Day 2 of my course. Definitely nervous which is weird given that I 'present' everyday. I suppose though if you're not nervous then you don't really care all that much.
The day was totally set aside for 12 presentations, each to be 8 minutes in length. I was ready. I just wanted to get it over and done with. Yesterday, I didn't really enjoy the day because I was sitting all day long waiting to get on with it. Today though I was determined for that not to happen. I wanted it done as soon as I could.
I managed to get 3rd. I was really happy about that!
The first 2 weren't too bad. They did what they needed to do. It was funny because we each had to give them 1 positive piece of feedback followed by 1 critical feedback. In many respects, that's as hard as doing the presentations themselves. It means you actually have to listen to the presentation!
Then it was me. I had everything. I was ready. I tried to incorporate aspects from the previous day and to try to change what had been commented on the day before. It was a blur, the whole 8 minutes. I did what I could. It went relatively well, I felt or at least, how I thought it should go. And the feedback. Mostly positive. That was nice. Again, the rapport thing, getting people involved, listening to them, asking questions. It was nice to hear that I was loud enough as well! On the down side, it was felt I didn't give enough facts, instead, I had a narrative. Fair enough. I think that comment came from the Fiance lot so no surprises there. The one negative was reading from my cue cards. True and I can't argue against it. I do. It's a safety blanket, isn't it? I don't have them in class but for a presentation, you need to know what you're going to say clearly and concisely, hence the cards. I need to get out of that. I noticed that a few of my classmates can just get up and talk for 8 minutes. They look like they are comfortable and know what they are going to say. I envy that actually. I wish I could that. I must practice it. Maybe one I can do it.
So feedback was decent. I was happy with that.
The rest of the day was spent watching others, and giving feedback. Some excellent presentations, some less so. The 2 last ones inparticular were poor. I had a hard job trying to give positive feedback. In the end, I had to be honest.
The transport guys presentation for example was arguing for changing the travel route available for staff. Currently they can go on 1 bus to work and it takes 58 minutes. Easy. But they want to change that to taking 2 buses i.e. changing buses which will take only 2 minutes more, all to save some money. Fair enough but as a customer, why would I want to change buses? I put that to him in the Q+A at the end of the presentation. He couldn't really answer.
The final presentation was by the Finance guy. Again, I didn't get it. I literally did not know what his topic was and what he was going on about. During the feedback, the first 2 people said 'on this thing wasn't too good'. All minor things. But, I couldn't stop myself. I said that I didn't understand what the topic was. I had to. As it turned out, most of the others admitted as much. Huh! Here's me thinking I was going to be the bad guy!
Anyway that was that. Something to think about for the future. We were given the DVD of both presentations. Needless to say, they won't be getting watched any time soon...
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Delivery
I was sent on a 2 day course, starting today. It was entitled 'Business Presentation Skills'. I seem to have morphed from an English teacher to something quite different. Not that I need to give Business Presentations but just the fact that I'm 'learning' about them tells its own story. I don't think it's a bad thing exactly. It's about branching out so that I'm not 'limited' to English teaching per se.
The course consisted of 11 other people from different areas of the group - PR, Revenue, Transport, Recruitment and Finance. A definite mix. We were told that we would have to give a 4 minute presentation on the 1st day to the class. It would be filmed and this would be used as our benchmark. Urgh. Not ideal. We were given time to prepare it but I just knew it wasn't going to be great. The thing that made it worse was I finally presented it 9th out of 12. I was literally sitting there watching everyone and listening to the feedback for everyone one of them and thinking 'I need to change this or I need to include this'. I didn't enjoy the morning, lets say that much.
I did my presentation though. It's one of those things that you just get up and do. The camera being there should have bothered me but I just got on with it. I was worried about what the feedback would be. What if I was totally crap. That would be my teaching career over! The feedback wasn't too bad and I can certainly say that I wasn't the worst person. That's important - not being the worst. The feedback was that I wasn't loud enough, I read from cue cards and I don't pause, I just keep going. I must say, I wasn't exciting that last comment. On the plus side, interpersonal skills were great as was rapport with the audience. I like to think that I engage people. That's the whole point, isn't it?
