Where to Learn Showmanship

If you want to become an excting presenter visit a science centre in a town near you and do two things:

1) check out the exhibits and
2) watch any live shows.

I have learned so many wonderful tricks at Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia. The presenters of these shows have to find a way to take complex ideas and boil them down to something the average member of the public can understand. You will be surprised at the connections you will be able to make between what you see and key learning points you want to make in your own presentations.

It is important to come outside of our own worlds to seek inspiration in new places. So, if you haven't visited a Science Centre in a while, call them up, ask when the shows are and head on down with your notepad. The presenters are usually happy to talk for a few minutes afterwards while they are cleaning up.

How do I know all this? I did hundreds of shows on the public stage at the Science Centre over ten years. It was fun, educational, inspiring and a great learning experience.

Tabletop Science

Here is a website that I have glanced at from time to time. This fellow seems to have a lively attitude towards fooling around at the table and learning a little bit of science at the same time. http://www.doscience.com/act_archive/index.html

Maybe you can figure out how to link one of these activities to your next banquet talk to make a point.

Now these aren't technically, low-effort props because they do take a bit more effort, but they could be great fun for a large group.

I believe that you never know where your next great idea is coming from; and it likely isn't coming to me while I sit at my desk.

I need to find new stimulus, look at magazines, go for a walk, play with some play-doh, cook something (that is where I thought of the funnel idea). So, how about you? Where do the great ideas and the not so great ideas hit you?

Table Props

Got my mind on the banquet table today to see what kind of props we can use to make key learning points. So, let's see what's on the table, knife, fork, spoon, coffee cup, water glass, plate, centrepiece, side plate, tablecloth, serviette - and then there's the food. What catches my eye is the centrepiece. What is a centrepiece for, exactly?

Let's look at it. Centrepieces aren't really necessary and don't have any real function, but they are usually a part of a banquet. Think back to the last banquet wedding you went to, or evening conference banquet. Someone spent a goodly amount of time on that centrepiece.

A centrepiece is like a rallying point. We all sit around the table in posiitions of equal rank, and the flowers or candles or whatever is in the middle defines us as a group. A group that is separate from other groups and tables. The nature of what is in that centrepiece is important too, as it tends to reflect something about the reason for being at the banquet. Balloons say something very different than long stemmed roses in a centrepiece. A clown doll surrounded by flowers cuts a different image than a paper wedding cake with sparklers.

This makes me ask the questions: "What for centrepieces do we have in our lives? How do we define our groups? What would be in the perfect centrepiece for your family, your work team, your company, your community."

An interesting activity would be ask a particular group to design a centrepiece. They could make them on paper or really go out and make them, perhaps for a culminating dinner or luncheon. Maybe each group could make the centrepiece for their table that best reflects their experiences at the presentation, conference, training or workshop.

Well, that is enough on centrepieces. Tomorrow let's look around for more low effort props and see where the imagination takes us.

creative thinking

Found a really super book, Jump Start Your Brain, by Doug Hall. This fellow was a master marketing inventor and creator for Proctor and Gamble and has all kind of amazing ideas. He has a ton of activities that help create better ideas. Here is the gist of one of them.

Ask people to brainstorm a bunch of ideas on chosen subject: e.g. healthy eating. They will come up with a bunch.
Now give them a bunch of words for stimulus, like, say.... family, game, filing system, scrapbook, (you figure out some more that you think would start the brain jumping) and see how many more ideas they come up with. I really love this idea.

So, this fellow, Doug Hall, has a ton of ideas, each one better than the last. He is also pretty open about his failures, which I really respect. He tried to bring to market an idea called "Stinky Pig" a game for kids kinda like that one called "Operation". If the tweezers touched any part of the pig while removing stinky items inside it, the pig let out a bart from its rear end, a powerfully strong aroma. Surprise, surprise, this idea just didn't pan out.

So, put this book on reserve at the library or do Doug a favour and go out and buy it. The trick, I believe, is to actually put into practice some of his ideas. That is what I am working on.

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So let's continue with this money idea. So far we have established that you can tell the difference between a five dollar and a ten dollar bill because you know the values of each one.

What happens when we are not sure of the values?
Take out two more currency bills. This time they are foreign currency; something your audience is unlikely to recognize. Perhaps you choose Saudi Riels or Chinese money.

Hold up the two bills and ask the same question - WHich one whould they choose. Now it seems obvious that people don't have enough information to make a choice.

Debrief this.

Some points I would make:

How can we get the information we need to make a choice?
What makes us make quick decisions when we clearly don't have enough information?
Does everyone in your group hold the same values for each item?


Let's categorize this activity the following way:

Low Effort Prop/money/values and decisions.

Tomorrow we will look at another low-effort prop.

Money as a low effort prop

So today's idea is about money. A friend and colleague shared an idea about holding up two bills of money; say, for example, a ten and a five dollar bill, then asking the question, "Which one would you rather have?' Now most people will choose the ten. So let's figure out why. Because we know what the ten can buy, essentially, we know it's value.

Now let's lead this to a key learning point: It is important to understand the essential value of something when we are choosing or making priorities. Sometimes this means we have to work to find out what the true value is, but it helps clarify the situation when faced with a choice.

Now, that is an easy way to use money as a prop, it is an excellent low effort prop.

Tomorrow I will introduce some foreign money to show you a twist on this activity.

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Visit my website at www.calderonconsulting.com to learn more or email me at info@calderonconsulting.com to get my free newsletter, Nuggets.

Low Effort Props

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There are many books about how to use props in presentations. But one particular challenge is how to use props in business presentations that have a more serious tone.

I have been giving this some thought and decided in my next newsletter to focus on this concept.

Each of these props I will call Low Effort Props. These are the guidelines:

-must be commonly found in the training or presentation room
-must make you look like you are not really trying too hard
-must make a relevant key point

So, as I take a look around me I see all kinds of things that could be used. All the training supplies, all the writing supplies, all the food and refreshment objects and personal items on our clothes and bodies.

I will focus in my next newsletter on the common water glass, but I am also thinking of money, cash, dollars and cents.

There are thousands of ways to use cash to make points. I will be thinking about it. Why don't you think about it too and let me know if you have any ideas.

Until then, focus on Low Effort Props.