No More Ho Hum Presentations!

Picture this -- you are presenting to hundreds of doctors at the Annual Conference for the American College of Surgeons -- you look out into a sea of black and navy blue suits and you, well, you are in your company T-shirt. Time to reach out -- hit the audience with a "ho hum."

In this situation, I flung my hands in the air and proclaimed, "Welcome to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!! It is our goal over the next 3 hours to guide you through the steps from being an Internet novice to being someone who can perform a nested, parenthetical literal Boolean query in a free Medline search ... and even know what all of that means!" The audience blinks and grins -- my ho hum got `em!!!

Over 50 years ago, in 1935, Richard C. Borden wrote a book called, "Public Speaking as Listeners Like It!" Later with Alvin C. Busse, a New York University professor, they produced two films which detailed how to cook up a winning presentation strategy -- the Ho Hum Presentation Formula. This strategy can be used for stand up presentations, written documents, on-line courses, manuals, anything - it works any time you want to convey information to a group of people where you want to get their attention and make sure they assimilate the topic.

The Ho Hum Presentation Formula Components:

Ho Hum-- This is your "grabber" -- get the audience's attention immediately -- your ho hum is your attention hook -- it allows you to reach out to the audience and get them thinking about the subject, fast. People often come into presentations, especially technical presentations, thinking "ho hum another boring presentation." So you deliver a "ho hum" that wows them out of complacency!

Why Bring That Up-- Your ho hum shook the audience out of their boredom, got them thinking, what did he/she just say?? Now for phase two, "Why Bring That Up??" In this phase you let everyone know the purpose of the presentation. Why are we talking about this? What is important here? And what was it with that ho hum?? This is where you can make the audience feel good about attending by telling them why the topic is timely, important, etc.

For Example-- Ok, now you have the audience's attention, and they know why the topic is important, so now they are primed for you to go ahead and give them the meat of the presentation -- examples and content - for instance, for example, etc. This section comprises the bulk of your presentation and is really the traditional presentation content component.

So What-- Here is your chance to wrap every thing up in a tidy package. What we're talking about here is a summary that ties everything together -- the bow on the presentation package.

Let's look at two examples:

I. Ho Hum

Ever attend YABP (Yet Another Boring Presentation)? *yawn*

I give some fairly technical presentations to non-technical audiences and I always start off with a ho hum. The purpose of the ho hum is to grab the audience's attention -- knock them off of their expectations and get them thinking.

Ho Hum Example 1:

This is a ho hum because it gets them thinking about a topic in a new way.

My ho hum for the 3 Day "Computer Training for Physicians is to let everyone know that the goal over the next three days is to present 'womb to tomb computer training' -- starting day 1 with Gorilla Computer Shopping Techniques and ending on day 3 with the Internet Search Tools Shootout -- compare and contrast the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Internet's top search tools (key word, directory and meta) learning that the "best" search tool is really determined by the type and quantity of data you want returned!

Ho Hum Example 2:

I web enabled an on-line college Global Studies B.A. program -- you can get a bachelors degree completely on-line, so this is an Internet designed, developed and delivered curriculum. The first course in the series is a history course, and students come in with some initial hesitation -- "oh no, a whole history course on the Internet -- how boring is this going to be?" Our ho hum for the history course starts with the following cartoon:

We then follow this up with three perspectives of history:

• Is history just a dull boring collection of staid facts ? (of course not!)

• Is history like the television show Sliders (depending when and where you are in history colors your perception of what is) Think about when everyone thought the world was flat!.

• Finally, for the third perspective, we display a small thumbnail graphic of an old map and ask people to identify Europe's location

Most people point to the upper right hand corner, but this is an ancient Arab map where the top points South! This shows that history is always interpreted through your own personal experiences. Once we have their attention and interest the students are ready to move on!

II. WHY BRING THAT UP?

Ok, the ho hum may have been cute and/or funny -- but what was the purpose? If you targeted your ho hum correctly, it will lead right into . . . why bring that up??

Why Bring That Up Example 1:

For the physicians training, one of the first things we cover is the "Gorilla Computer Shopping" module. Someone went into to a local computer store, identified their background and their needs and the salesman took them to the most expensive PC in the store and said, "it's big, it's black, it's powerful -- you need it" Aaarrrrrgggghhhh. This is why it is a good thing to know what is RAM, what a GB means (Gigabyte -- big unit of measurement for computer components), what are CPU speeds, etc. So we have a context for discussing the various parts of a computer, and we enable the doctors to not get ripped off at the computer store!

Why Bring That Up Example 2:

For the Global Studies on-line history course, the "why bring that up" is to let students know that this history course places contemporary social, cultural, and technological issues in a global and historical perspective. We tie it into "now" to show how today's major issues are rooted in the experiences of world civilization. Let the students know that those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it.

III. FOR EXAMPLE

Ok, now you have their attention, and you've told them why the topic is important, now go ahead and give them the meat of the presentation, with lots of for instance, and for example, etc.

For Example Example 1:

In the Gorilla Computer Shopping module, we cover the CPU Soup -- and then we tell the doctors that once they determine that they have a 32 bit CPU, the best way to increase speed (and the least expensive) is to add memory (RAM).

For Example Example 2:

In the history course, we would then get into the meat of the course , the content for the first module, where module Goals, Required Readings, Web Enrichment Lectures and Hyperlinks, Further Resources and Study Questions are presented on-line.

IV. SO WHAT

Now we are ready for the summary, the wrap up, the tie in that sends the audience out the top -- happy and knowledgeable!

So What Example 1:

The so what for the physicians training ties in what they learned about gorilla computer shopping. We compare and contrast what is currently cutting edge, what is bleeding edge and what is an acceptable level of technology to purchase. We give hints on where to go on-line for up to date reviews and recommendations (like to c|net's computers.com site.)

So What Example 2:

In the on-line history course, after new knowledge has been presented, the instructional goal is to have the student apply the new knowledge to a new situation. So in this module, there is an interactive assignment where students are presented with two historical pieces of evidence -- two works of art -- a medieval illumination (ca. 1412-1416) from the Book of Hours and a painting (ca. 1650) by Jan Vermeer. The student compares the two works, then posts a thesis explaining in 250 words or so, how these two pieces from different historical eras illustrate the themes addressed in this module -- the growth of individualism from the 14th to the 16th century in Europe. The student then comments on the postings of two other students.

So there you have it -- the Borden and Busse Ho Hum Presentation formula -- now go construct a winning presentation!

Learn more about Diane Cunningham in our Contributor's section.