The Printed Page

I've only made two really public predictions in my life: that cd's would never replace records and tapes, and that the information highway or internet would never catch on. So there you have it.

But recently I was thinking about handmade books. See, I am a card maker by hobby and I like nothing better than getting my hands on some paper for some cutty-cutty, paste-paste therapy.

But did you know that it wasn't until 1450 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, that books no longer had to be copied and illuminated by hand.

Now when the first book rolled off this press, (the Bible, by the way) you would think it was a day for rejoicing. And it was for some. But others were very wary of the whole thing. They worried that printing was a black art, it seemed too unlikely that pages could be printed that fast. They were concerned about the change and the lack of control of what was in these books.

Also unhappy were the copyists and illuminators who were now out of work. People at the top of their careers, as master craftsmen, really, no longer had careers. This all sounds a little familiar to me, how about you?

This reminds me a little of the impact that the internet and world wide web is havng on the world today. We have many concerns about who is affected and what is happening to that information. We probably all know someone who know longer has the same job because the work they did is done differently, or perhaps done somewhere else, because the internet can make that possible.

But just as the printed book turned out to be a pretty good thing, once the transition was made, maybe we can look down the line and see that the internet may also turn out to be a good thing.

When books were first printed by machine they suddently became available to more than just the rich. Prices werfor the books dropped and they were printed in different languages besides Latin in Europe. Through the books people started to exchang information around the world, leading to new developments, inventions and thoughts.

So, I was pretty much totally wrong about the internet. It did catch on, and you know that because you are reading this today. Perhaps we are in the transition period right now.. Change takes time, and big changes and improvements can take a great deal of time.

So next time I make a prediciton, don't back me on it; I will probably be wrong. But everytime I find myself resisting any type of new technology I think back to the invention of the printed book and just wonder.

Try It, You Might Like It

I have had the same telephone company for years. Now there was a time when this was the only telephone company around, but now there are others vying for my business. They routinely call me up and try to get me to switch to their services. I am sure their services are excellent, but I just don’t bother to listen through the promotional information.
So, why do I stay with this one telephone company; simple, it is the one I have always used.

So I wondered why and how human beings ever get around to making change. In the book Mind Hacks, there is a very good understandable scientific explanation of what it takes to get someone to change. This section talks about a study done on university students.

Half of the students were given mugs with the university emblem on it. The other half didn’t have mugs and when they were offered a mug to buy, they only wanted to pay $2 for the mug. But the group that already owned the mugs didn’t want to give them up and didn’t want to take less than $5 for their mug. Now this is interesting in that the mugs were only worth $6. The second batch of students placed a higher value on the mugs perhaps because they already owned one. So what does all this have to do with making change?

You can spell out all the amazing things the change will do for a person once they make the change, or you can just get people to try it. Once they try it, they will, it seems, be more likely to make the change for longer.

So what would it take for a phone company to get someone like me to change service? Hmmm. I guess they would have to let me try something for free for a while with no hassle to me.

In the same vein, I worked for a time overseas as a food demonstrator in a large grocery store. We have all seen these folks, giving out their tidbits to weary customers. What I know from having done this job is that just getting a sample of the food makes a lot of people pick up that salami, or bag or chips, or cake. According to the idea in Mind Hacks these people, once they have tried that particular product, are more likely to make the change to picking it up again and again.

This makes me think about how we as trainers can encourage people to change. How about we let them step into the shoes of how we want the change to look or feel. I am thinking if we want people to create harmonious teamwork, how about we let them work in a harmonious team for a while. Maybe we have to send them to Sweden or something for a month with Ingar’s harmonious team, but it might work.

Or if we want to our children to enjoy a simpler life, we get them to try it for a while to see how it fits.

I remember years ago there was a program that brought children brought up in war-torn parts of Ireland to countries like Canada for a short break. I believe the thinking behind the program was to let the children live in a different, more peaceful atmosphere for a change. I wonder the experience left a positive mark on the children.

So according to Mind Hacks “People don’t like change. If you really want people to try something new, your should just coerce them into giving it a go and chuck the idea of persuading them first off.”

Talking Magic

Whenever I talk magic with my friiend and co-author of Wizbangers, Ken Bellemare, I get new ideas. I love doing magic but I am not very good: maybe you can relate. So I look for magic tricks that the average klutz like me can do.

Here is one that I do from time to time. See if you can adapt it for your needs. You can do it small or do it big for a large audience.

Three Card Choice

Lay out three cards, a jack, a queen and a king.
Ask a volunteer to choose one of the cards and tell you which one.
Then amaze him by saying: "I knew, just by looking at you that you would choose that one (say the queen) because here it is right in my wallet.Then open your wallet and show him. He will search through your wallet for the other two cards if he is as smart as I am, but they won't be there.

Then make your keypoint: Always anticipate the needs and choices of the customer or audience.

How do you do it, you ask me? Well if the volunteer had chosen the king I would have said more or less the same thing, but I would have shown him the card (the king) under my coffee cup. If he chose the ace I would have shown him that I knew he would pick that one because here it is on top of my clipboard. You basically have a copy of each of these cards stationed somewhere around you and just have to remember where each one is.

