Monday, 30 January 2012

Listening assessment - does PP force us to think and speak in different ways?

Hi all,

As always, I'm on the hunt for some feedback! I'm interested to know your thoughts on the Word of Mouth programme that we listened to today for our first listening assessment (of two).

Maybe you agree with some of the points raised by the experts, perhaps you feel PowerPoint is an unhelpful aid to speaking, do you think PP has (had) a damaging effect on the art of public speaking?

Interestingly, it could certainly be argued that many of the great orators and keynote presentations over the last hundred years or so were delivered without any visual aids of any description. That said, when you log in to the TED website, often some of the more illuminating talks tend to use a variety of visuals (but not always).

When I first learned the art of oral presentation delivery at University some twenty (plus) years ago, visuals to anchor the spoken word generally came in the form of OHPs / acetates. I remember in my final year at University giving a wrap up presentation on my dissertation 'Music as Communication' and I was making reference to two high profile theorists - Wolfgang Iser and Stanley Fish. To my horror, I realised that I had spelled the latter as 'Fisher' and despite me having prepared the talk some weeks before and looked at my slides scores of times, I just hadn't noticed the error! Fortunately I had time to get to a design shop in Morningside to rework the slide and delivered the talk as I had intended. But I never forgot the importance of that lesson.

One thing is for sure in this WOM Programme, that there are a lot of interesting arguments offered by a variety of different analysts and could provide the basis for some further discussion.

So, over to you, the floor (cyberwise) is yours...
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous30 January 2012 at 15:35

    After hearing the broadcast today, i couldn't help wondering if PP has maybe made us lazier,(this was mentioned in the broadcast).

    I can see how one can hide behind a PP when presenting a talk and rely on their visuals to sort of 'do their talking', however, if the actual content and structure is rubbish then how good can that presentation really be? i just don't think visuals alone can carry you.

    There is no denying that we are in a fast growing and advancing technological age. I sometimes wonder what my grandfather would have thought of the whole I-WORLD and Internet explosion and what is in store for us in the future? Will we be using the power of telepathy to relay our thoughts and ideas to each other or will there be an APP for that?

    Kenna

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  2. Mark Hetherington31 January 2012 at 01:50

    Thank you for your thoughts Kenna and you raise some really good points, especially about the import of structuring. Sometimes I need to work on my telepathy when things are changed, meetings convened and deadlines loom when this hasn't been communicated to me formally! Note to self, enrol in telepathy evening classes...

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  3. Anonymous1 February 2012 at 12:47

    You should all have a wee listen to this http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012l253 it's another Word of Mouth called Foreign Language Learning, about the drop in people learning languages!

    Paige

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  4. Mark Hetherington1 February 2012 at 23:47

    Thanks for this Paige. I'll be logging on this morning after my class with the Engineers and put it down as some self-directed CPD!

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