presentations

Some confusion over who the presentation is aimed towards. Keep the presentation as real as possible. The presentation should be telling an external audience what actually happened on your assignment. A framework for the presentation could be:

• background - describe the problem to be solved
  
• what you attempted to do
• some of the issues that came out of the attempt
• what was the conclusion
• what are the next steps, if any
• what have I learned from doing the assignment

5 - 7 or at a maximum 6 - 8 slides will easily use up 10 minutes...

Core assessment criteria:

• clarity
• content
• check understanding

Making effective presentations - preparation


Developing objectives - the core message of the presentation (set the scene)

• Tell / Inform => to achieve => understanding
  Bare in mind the complexity of the information and understand the limitations and how much information can be taken from your presentation. Decide the core information you want to impart.
• Sell/influence => Buy in
  The core of selling is to promote the 'what's in it for me' aspect
• Impel/Direct/Motive => action
  Going against the tide, inspire to take action
• Entertain => Enjoyment

Assess the audience

• consider the 'language' to use
• don't make presumptions about what people already understand about the situation
  

identify key/sub points

• Mind map - brainstorm all the points then group them into key subject areas
• Put the key points into an order

Prepare the script/outline

• Do you want to use a script?

prepare visual aides, handouts, notes

• The presenter is the important focus the visual aids are secondary
• 3 - 4 bullet points max per slide
• Too much information is boring but too little info makes no sense to your audience afterwards
• Use consistent design - font, colour, size
  
• Graphics - a picture paints a thousand words.
  

practice
"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and doesn't stop until the moment you stand up to speak in public" - George Jessel

• Accept that you are going to be anxious, it's normal, you need the adrenaline
• Be organised
• Presentation should be personal and in plain language - be yourself
• Breathe deeply
• Watch your posture
• Maintain good eye contact with the audience
• Maintain a clear voice
  

Presentations
We all designed and delivered a presentation and evaluated each other - and got quite serious and a bit nervous but in the end had quite a bit of fun.

My presentation was about wikis

Leading your team

This is nice. I'm sat in the grounds of Cliffe House, waiting for my lift to arrive typing up this blog post in the sunshine. A great session today with lots of practical demonstrations to stimulate thought about the attributes of a good team and good leadership. And - as usual - a good dinner.

I also had a long chat with the caretaker over lunch who told me some of the history and struggles they have had at Cliffe House. The stories of passionate, caring employees with a strong belief in the value of Cliffe House would serve as a great example to many about staff motivation.

Leaders

Difference between a leader and a manager

Leader	Manager
See slide

References

F.W. Taylor – scientific management? Work measurement, systems of methods etc – time & motion studies…

Colt guns – break products down into constituent parts and build assembly lines. Management was about looking at the worker as another piece of equipment. Since the second world war people started to consider the well being of the staff as being important to production. This lead to motivational theories etc. Out of this grew the concept of the Leader as a person to inspire and influence teams.

Leadership and Management are two sides to the same coin. A good leader/manager should be able to switch between the two.

Theory

Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum (slide) – demonstrates the spectrum of management styles.

Hersey and Blanchard (slide) – model for introducing a new starter or introducing someone to a new task for example.

Within organisations it is getting harder for a select few to know the details and run the whole organisation. Orchestra??

Break

Exercise: split into groups to discuss the pros and cons of different management styles.

Tell

Sell

Consult

Share

Responsibility can be delegated accountability can not

Authority is given power comes from a whole range of sources: a network of friends, connections, expertise (real or perceived), can come from authority, personal characteristics.

Theory E (empowerment theorists)

• Authority to make decisions
• Emphasis on team work
• Information sharing
• Clear boundaries
• Encouragement and recognition.

Self managed team/empowered teams

• Project based
• Clearly defined objectives, delegation of responsibility and authority limits (budget etc)
• No appointed leader – leadership may vary based on the task
• Team agrees roles, process and possibly related issues

Commitment, less staff turnover, engagement, reduced absenteeism, creativity, motivation

Sunflower exercise to discover the characteristics of effective teams.

Launching a new organisation.

One of those memorable and fun exercises in which we had to develop a new organisation and product and produce a logo and tv commercial. We all seemed naturally to understood the roles that were required and people seem to take on those roles individually but working to a common team goal. A self managed team emerged and worked very well together to complete the task.

   

 

Team roles analysis questionnaire Francis & Young.

This displayed our preferred roles but we must bare in mind that wd can step into the other areas when necessary to do so. Ideally a team should have a good spread of these attributes.