Who to Call; Day746; Presenting + Communicating

GOD IS our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Quadrant I-Urgent and Important
2.4Mile Swim
Attend Presentation Class

Reading List
The Checklist Manifesto p.34 of 211
Systems Thinking-Managing Chaos p.121 of 374
Data Protection 2010 Step By Step p.39 of 360
Definitive Guide to Monitoring Datacenter p.0 of 111

0600, End of Sleep,
0615, Study Psalm 46:1 [read more]
0700, Leave for work
0800, Presentation Class
1700, End of Presentation Class
1900, Dinner
2000, Call wife, Inchun International Airport en route to Dallas.  Had some war stories in the plane during departure from Mactan International Airport.

Presenting + Communicating 
At work, we are encouraged to take classes to improve ourselves and one of those classes is the “Presentation Class”. Little did I know that this is a class about public speaking [speech class, sort of] where you come up with random idea and present it to the class. Well, I just found my weakness, I am not good in transferring what my brain is thinking into words. The last segment of the class is a ‘final presentation’ (personal or work related) and present to everybody. I’m good in structure and organization and have a lot of ideas to share. We were taught in the class to write what we want to talk about in a 4×6 index card and use mind mapping to organize what we want to deliver in front of the class. On paper, my presentation was rock solid and filled with structured information. We were given 3 minutes to present in front of the class and when it was my turn, it was a disaster – I could not remember anything that I wrote in my index card. All I know that I had an objective – to present about “Shifting Focus to Warning Signs” (more on this later) after a little scare in the middle of the presentation,I regrouped and I was able to deliver the information without any visual/memory aid. At the end of the presentation, the class evaluated me and made comments and I was surprised that there was not much negative comment about the way I presented the message. Not even one person noticed that I made up all the stuff that I was talking about. Most of the negative comments were about gestures/movement. Positive comments from the instructor were the following:
-love your smile
-facial expression
-great use of voice
-inflection volume
-structure
-eye contact

I am a problem solver and a self-made technical writer and I spend most of my time reading books and analyzing problems, writing technical documentations, failure analysis reports and writing this journal everyday. I love to read electrical/electronic schematics, I love flow charts and I love structuring ideas and put everything in perspective. Speaking to people [or to a person] is not in my blood and If you are working with me, get comfortable with my silence because it will be with us all day. I learned today that speaking is a process – that one has to have the idea in mind to be able to fully deliver the message to the audience. Sound so simple but yet most of us open our mouth without really thinking about delivering a great message. Like anything else, one has to practice speaking to people to be able to communicate clearly and effectively.

So from now on, I will be communicating to people verbally. No more Blind Caveman habits of silence.

Key Points: Simple Presentation
1. Introduction
2. Main point
3. Conclusion