Examples make the presentation Dec 19 2009
6 comments Latest by The Simple CRM Guy
Over the last few years I’ve noticed that as I’m giving a talk or a workshop, everyones’ antennas perk up when I turn to an example. It’s been a personal goal of mine to cut out as much preamble as possible and get straight into examples because they change the mood so drastically. Walking through an example says “here comes some reality.” You can theorize all you want, but examples force you to show that your theory holds. They allow the audience to test if what you say is true or not. And best of all, they turn the focus from abstract concepts to the mess and color of the real world.
I couldn’t help but think of the power of examples when I ran into this whirlwind talk about Kant’s Critique of Aesthetic Judgement illustrated exclusively with comic book art.
Would you have thought Kant could be so entertaining?
(via Schmüdde)
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6 comments so far
George 19 Dec 09
Very entertaining!
I agree 100% about the examples thing. There are 2 great things about examples:
1. They are really stories, which makes them one of the most powerful and entertaining methods of communication. 2. They are easy to learn from. Many people naturally learn from example much faster than they learn from theory or explanation.
Jordi 19 Dec 09
Is there any way to see the video on iPhone?
Youtube and Dailymotion work really well on iPhone, but I have to move back to my laptop every time I need to see an svn videos.
Andre 19 Dec 09
@Jordi Here’s the MP4 version which should work on iPhone.
Martial 19 Dec 09
Gary Klein, who studies expertise, relates that expertise is most easily learned through stories (Sources of Power).
When I train trainers I tell them to have three stories for every point they want to make. They don’t have to tell all three; they just have to have them ready to go. If you have three, you’ll always be able to riff off of what else is happening in the workshop.
Eva 19 Dec 09
Completely agree. A nice coincidence: I was thinking about this yesterday when reading an interview to Kenya Hara (creative director of Muji) and enjoying his example with knives to explain the difference in concepts of simplicity and craftman’s spirit between West and Japan.
The Simple CRM Guy 20 Dec 09
Stories are what change a seminar from a pure lecture into a real experience. People need to be able to visualize the point being made, and describing a historic event is the easiest way to do that. The other, and often even more effective, is to create an exercise where the audience experiences the point themselves in some manner. Personal development trainers are masters of this.
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