6. PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE TALKS
Any effective talk must do three things:
• (1) communicate your arguments and
ideas,
• (2) persuade your audience that they are
true, and
• (3) be interesting and entertaining.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
7. PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE TALKS
• USUALLY BETTER USUALLY WORSE
* Talk * Read
* Stand * Sit
* Use visual aids: outlines, pictures, graphs * Have no visual aids
* Move * Stand still
* Vary the pitch of your voice * Speak in a monotone
* Speak loudly and clearly, toward audience * Mumble, facing downward
* Make eye contact with the audience * Stare at the podium
* Focus on main arguments * Get lost in details
* Finish your talk within the time limit * Run overtime
* Rehearse your talk * Don't practice
* Summarize main arguments at beginning & end * Fail to provide a conclusion
* Notice your audience and respond to their needs * Ignore audience behavior
* Emulate excellent speakers * Emulate mentors regardless of
their speaking ability
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
8. Principles
1) Talk rather than read.
You'll be easier to understand, and
you'll be better able to make
genuine contact with your
audience. Furthermore, ultimately
talking will help you think more
clearly by forcing you to
communicate your points in
ordinary language. There's nothing
virtuous about perfect grammar,
complicated sentences, and
sophisticated vocabulary if your
audience can't follow you.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
9. Principles
2) Stand up.
This is better for two reasons. First,
people can see you better. Second,
standing puts you in a physically
dominant position. Remember:
you're the focus. The audience
needs your help to maintain their
attention. They want you to be in
charge. By standing up, you accept
this invitation -- making both your
job and theirs a little easier.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
10. Principles
3) Use visual aids.
People are visual creatures. “A picture
is worth a thousand words" is
especially appropriate in the context
of a conference talk, where you
don't have time to say very much.
Have an outline of your talk on
overhead transparencies. It makes
your audience want to hear the
details. It helps them understand
the structure of your thinking. Talk
outlines should be extremely
concise and visually uncluttered.
12-15 lines of text per transparency
is plenty.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
11. Principles
4) Move around.
It's easier to keep focused on
someone who's moving than on a
motionless talking head.
Hand gestures are also good. Simply
crossing from one side of the room
to the other every three or four
minutes is probably enough.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
12. Principles
5) Vary the pitch of your voice.
Monotones are sleep-inducing. Many
people don't realize they have this
problem. Get a trusted friend or
colleague to listen to your delivery
and give you honest feedback.
(This is an important principle in
itself.)
Even better, tape or videotape
yourself and check out how you
sound.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
13. Principles
6) Speak loudly, clearly, and confidently.
Face the audience.
An important element of vocal technique is to focus
on the bottom (the deepest pitch) of your vocal
range, which is its loudest and most authoritative
tone. (This can be especially important for
women.)
Speak from the gut, not the throat.
Breathe deeply -- it's necessary for volume.
Don't be afraid to ask for feedback: "Can you hear
me in the back of the room?“
Be careful, when using visual aids, that you continue
to face the audience when you speak. Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
14. Principles
7) Make eye contact with the audience.
Do this by casting your gaze toward the
back and sides of the room. Be careful
not to ignore one side of the audience.
Many speakers "side" unconsciously,
looking always to the left or to the right
half, or only to the front or the back, of
the room. Here's another place where
feedback, either from friends or from
videotape, can be helpful.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
15. Principles
8) Focus on main arguments.
Your audience is not going to
remember the details of your
evidence. In such a situation,
less is more. Give them short,
striking "punch lines" that they'll
remember. They can always
read your written work later. A
good rule of thumb is to make
no more than three main
points in any given talk. That's
about all most people will be
able to remember.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
16. Principles
9) Finish your talk within the time limit.
Not to do so is disrespectful both of any
subsequent speakers and of your
audience. Most people's maximum
attention span is 40-45 minutes. If you
exceed this limit, you'll probably lose
them. The only way to be certain you
can keep within your limits is to
rehearse your talk. But nothing is more
embarrassing than getting only halfway
through before hitting the time limit.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
17. Principles
10) Summarize your talk at the
beginning and at the end.