I find that those little miniature cards are great for this trick.

But wait, there's more. Let's say you want to explain how this trick is done for your group. That is great too, and it can create another interesting key learning point: be prepared to go the direction the customer chooses.

Well perhaps that is enough magic for right now. If you have any magical ideas just leave your comments.

All Dried Up

Here is a new twist on an old activity. This is featured in my book, Presentation Wizardry, 33 Simple Safe Science Tricks for Speakers and Trainers - www.calderonconsulting.com I will start with the original idea from the book and then share the twist with you.

Original Idea

All Dried Up

Make water disappear.

What You Need
3 disposable cups
1 container of slush powder or lightning gel from a magic store

Getting ready
Put about 1 tbsp. of slush powder into the bottom of one of the cups.
Don’t let anyone see you do this.

What you do
1. Place the three cups, A, B, and C side by side on the table.
2. Show the audience the water in the container
3. Tell the audience you are challenging them to follow the water.
4. Pour the water from cup to cup, shuffling the cups around as you do this.
5. The trick is to only pour water in the cup that has the slush powder in it at the very last minute. Until then leave it empty.
6. Turn the cups over. No water should spill out.



What’s going on?
Slush powder is amazing. That’s because it can turn water solid nearly instantly. The scientific name for slush powder is polysodium acrylate. It is produced by the polymerization of acrylic acid and subsequent hydrolysis of the polyacrylic acid with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. (What a mouthful) This is the stuff they put in diapers.


Wizard’s ponderings
Asking the right question is an important part of being creative and solving problems. On the road to asking the right question, we ask other questions that may seem less important. However, every question has its place. Dare to ask silly questions.

Applying this trick in other ways:

What you see may only be a small part of what’s really going on.
When you stop sharing your knowledge it can dry up.
You see the results, but don’t always know how they happened.

Twist - the idea was sparked by something my friend and colleague, Ken Bellemare said to me

Do the trick and then ask people to write down quickly how they think the trick was accompllished. There will be all kinds of ideas; fake cup, sleight of hand, etc. Then ask the group to get into small groups and compare ideas to come up with one idea they can all support.

At this point you can ask them if they need any more information. Likely they will say that they need some thoughts confirmed or denied through a Q and A.

Keypoint: In the beginning I asked you to just jump to an idea. Was it the best idea? Probably not because you didn't have enough information. By joining with others you had a chance to get feedback about your idea and compare it with the thoughts of the group. But the key element missing still for many of you was the opportunity to check out your thoughts via feedback from the person who did the trick.

In the same way, when we come to a decision, it is always easy to jump to a quick conclusion or assumption. But by taking other important steps; comparing our ideas, showing them the light of day and, most importantly, by checking out our ideas, thoughts, conclusions and assumptions we get thenecessary information we need to make right decisions.

How many times have you seen people jump to solutions or conclusions without all the necessary information.

A is For Awesome

This activity is number 8 from my book Wizbangers, which I co-wrote with Ken Bellemare. There are over 101 of ideas like this one. Hope you like it and you can find a way to use it in your presentations.
For more details about my books check out my website at www.calderonconsulting.com

A is for Awesome

reviewing ideas, sharing ideas, creative solutions

Use the alphabet to instill some A, B, C fun.

Give each small group the task of coming up with a word for every letter of the alphabet. Each word must be relevant to the topic of the day.

Example: for a communications skills workshop – A is for awkward, B is for bashful, C is for clarity, and D is for …you get the idea. Other alphabets you could ask your group to create:

People in your network
Personal strengths

Barriers to success Opportunities

A variation: You might find some people prefer working alone and are happier creating their own alphabet.


People in the drama and improvisation world often use this activity to carry on a conversation; each person in turn has to continue the conversation by making a comment with the next letter of the alphabet.

Wine Wine Wine

I think food can be a trainer's best friend. There are so many ways to use it in a sesssion. Food can be a great prop or a little reward, an incentive or a reviewing tool. Here is one way I would use food (or better yet wine) in a session:

Hold up two wine glasses and declare that they are wine.
Have a volunteer smell one and confirm that it is wine. Make witty comments about wine.
Have volunteer smell the other one, nasty.... it is vinegar.

So, I ask the group "Why is one of these acceptable and the other is not?" Are they not both wine?

Thiis leads me to my keypoint (pick one):

Sometimes it is a matter of timing to get the most effective results. (the vinegar is over age)
Labelling can cause us to overlook positive qualities (vinegar is highly prized around the world today)
Appearances can be deceiveing.

So, if you use food, drink or anything edible in your sessions, let us know what it is and how you use it.

Catbird

Here’s a lively story from the world of nature.

You may have heard the expression “in the catbird seat” meaning that a person is in a great position. Turns out the catbird is an American thrush that is called a catbird because it has a call that sounds like a cat meowing.

The catbird does have the best position as it sits high up in the trees at the very highest limbs. The bird stays safe from predators on the ground and has an excellent vantage point for seeing all around.

So when we say someone is in the catbird seat that is what it means.

You might be surprised at how many of our expressions come from the world of nature.

