Attention Grabbing Presentation Skills – Get Noticed and Promoted –“Videos That Can Get You In Trouble”

Dave Hill - Presentation Skills Article

Recently, I conducted a two day technical training course on industrial accident investigation. I spent a lot of time preparing for this session. There would be 20 people being trained and I wanted to make sure that everything would go smoothly. Since the training was on a fairly dry technical subject, I worked creatively to insert my personal stories and humor to help illustrate my points. I also had some funny photos and some linked videos that would lighten up the training session, give the trainees a break from the technical details, and help them understand the importance of the information. As someone who has been involved in investigated accidents over a period of nearly 18 years, I have a strong passion to share my knowledge on preventing repeated accidents.

I arrived one hour early at the training session to make sure the room was set up in a workshop type layout as I had requested. The handouts and other training materials needed to be put at each of the tables, and most importantly, I had to make sure the room projector and audio system would work smoothly. As someone who has been doing public speaking and training for over 10 years, I understand the importance of arriving early to deal with any unplanned events, particularly problems with projectors, audio systems, microphones, etc.

I had been informed that there would be a ceiling- type projector to show my PowerPoint slides, it would be connected to a computer and a powerful built-in audio system so the audio in my videos could be clearly heard. There would be a USB port on the computer where all I had to do was to plug in my memory stick containing the PowerPoint file and the linked videos. I had tested the memory stick on two computers prior to traveling to check that the videos would automatically play when I advanced my presentation slides. I always set up my videos to automatically appear and play with a single click of my handheld remote, so that I am not fussing around a computer keyboard. I also travel with my own remote control so that I am familiar with the slide “advance”, “reverse” buttons etc. and I know that the batteries are new.

When I was shown how to work the room computer and ceiling projector, I plugged in my memory stick and started clicking through my slideshow to get to a slide that had a linked video. The video would not play. I wasted no time as experience has taught me that videos failing to play on a computer usually means that it does not have enough memory or that the file is located too “deeply” on the hard drive (putting the file on the desktop or on a memory stick usually solves the file location issue). I immediately went to my back-up plan to connect my own laptop to the projector using the auxiliary connector that was available for this purpose. This worked well, the videos played, but I now had the problem of getting the audio system connected to my computer so the videos could be heard. The tech person tried to get the audio system to work by plugging in the room speaker audio connection but it failed to operate. My back-up plan was to plug in my portable speakers which were just loud enough to project to the back of the room.

Everything I have learned about video failure has been learned the hard way. The saying it’s not a matter of “if” the failure will happen; it’s just a matter of “when” holds very true in this case. The biggest disaster I have seen was many years ago when three professional speakers were giving a panel presentation on public speaking skills. They had brought a DVD to play on the laptop (which was being supplied by someone else) to play some of their speech material to support their points. The DVD “choked” on the laptop; it played a few seconds and then would “blank out” as the computer memory was not adequate to run it. After a few minutes of frustrating attempts to get it to play, they had to give up and complete the panel discussion without it.

10 success strategies for presentations that utilize linked videos
1. Spend time learning how to link videos in your presentation software (“custom animation” in MS PowerPoint) and have them play automatically in “full screen mode” when you advance the slide on the click of a remote button. Keep the video entry and exit simple. Choose the option to have it “appear” rather than using some of the other animation options to “fly in and out”, “spin in and out” etc.
2. Make sure your videos add value to your presentation, illuminate your points, and relate to your content. Make sure the video content is appropriate for the audience, and that you are complying with copyright restrictions
3. Make sure your linked videos are not so large that they overwhelm your computers capability
4. Set up a computer file that includes your presentation and the linked videos. If you want to move your presentation from computer to computer this will reduce the risk of having to re-link the videos to the slides. To prevent your video from becoming inoperable, do not file your presentation too “deep” into the layers of your computer hard-drive filing system. Use the desktop or a memory stick.
5. Learn the tricks to get a computer to link to a projector. Most projectors I have used require me to press the “F8” keyboard key multiple times to get my laptop to connect to the projector.
6. Find out ahead of time if someone will be available to help you set up the audio-visual equipment and deal with any problems. A phone call to this person to explain your needs and to identify experience level may be beneficial.
7. Arrive at least one hour early to set up and test the equipment. If you are testing the volume in an empty room, remember to increase it to take into consideration the effects of the room being full of people and also the potential for background noise such as air-conditioning fans, etc. If the audience cannot hear the video sound, it will be annoying to them.
8. Develop back-up plans for anything that can go wrong. Bring your own projector, laptop, extension cords, spare remote batteries, and audio speakers etc. as a backup. Have your training session designed so that you can still conduct your training session if there is equipment failure (work off the handouts etc.).
9. Test, test, and test your presentation on multiple computers ahead of time.
10. Develop a checklist of everything you need to do (testing, etc.), so you do not forget anything.

Final Note: Equipment failure causes undue stress that can be avoided by simple knowledge, preparation, testing, and backup plans. Why start off your presentation stressed due to equipment malfunctions? Maintain your image of professionalism with the aforementioned tips.