"Tell them what you're going to
tell them, and tell them what
you told them.“ If you follow
this rule, your audience is
much more likely to
remember your main points.
Even more important, it helps
you stay focused on the key
ideas you're trying to convey.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
18. Principles
11) Notice your audience and
respond to their needs.
If people seem to be falling
asleep, or getting restless or
distracted, the problem may not
be you. Is the room too hot, or
too cold? Too dark? Can people
see you? Is the microphone on?
Is something outside the room
distracting people? Don't
hesitate to stop briefly in order
to solve these problems.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
19. Principles
11) Notice your audience and
respond to their needs.
Always use the maximum
lighting your presentation
format will allow.
For example, you can usually
leave all the lights on if you're
using an overhead projector,
but you'll need to turn some
off to use slides.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
20. Principles
11) Notice your audience and
respond to their needs.
Alternatively, you may have
gone on too long, or you may
need to speak louder.
Whatever the case, notice
what's happening and use it
as feedback. If you can't
figure out why your audience
is responding poorly, ask
somebody later and fix the
problem next time.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
21. Principles
12) Emulate excellent speakers.
The best way to become an
excellent presenter is to watch
really good, experienced
speakers and model your talks
on theirs. Notice not just what
they say, but what they do: how
they move, how they sound, how
they structure their talks. Add
those devices to your own
repertoire.
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub
22.
23. Introduction: Give your name and the name of
the project you are presenting.
Overview: Quickly describe the scope of the
project, and explain your concept or approach.
Demonstration: Walk your audience through the
space, beginning at a real or nominal entry.
Invite Reaction: Involve the audience in the
presentation. Answer questions in a way that
reinforces how your solution solves the problems.
Summary: Recapitulate three or four main points.
Sign-off: Thank your audience for their attention.
24. Demonstrate your professional competence.
Dress and act appropriately (business-like attire and
actions)
Practice your presentation.
Know its content so that you can discuss without having to
look at the boards or computer screen for cues.
Be prepared with relevant information (areas, corridor
widths, etc.)
Know your vocabulary and pronounce terms correctly.
Avoid colloquialisms and slang (don't say, "this is 'just-a'
file" or "this is, 'like, you know,' a file" or "I 'stuck' the file
here").
25. Emphasize the users, not yourself.
Describe how your proposal meets the clients' and users’
needs, and solves their problems (and not how it reflects
what you like or dislike).
Do not personalize the presentation (avoid "I" language).
Do not mention the problems you had in developing an
approach, finding materials, getting time to work on the
project, etc.
Do not simply list furnishings or dwell on the obvious (such
as, "this is a chair”).
Believe in your solution, but don't be defensive.
Welcome questions and suggestions.
26.
27. 1.) Make sure all your required paperwork is
filled out, completed, and filed.
2.) Make a decision, create a plan.
3.) Are you going to continue on to grad school?
4.) Are you going to get a job?
5.) Are you moving back home?
6.) Manage your money
7.) Get recommendations and letters of
reference from your professors now, not later.
8.) Get your portfolio in order
9.) Update your e-mail account
10.) Have fun
28. The Omrania l CSBE Student Award for
Excellence in Architectural Design
http://www.csbe.org/
117. an elevation drawing of a façade, surr
ounded by a decorativearrangement c
omposed of drawings of the important
details andsometimes a plan or sectio
n of the façade.
In the Beaux Arts tradition the
understanding of the role of detail as
a generator of the character of
buildings determined that a very
peculiar graphic means for the study
of it, the analytique.
In this graphic representation of a
designed or surveyed building the
details play the predominant role.
They are composed in different
scales in the attempt to single out
the dialogue among the parts in the
making of the text of the building.
118. Sometimes the building as a whole is
present in the drawing, and generally
it is represented at a minuscule scale,
and so it seems a detail among
details.
The origin of the analytique and its
role in the construing of architecture
can be traced back to the technique
of graphic representation and
composition developed by Piranesi
in his etchings surveying
the Magnificenza of Roman
architecture.
These are a graphic interpretation,
with a stronger Vichian bias, of Carlo
Lodoli's understanding of the built
environment as a sum of inadequate
details to be substituted with more
appropriate ones.