentation has the goal asking
for payment for an NGO for refugee children in Syria. Sadness must predominate the speech, so your voice must sound
soft, the inflection must be falling, your tone deep, your pace
uneven and your speed soft.
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Beware of going
too far with these
changes of pace. If
you move too far
away from these
parameters, your
speech will be
dysfunctional.
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