(30-09-2009, 07:10 PM)marathondan Wrote: @El Gordo Wrote:survived presentation course. Delivered 2 presentations - both rubbish, and was heartly praised. Ridiculous.
This reminds me of an old post by one of my favourite bloggers, Scott Adams. (I can take or leave his cartoons.) I find him to be a very astute observer of human nature. He once went on a public speaking course, and observed that the single most effective tool for improving people's presentation skills was to praise them. Whether they were actually great or awful, telling the speaker that she spoke brilliantly raised self-confidence, which improved the next attempt at a talk.
Maybe that's not such a secret among the presentation-course fraternity?
Ah, the great Scott Adams. I should reacquaint myself with him.
Interesting, but it wasn't the case here. The praise came from the group. I think there's an element of self-insurance involved. I'll praise you so that you'll praise me.
That sounds rather cynical. I did learn some things from the day, but I know when I've done a good presentation, and I didn't think mine were good today. I can do better.
I'm not sure I go along with the Adams idea. Confidence is obviously good for public speaking in general, but there are lots of dos and don'ts that people should be aware of, and if you praise them unreservedly, they might make the same mistakes.
Anyway, not something I want to talk about much more