I was content enough with that. We did some 'theory' i.e. do's and don'ts which was good. Some good discussion results as well.
And for tomorrow. Another presentation. This time 8 minutes in length and on any topic. Easy. Right? Yes and no. I wanted to include some of the things that had been mentioned in the class. Certainly in terms of bright, clear slides and with that, try and learn from the feedback and make changes based on it. A lot to think of. At least if I look as if I'm listening and trying to change then all well and good.
That night, I was hard at it preparing. Got my slides, made my cue cards and had a plan. It didn't make me any less nervous though.
The course consisted of 11 other people from different areas of the group - PR, Revenue, Transport, Recruitment and Finance. A definite mix. We were told that we would have to give a 4 minute presentation on the 1st day to the class. It would be filmed and this would be used as our benchmark. Urgh. Not ideal. We were given time to prepare it but I just knew it wasn't going to be great. The thing that made it worse was I finally presented it 9th out of 12. I was literally sitting there watching everyone and listening to the feedback for everyone one of them and thinking 'I need to change this or I need to include this'. I didn't enjoy the morning, lets say that much.
I did my presentation though. It's one of those things that you just get up and do. The camera being there should have bothered me but I just got on with it. I was worried about what the feedback would be. What if I was totally crap. That would be my teaching career over! The feedback wasn't too bad and I can certainly say that I wasn't the worst person. That's important - not being the worst. The feedback was that I wasn't loud enough, I read from cue cards and I don't pause, I just keep going. I must say, I wasn't exciting that last comment. On the plus side, interpersonal skills were great as was rapport with the audience. I like to think that I engage people. That's the whole point, isn't it?
I was content enough with that. We did some 'theory' i.e. do's and don'ts which was good. Some good discussion results as well.
And for tomorrow. Another presentation. This time 8 minutes in length and on any topic. Easy. Right? Yes and no. I wanted to include some of the things that had been mentioned in the class. Certainly in terms of bright, clear slides and with that, try and learn from the feedback and make changes based on it. A lot to think of. At least if I look as if I'm listening and trying to change then all well and good.
That night, I was hard at it preparing. Got my slides, made my cue cards and had a plan. It didn't make me any less nervous though.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Cleft
And today's mini-playlist - with a special mention to grooveshark - is as follows.
Otis - Kanye and Jay-Z.
Give it to me - Madonna.
The empty page - Sonic Youth.
Lotus flower - Radiohead.
Kids - MGMT.
Standing in the way of control - The gossip.
No one knows - Queens of the stone age.
A bit of a mix.
Not a huge fan of messers. Kanye or Jay-Z but this is a great song. Until Jay-Z decides to talk over it. It says Madonna on it but really, she's only singing on it. It's actually quite indie danceish. Sonic Youth. Where to start? Lotus Flower is just one of those dense songs that on first listen nothing really happens. But really listen to it. Textures galore. It's almost dubstep. Kids is kids; a delight. The video for it is almost as scary as Aphex Twin Come to Daddy. Standing in the way of control is toetappinly additive. I defy you to listen and not move something irrespective of the version - original or Soulwax. Lastly, No one knows. What a start. Heavy. And what are those drums doing at the breakdown. Dave Grohl, I salute you.
Otis - Kanye and Jay-Z.
Give it to me - Madonna.
The empty page - Sonic Youth.
Lotus flower - Radiohead.
Kids - MGMT.
Standing in the way of control - The gossip.
No one knows - Queens of the stone age.
A bit of a mix.