Moonlight

I was watching the movie, The Firm by the book by John Grisham. Kathy Bates stars in it and I think she is exceptionally good. She is talking about her role as a friend of a presidential candidate and she describes it like this: (to paraphrase) He (the candidate) is like the sun and I am like the moon. The only light I show is reflected from the sun. Without the sun I have no light of my own.

This made me think of how this story, or scientific moment could be used. I am still working on it, but I think it has something. Here is how I am thinking - what is a great power in the world? What is a small power in the world that gets it's strength only from the great power? Is that good? Is that bad? What point can I make?

Anyhow, today is a glimpse into the inner workings of my mind and how I come up with ideas, similes and metaphors. If the moonlight metaphor speaks to you, or if you have any ideas to develop it, just add your two bits.

Swing Low

Swing Low

Here is an activity that is bound to impress.
Have each of your participants make a simple pendulum from a piece of light string and a light weight, like a button or paper clip.
Then have each person draw a large X on a piece of paper.
Each person holds their pendulum over the X, keeping his or her arm stretched straight out, without leaning on a table or any other object.
Review the rules: Clockwise is Yes, Counter-Clockwise is No.
Demonstrate:
Ask your pendulum a question to which the answer is YES. More than likely it will swing clockwise. Try again for NO.

What is Going On?

Well remember when you played with a Ouija board when you were young? It is the same effect and it has a name; the ideomotor effect. Even though we aren’t aware of it, we make tiny muscle movements with the hand holding the pendulum. But we really can’t believe that we have made any movements, so we tend to disassociate ourselves with being the cause.

How I Would Use This?

There are so many ways to use this activity.
I would focus on the concept of self-causing. In this case, we just don’t feel these tiny movements, yet we are still behind making the pendulum move. Where else in life does this happen to us? What else happens in our lives, that we can trace back to our own cause.

Another way of using this activity is to play around with the power of thought. As we think yes or no, so our body responds, whether we want it to or not. What other thoughts does our body respond to? How might negative thoughts impact our bodies?

Source: Brain Hacks, Stafford and Webb

It's All In the Hips

Working on book #3, Presentation Wizardry Volume II, www.calderonconsulting.com and thought you might like to see a draft of one of the activities or ideas.

This, very simply is an energizing moment for a group. It is fun and lively and changes the pace.


It’s All in the Hips

Key Learning Points
Uniqueness
Niche
Right place

What Happens
Knock a matchbox over with your nose

Connection
Using our unique strengths can create better teams.

What You Need
one matchbox

What You Do
Instruct your volunteer:
"Kneel on the floor.
Extend one arm in front with your elbow touching your knee reach out along the floor."
Where his fingertips end place a small matchbox on its end.
Continue with the instructions.
"Put your hands behind your back.
Bend over and try to knock the matchbox over with your nose."

What’s Happening
Men and women have different centres of gravity. Men, with their broad shoulders usually have their centre of gravity higher than women. Having a lower centre of gravity, women have an advantage in this activity because they don’t become overbalanced.

Sample Patter:
As we can plainly see, some people are better equipped to do this job than others. Although the men in the room might want very much to win this round, most of them simply cannot because of the build of their bodies.

Now I realize that there isn’t much call for employees who can push matchboxes over with their noses, but this activity does make a point: Knowing what we can do that others can’t is a start to finding our niche.

What helped you find your niche?


Wizard’s Tips



Activities like this one illustrate some of the differences between men and women. Rather than go to a male versus female point, concentrate on linking the concept of specific skills to unique individuals.
Choose your volunteers wisely. Not everyone wants to get down on the carpet in front of the group. Check for clothing limitations. There is always someone, though, who would relish the job.




Cautions
Warn the volunteer not to wipe out into the carpet.



Other Bright Ideas
It is important in life to know what we can do, what we can do if we really try and what is beyond our ability to do no matter how hard we try.

Mind Hacks

Heard this speaker on CBC Radio talking about how the brain works and had to order his book. I was not disappointed. There is a lot in here that we trainers and speakers can use to make our learning points.

Mind Hacks - Tips & Tools for Using the Brain by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb.

What is really great is that they tell you about a function of the brain and then give you an example from real life; like when you are walking on an escalator that is broken and you can't quite find your footing.

I am going to digest some of these ideas and try to turn them into activities.Here are some of the Hacks that appeal to me: Grab Attention, Blind to Change, Keep Your Balance, When Time Stands Still and Bringing Stuff to the Front of Your Mind.

One thing I have noticed, and I probably have been guilty of it too, is using fairly suspect data or "scientific" information to prove a point. So, it is great to find a book, created by scientists about the brain.

By the way, do you know who invented the lightbulb?
If you are like most people you would think Thomas Edison, but not so. He advanced the lightbulb from a patent he bought from two Canadian inventors, Woodward and Evans. Now, he did add some remarkable changes, but it is interesting to see how something as magnificent as the lightbulb was more or less a team effort. It is also interesting to note, that only the last fellow got the credit.

That's all for today. I will be creating activities from these Mind Hacks for quite a while.
Tomorrow a word about Magic.