As technologists and tool-users we tend to focus on the tools in play in creating and playing our “presentation.” It’s easy to lose track of the fact that you are the presentation and everything else is just support.
Soft skills, the ones not involved with creating and animating graphics, are so important and often neglected – the expectation being “we already know how to talk.”
My buddy Garr Reynolds writes up and extends this list of “Seven” things you should not do when presenting. Great reading and something you can implement today, or in your next presentation with just a little awareness, thought and planning.
Ric Bretschneider
July 10, 2014
7 things good communicators must not do
In this simple but informative TED Talk, Julian Treasure offers up seven things that effective communicators must exclude from speech. This list of seven is a kind of “bad habits to avoid” list. They are not the only elements that can derail effective communication, but it is a good list from which to start. “I call them seven sins somewhat tongue in cheek,” Julian says in the comments section on the TED Website. “I am not saying these things are bad or wrong, simply that they tend to make it harder for people to listen, especially when they become habits.” Yes, suggesting that one avoid these behaviors always and forever can become a sort of dogma as well. However, he is right that these behaviors are for the most part injurious to our reputations, credibility, and over all effectiveness.