Not a huge fan of messers. Kanye or Jay-Z but this is a great song. Until Jay-Z decides to talk over it. It says Madonna on it but really, she's only singing on it. It's actually quite indie danceish. Sonic Youth. Where to start? Lotus Flower is just one of those dense songs that on first listen nothing really happens. But really listen to it. Textures galore. It's almost dubstep. Kids is kids; a delight. The video for it is almost as scary as Aphex Twin Come to Daddy. Standing in the way of control is toetappinly additive. I defy you to listen and not move something irrespective of the version - original or Soulwax. Lastly, No one knows. What a start. Heavy. And what are those drums doing at the breakdown. Dave Grohl, I salute you.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Jazz
So, new layout. I guess you need to change things around from time to time to avoid becoming bored or stagnant. It was time. To be honest, I've been working with this online assessment tool at work. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the problem is actually writing it. It's all html and I really don't know that much about it. I've had to do a bit of a crash course in html language as a result. The up shot being that I thought 'oh, maybe I can do something with my page'.
It was funny because I thought that I'd have to sit and play about with the template in order to get it sorted out. Previously that is what I had to do but thankfully those clever folk at blogger have simplified everything and you no longer need to know all about html to do things with the page. Had I known that sooner, I might have altered the page before now.
The name has changed, the colours have changed but the layout is essentially the same. And well, I've not changed although I might try to write more. I should because I like writing even if it is only moaning and groaning about stuff. I think I do that a bit too much. Onwards and upwards.
It was funny because I thought that I'd have to sit and play about with the template in order to get it sorted out. Previously that is what I had to do but thankfully those clever folk at blogger have simplified everything and you no longer need to know all about html to do things with the page. Had I known that sooner, I might have altered the page before now.
The name has changed, the colours have changed but the layout is essentially the same. And well, I've not changed although I might try to write more. I should because I like writing even if it is only moaning and groaning about stuff. I think I do that a bit too much. Onwards and upwards.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Friday, October 07, 2011
Consist
Thought this was quite interesting. Clearly 'borrowed' from another source...Essentially it's films that we've all seen that have stupidly big holes in the story. Funny how you never notice them at the time. Here goes:
Reservoir Dogs
It's the Mexican stand-off at the end of the film. Boss Joe Cabot's gun is aimed at Mr Orange, who is lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Mr White is pointing his gun at Joe, while Nice Guy Eddie has his gun pointed at Mr White. They all fire, and bang, the film is neatly concluded. Except for the fact that Eddie is dead, but no one shot him. Apparently, in the script, Mr White was supposed to have turned to kill Nice Guy Eddie after killing Joe, but the exploding squibs under his tracksuit went off by mistake and Eddie, played by Chris Penn, fell to the ground before he could be 'shot'. Tarantino is said to have kept it in to give geeks something to argue about.
The Matrix
Yes, it's daft as a brush, but still it's worth pointing out just why The Matrix is so daft. So the machines create the world around us to keep us all sedated, right? But why create a world with fully functioning computers so that the inhabitants can hack into their code and realise that it's all a big fake? Better surely to use farm animals - say cows - in the Matrix, rather than inquisitive humans with access to the internet. Seems obvious.
Back to the Future
Time travel is a thorny area. It doesn't really make much sense from the get-go. But there's just a couple of niggling issues with the creation of the McFly family that we'd like to address. So, if 'Calvin Klein' turns up and gets the teenage George and Lorraine together, why don't they remember either him or the fact that he inspired George's career in sci-fi literature? And is it not a bit weird that their son looks exactly like him?
The Shawshank Redemption
After many years in chokey, Andy Dufresne finally completes his massive tunnel, crawls through all that poop and climbs out of a big hole in a field. Cleverly, he has disguised the enormous hole in the wall of his cell with posters of sexy actresses, including Raquel Welch and Rita Hayworth. But hang on... how does he stick the poster back over the hole once he's in there? Hmmm.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
It's all a question of timing. As we're told throughout the saga, training to become a Jedi is quite the undertaking. You can't just do it in a few hours. Or can you? Let's go over the rather shaky sequence of events, shall we? Luke heads off to Yoda's manky swamp planet, while the Millennium Falcon containing Han, Chewie, Leia et al gets chased by the Empire to Cloud City. They arrive, get captured by Darth Vader, upon which Luke has pretty much finished his training. So either the Millennium Falcon was being chased for months and months on end, or Luke's Jedi training takes an afternoon. It's harder to get your bronze Duke of Edinburgh.
