Re[2]: Presentations (long post -- but no Mom or PC)

[doug montalbano <doug_montalbano -at- CC -dot- CHIRON -dot- COM>]

     Rose Wilcox posted, on 11/21/94, in reply to Nancy S. Burns:

     <snip> It is fun doing this presentation because everyone loves
     Windows help here.  It also increases the visibility of the
     technical writing team (which in my experience is rare!)
     I hope to find more ways in future contracts to present the
     technical writing team's work to the above groups. <end quote>

     I work for a biopharmaceutical company.  We are regulated by the
     Food and Drug Administration; one of the FDA requirements is that
     written procedures exist and that they be followed as written.

     In the past 2 years the company has grown enormously and has
     several plants and offices throughout the U.S. and the world. For
     company-wide procedures, it becomes critical (from a compliance
     standpoint) that all groups be able to understand and follow the
     procedures as written.  (And they must be written, because we need
     standards.)

     All this background is by way of introducing the opportunity.  As a
     writer in the main document control group, I actively participated
     in an ongoing set of meetings to work out the issues of
     communications (procedures, revisions of procedures, feedback),
     publication (review before validating, availability), and
     coordinating document changes.

     I did a brief (and I worked to make it as brief as possible)
     presentation on the minimal requirements of this type of
     communication, based on what I thought the FDA might require.
     I used two overheads, which I spend hours organizing and
     reorganizing in order to convey a lot of information quickly.
     I made copies of the overheads so that everyone present could carry
     away the data and, more importantly, the data STRUCTURE.  (The
     handouts also had my name, dept. and phone number on them.)

     Several people, including the head of the MIS dept., praised the
     presentation (although they may have been mostly relieved at its
     brevity).  As Rose points out, it gives your department visibility;
     people know that you exist, that you care about this stuff, that
     you work at it, and how to reach you.

     As for how to give presentations. ...  I'm a shy guy.  I grew up
     hard of hearing (and I'm still extremely so), this means socially I
     was a fish out of water.  I mention this only as a way of
     presenting credentials, I guess, when I say just about anyone can
     do it.  What helped me was practice.

     I taught sign language to adults for a couple of years, and you
     can't communicate in sign without looking at other people in the
     eye, and having them do the same to you (it's rude, in fact, to
     look away).  So my task was to teach adults --self-conscious,
     not-wanting-to-look-foolish, not-wanting-to-look-inept,
     not-wanting-to-look-stupid adults -- how to loosen up and enjoy
     communicating under the gaze of others.  My approach was to stop
     being a shy guy and make a bigger fool of myself -- on purpose --
     than they could ever make of themselves.  They saw that I was doing
     this for them, and they opened up accordingly.  Almost every one of
     my students could comfortably sign in front of others, and talk in
     a relaxed manner.

     Trust yourself.  Trust others.  If you can do that while giving a
     presentation, you will stay calm and people will pay attention to
     you.  You might also consider taking a class in American Sign
     Language ... ;->

     I aplogize for the length.  I hope it has been germane.

     doug_montalbano -at- cc -dot- chiron -dot- com