AC 2002 1

PowerPoint second session

• To start with, everyone prepares a 3 to 5 slide presentation

• Choose a subject

• Make sure there is a main message… (it is going to be your presentation title)

• Organize your thoughts, and make leading statements punchy

AC 2002 2

Choose a subject1. Start with a theme you like :

• « fashionable travels in Europe »• « the french club soccer teams »

2. Transform it into facts you want to present :• « the french soccer teams do terribly in the european championship »• « the fall is traditionally a strike period in France »

3. A more interesting topic is « Why ? » such and such a fact holds : • « why are the french club soccer teams doing worse and worse »,

4. A yet more interesting one is your recommandation :  • « what should be done about it ? » • that is what actions you recommend.

AC 2002 3

Preparing a travel brochure...

• It is a good exercise in using PowerPoint

• yet five years from now, in front of your boss (suppose you’ll be working in a tour-operator company) you’ll need to do more than just present a travel brochure

• you’ll need to explain why you want a budget to set up a new travel destination in your tour-operator firm, and be convincing.

AC 2002 4

Making a presentation

It is deceptively simple

and yet

it is surprisingly difficult.

AC 2002 5

Making a presentation is deceptively simple :

• We’ve spent 15 years in school learning the 3 r’s :– reading– writing– arithmetic

• « We should know how to express an idea. »

AC 2002 6

Making a presentation is deceptively simple, yet...

• We haven’t spent much time thinking about – How to communicate ?– To whom we want to talk ?– Why we want to talk to them ?– Why they want to listen to me ?– Who am I to talk to this audience ?– What is my objective ?

• And finally, how to be effective ?

AC 2002 7

Managing our image (1) :

• When communicating we have to manage our image• We also have to manage all the non-verbal

communication between us and the audience• In particular : the emotions• Communicating to an audience involves quite a bit of

emotions in the speaker and in the audience• Know them. Use them :

• Light jokes• Tense parts• Tension relief• Deep messages• Etc.

AC 2002 8

Managing our image (2) :

• The anecdote of the Tibetan monk in the TGV

• Looked like the Dalaï-Lama

• « L’habit ne fait pas le moine. »

• « Est-ce que le moine nécessite l’habit ? »

• Roland Barthes : « La tête de l’Abbé Pierre. »

AC 2002 9

Most schooling systems stress passive activities and do not encourage positive self-assertive behaviors :

• In most cultures the schooling systems used to stress learning by rote

• Accumulative knowledge

• It does not stress the « understanding » process

• It does not stress the « communicating » process

• Kodachrome

AC 2002 10

Examples of activity and self-development oriented schooling systems :

• Maria Montessori

• Célestin Freinet

• Alexander Neill

• Beacon Hill (Russell)

• All modern Business schools

AC 2002 11

Titles and messages :

• A title is not a message

• It is a « framework » ; it just says « here is what we shall talk about »

• What does « about » mean ?

• A message is more communication-effective

AC 2002 12

To talk about something is not the same as to communicate a message :

Titles :

The city of Cairo

Its interesting City of the deads

The inhabitated City

Messages :

The city of Cairo is fascinating

Two third of Cairo is made of the City of the deads

A substantial part of Cairo population lives in there

AC 2002 13

Egyptian civilisation : one among three civilisations

• There is a large band (larger than the Fertile Crescent) that goes from the Nile to the Indus that carry at least three ways to answer the question of existence :– In Egypt civilisation searched for the answer to the problem of

existence into the « life of the deads » (the pyramids)

– In the Middle-East civilisation searched for the answer to the problem of existence into a « monotheistic god » (the Bible)

– In the Indus valley civilisation searched for the answer to the problem of existence into the « no-god boudhist self development » (the boudhist doctrine)

AC 2002 14

In all situations there is a positive side to take advantage of :• Your hotel room is not sound proof ? At one o’clock in the morning you can

watch TV with your neighbor sound ?

• Carry out a field sociological study. Profile your neigbor !

• We leave foot-prints all over the net TIAS will do this profiling. Will it make Darpa too powerful ?

• Google is already too powerful : five or six fellows control half of the world information distribution (this already lead to a recent suit, which Google lost, to reintegrate a page ranking)

• LVMH is sueing Morgan Stanley for the same kind of abuse

• Read the business newspaper (at least one article chosen at random) with a curious mind every day

• Another example : a hotel neighbor has hour-long phone conversations with very little blanks -> Carry out a field communication study.