Reservoir Dogs
It's the Mexican stand-off at the end of the film. Boss Joe Cabot's gun is aimed at Mr Orange, who is lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Mr White is pointing his gun at Joe, while Nice Guy Eddie has his gun pointed at Mr White. They all fire, and bang, the film is neatly concluded. Except for the fact that Eddie is dead, but no one shot him. Apparently, in the script, Mr White was supposed to have turned to kill Nice Guy Eddie after killing Joe, but the exploding squibs under his tracksuit went off by mistake and Eddie, played by Chris Penn, fell to the ground before he could be 'shot'. Tarantino is said to have kept it in to give geeks something to argue about.
The Matrix
Yes, it's daft as a brush, but still it's worth pointing out just why The Matrix is so daft. So the machines create the world around us to keep us all sedated, right? But why create a world with fully functioning computers so that the inhabitants can hack into their code and realise that it's all a big fake? Better surely to use farm animals - say cows - in the Matrix, rather than inquisitive humans with access to the internet. Seems obvious.
Back to the Future
Time travel is a thorny area. It doesn't really make much sense from the get-go. But there's just a couple of niggling issues with the creation of the McFly family that we'd like to address. So, if 'Calvin Klein' turns up and gets the teenage George and Lorraine together, why don't they remember either him or the fact that he inspired George's career in sci-fi literature? And is it not a bit weird that their son looks exactly like him?
The Shawshank Redemption
After many years in chokey, Andy Dufresne finally completes his massive tunnel, crawls through all that poop and climbs out of a big hole in a field. Cleverly, he has disguised the enormous hole in the wall of his cell with posters of sexy actresses, including Raquel Welch and Rita Hayworth. But hang on... how does he stick the poster back over the hole once he's in there? Hmmm.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
It's all a question of timing. As we're told throughout the saga, training to become a Jedi is quite the undertaking. You can't just do it in a few hours. Or can you? Let's go over the rather shaky sequence of events, shall we? Luke heads off to Yoda's manky swamp planet, while the Millennium Falcon containing Han, Chewie, Leia et al gets chased by the Empire to Cloud City. They arrive, get captured by Darth Vader, upon which Luke has pretty much finished his training. So either the Millennium Falcon was being chased for months and months on end, or Luke's Jedi training takes an afternoon. It's harder to get your bronze Duke of Edinburgh.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Sleep
I know it was announced a while ago now but REM have called it a day. I like them. Have done since I heard Losing my Religion back in 1991. A while ago. I actually bought Out of Time on cassette in America. I think I got Eponymous next and some of the songs I had heard before but didn't readily know that they were REM songs.
I could go on and say its a shame, or they were very influential. They were and others have said it better than me. All I really wanted to do with this post was to say that I saw them twice and they were excellent. The first time was at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. I'll let the music do the talking. The set list was:
I could go on and say its a shame, or they were very influential. They were and others have said it better than me. All I really wanted to do with this post was to say that I saw them twice and they were excellent. The first time was at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. I'll let the music do the talking. The set list was:
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What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
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Crush With Eyeliner
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Drive
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Turn You Inside-Out
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Try Not To Breathe
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I Took Your Name
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Undertow
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Bang And Blame
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I Don't Sleep, I Dream
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Strange Currencies
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Revolution
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Tongue
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Man on the Moon
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Country Feedback
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Half a World Away
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Losing My Religion
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Pop Song 89
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Finest Worksong
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Get Up
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Star 69
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Let Me In
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Everybody Hurts
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So. Central Rain
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Departure
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It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine!
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