I would appreciate any feedback or personal stories on incorporating videos into presentations. Please use the comments section below, or send me an e-mail at dave@davehillspeaks.com. Let’s help each other succeed.
Thanks,
Dave Hill

Dave’s Public Speaking Website (Bio, Keynotes, Workshops, etc.)
http://www.davehillspeaks.com

Copyright © 2010 Dave Hill Speaks LLC all rights reserved.

Attention Grabbing Training Skills – When Things Go Wrong – “Emotional Conflict and Violent Agreement”

Dave Hill - Article on Organizing Training

In a high speed “do more with even less” workplace environment, disaster sometimes rears its ugly head.

Imagine you’re in a highly technical training class with subject matter that would bring strong emotional viewpoints to the table. There is no doubt that there will be conflict and heated arguments.

This article covers a not-so-perfect training session being conducted by a contract company that specialized in the technical subject. As someone who also provides training on technical subjects and training technical people how to present information effectively, there are some lessons we can all learn from this.

How could a technical training session being conducted by a highly qualified company come unraveled at the edges and set us (the customers) up for potential failure?

The training class was being organized by our group at the corporate office to train and educate technical workers on a radical change in the way they would normally do things. My boss and I had attended this training class a year previously when it was conducted by the owner of the company, someone who was highly respected in industry. The training had been of a very high quality.

A few days before the recent training session, we were informed that the owner would not be conducting the training; it would be an employee that we were not familiar with. It surprised and concerned us that the owner would only be attending the training session in a support role. When we talked to the alternate instructor by phone before the training session, we started to have concerns.

Fifteen minutes into the training, a trainee in the seat to my right, nudged me to get my attention, and whispered sarcastically, “Is this his first time doing training?” Not a good sign!

What went wrong during this training?
1. The trainer appeared nervous and inexperienced.
2. He did not provide a very clear up-front description of the concepts that would be covered, and how all the different parts would fit together to help our company move forward with the significant change. He should have provided a detailed example to help portray how the technical information was to be actually applied.
3. He appeared to be unfamiliar with the material on the slides, his awkward long pauses between sentences gave the indication that he was frantically thinking about what to say next. He was also spending a lot of his time reading the words from the slides using his laser light to annoyingly “bounce” from word to word. He would fly past information when it was clear that attendees needed clarification on specific points.
4. Occasionally his boss, the owner of the contract company, would interrupt him and tell him he was wrong, and correct him.
5. The owner of the contract company was taking notes (as the employee was delivering the training) and developing new slides on a laptop (it appeared that our training session was also being used to help develop better training materials).
6. At times, there were emotional disagreements between the class attendees and the owner of the company that made for awkward moments.
7. I give the instructor some credit for trying to use humor in his training, but he was off-target. The trainees were already grumbling about blatant sales pitches being included in the training material (the contract company also provides services to help mitigate identified hazards). He would make comments such as, “I will not go into this in too much detail because my company does not provide this service – ha, ha, ha”. With groans from the trainees, his boss, the owner of the company scowled, cringed, and politely told him to stop using humor.
8. The instructor had not taken the time to customize his presentation so that the calculation tools and methodology and spreadsheets would mirror those that our company uses. These differences made an already complicated subject even more confusing.
9. During breaks, there were trainee conversations that gave a clear indication of frustration.
10. The emotions were very high during the training. There were even times where people were even portraying “violent agreement” (emotionally charged arguments where everyone was actually in agreement!).
11. Side conversations were not controlled by the instructor, and were disrupting to the training session.
12. The trainees filled in the training evaluation sheets, and it was indicated that they rated it “fair to poor”.

What Were The Results?
1. The contract company, and particularly the instructor, lost a lot of credibility (I would be hesitant to recommend this instructor to anyone).
2. My boss and I lost a lot of credibility as we had organized the training session.
3. The new program we were trying to “sell” to the trainees was off to a very rough start. We knew that they would be grumbling to upper management and hurdles for progress would potentially appear.

What Could We Have Done To Make Sure The Training Was Successful?
1. We should have spent a lot more time preparing for the training session:
• We had assumed that we would get the owner of the contract company doing the training; we should have confirmed this.
• We should have spent time with the instructor customizing the training using our company-specific spreadsheet tools, terminology, etc.
• We should have made sure that there was a very clear picture of the training structure up-front. This would have helped the trainees understand how all the different parts fit together

What are some of the other things I learned during this three day training?
1. Before the training session, we had prepared numerous “actual” technical examples for the trainees to work through, and for the trainer to facilitate. These were scheduled for day three. The trainer and his boss suggested that we split the class up into five groups, get them to solve the problems, and present the results to the rest of the class one by one. They indicated that this would be more effective and more controlled, given the emotionally charged atmosphere. This was great advice and worked exceptionally well.

I would appreciate any comments, tips, or personal stories on training sessions. Please use the comments section below, or send me an e-mail at dave@davehillspeaks.com. Let’s help each other succeed.
Thanks,
Dave Hill

Dave’s Public Speaking Website (Bio, Keynotes, Workshops, etc.)
http://www.davehillspeaks.com

Copyright © 2010 Dave Hill Speaks LLC all rights reserved.