Communicationz

Handy tip for asking questions in a difficult conversation

A friend told me of some very valuable recent advice she was given for handling her prickly daughter.  The suggestion was that if she needed to ask questions and the conversation was tense, set the context first and then ask the question.

For example:  'It's a big and complicated assignment.  How long do you think it will take you?'

She says it works very well and I have successfully experimented with it in other prickly conversations, even when the person isn't a daughter!

The technique fits with the NLP approach of creating a bridge into a difficult question.  I guess that the context gives the person time to adjust to the question topic before they have to answer.  Presumably the prickly person may feel less defensive as a result?

The best statistical presentation techniques for normal mortals

My last blog linked to Hans Rosling's wonderful statistical presentation: Debunking Third World Myths. If you look at his presentation, it is tempting to think that such communication is out of your own league.  Whilst the rest of us don't have access to fantastic software and oceans of preparation time, anyone can apply Rosling's actual technique in handling  the statistics.

What techniques are readily applicable?

He pulls the audience into his statistics

• Pose questions about the data that would interest your audience, then use the statistics to set about finding the answers.  Thus you get the audience really involved.
• Use the figures to tell a story, so that your graph becomes a narrative.  For example, Rosling's  graph shows changes in China in recent decades. Even in our most basic graphs, there will be the drama of the third quarter last year or the increase in the deficit.

He gradually builds our ability to understand the stats

• Rather than producing the whole graph first up, gradually build it up.  Rosling first sells the title of the graph, then he explains the meaning of each axis and its scale.  Having set the stage he gradually builds each element of the data, explaining as he goes.  As you can see from Rosling' presentation, this takes time, but not as much as you would think.
• Add key elements gradually. In a line graph, start with just one line, then add the next one etc.

He uses visual elements to help us quickly follow the data

• Make use of clearly different colours to represent the different elements in your graphs.  In Rosling's case the data is comparing different groups of countries, for example countries in Africa, vs countries in Asia. Each country group has its own colour. This makes it easier for us to follow the information.
• Provide information directly on the graph, when it is most relevant and then get rid of it where you can. Rosling has names of countries appear on the graph and having pointed them out, he gets rid of the labels.
• Use size of the symbols on graphs to give us an idea of the relative size of the data.

There are a lot of other presentational techniques Rosling uses to keep our interest, but these ones relate directly to presenting statistics. He's an excellent communicator, but why not learn from such a master?

Great presentation of complex data

Imagine, if you can bear to, a presenter who rapidly moves through heaps of extremely complicated statistical slides, rarely looking at the audience and often just talking to the slides.

Now link in to this presenter Hans Rosling and discover an absolutely gripping presentation.  The presentation is called 'Debunking World Myths' and is on the wonderful TED presentation site

 Rosling's presentation talks about development in the Third World, over recent decades and how wrong our assumptions turn out to be when examined in the light of the data. Rosling is using statistics, talking about statistics, while being stimulating, funny, passionate and humble.

He has a few unique things going for him - his special statistical software called Gapminder, and the opportunity to spend hours and hours preparing this presentation. However, there is a lot that busy presenters of statistical data can learn from him and put to use in everyday presentations.

Watch the presentation this time and next post I will examine what he does that we could utilise, even if we don't quite have his pluses.

I found the link to Rosling's presentation in a very good public speaking blog called Six Minutes. This blog is specifically aimed at Toastmasters, but has a lot of very valuable content.